Knighty2112

Looking much better Reggie. Great shot. Still only had one brief view of Mars with the new filter, and this weekend is not looking good weather wise to view it again alas.

OK. Just tried my 66ED-R ‘frac on the AZ Mount I got with the Astromaster 70AZ scope which is languishing up in the loft now. The original dovetail attached to the ‘frac goes into the mount OK, but I have another dovetail attached onto the original dovetail to stop it marking the dovetail which is then too tight for it to fit in, so the dovetail may or may not fit it depending on size. The one that doesn’t fit is slighly wider by about just over 1mm, and higher by around 1.5mm. If I remember the dovetail on my Opticstar I’m pretty sure it was not as chunky as the dovetail I have that doesn’t fit, but again you would have to test it. The only thing I would be warey of would be the balance of the scope as you move it around in altitude. My frac weighs in at 2.5kg and as long as I held on to the adjustment bar when altering the height of the scope it was OK, but the weight if I let go of the handle would make the ‘frac easily plummet either down or up. With extreme care you could use this mount I think, but you would always have to make sure it was locked in position before you took your hand off the altitude adjustment bar. The original scope on the mount was extremely light so this was less of a problem with the mount.

Probably. I have one up in the loft, so I’ll try my new small frac on it and see it it works Ok. If so the Opticstar should be Ok on it.

Sale pending.

For £20 some one is sure to bite your hand off!

Nice work Dave, even going backwards!

+1 for that advice!

Nice work. Like it a lot! Well done!

Still some nice shots there Trefor. Well done mate!

Nice work Charl. Great work mate!

The 8SE on the GoTo mount is a good alround scope, and should be OK weight wise I believe if you carry the mount out first, and then the OTA itself. Check th specs for the individual weights of both the mount and OTA just to make sure though. Even better if you could see one in the flesh somewhere to check it out.

Hi and welcome. Glad to have you on the forum. Any questions or queries please ask.

BTW: if the issue lies in just the rotating part of the focuser, you could tighten down the small securing grub screws that it rotates on to lock it in to place fully.

Also, check the inner focuser clutch adjustment as detailed in the user manual. There are some fine ball bearings in there that if you tighten too much can cause an issue too. http://www.opticstar.com/Download/Astro/Doc/Telescopes/Opticstar/Opticstar-AR-Telescopes.pdf

I’d take out the dual speed axle from the focuser and check that axel is still straight, and check the four roller bearings in the upper part of the focuser mechanism. These are held in place but the block that holds them and can be fully released by just two small screws with an Allen key. Had issues with my dual speed focuser when I had my Opticastar. In the end I too out the brass fine tuning dial and small axel and just used it with the course focuser knobs. Worked much better and smoother.