Alan64

Hello Paul, and welcome. I can't imagine that you'd need any filters for the telescope, but you certainly could use some better eyepieces. But before any recommendations can be made, we would need to know the diameter of the barrels of the eyepieces that came with your new kit. The current minimum, and of what is readily available, is of a 1.25" diameter. The old standard is of a .965", or 1" diameter. If the .965", you'll be hard-pressed in finding eyepieces of that size. Here's an illustration of both types...

You can take casual snapshots through any eyepiece and through any telescope, but only of the brighter objects in the sky, and with a small point-and-shoot camera, or with that of a so-called "smartphone". I took these, shown here within a collage, simply by holding said point-and-shoot up to the eyepiece and snapping the shots... That's just how each appeared during a live view, with my eye and eyepieces, and through this 150mm f/5 Newtonian whilst mounted onto that alt-azimuth... Of course, the objects looked much better during the live view, with my own eye. But if you're wanting to take pictures with a camera attached directly to the telescope, that will require a large, heavy and substantial tracking-capable mount, along with a smaller telescope; for example... https://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflectors/skywatcher-explorer-130p-ds-ota.html https://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-mounts/skywatcher-eq5-pro-synscan-goto.html But if you considered that mount, this one would be better in the long run... https://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-mounts/skywatcher-heq5-pro-synscan.html This one, even better than that one, perhaps... https://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-mounts/sky-watcher-heq5-pro-with-rowan-belt-mod-upgrade.html That kit would be a bit overkill for visual use, also with a smaller aperture to boot; but for astrophotography it's at a minimum. Read about what you might accomplish with a 130mm f/5 Newtonian... https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/210593-imaging-with-the-130pds/ For visual use only, a Newtonian on an equatorial mount is for longer periods of observing a single object. The mount, if simply motorised, can also cause that object to stand still there in the eyepiece, and as if time itself had stopped. If you prefer to flit from one object to another in the space of 15 minutes or so, then choose an alt-azimuth mount. Your eye and mind isn't really bothered if the image in the eyepiece shakes and jiggles, but a camera attached in place of your eye and eyepiece simply will not stand for it, and will result in blurred images. A camera must be held firmly in place, like a rock, when tracking a dimmer object over a long period of time, whilst collecting the light from same, or else just one little shake or jiggle will ruin the image.

No apologies are necessary. I got these tube-rings online, here in the U.S.... https://agenaastro.com/agena-telescope-tube-ring-2-9.html ...and I removed the dovetail-bar from the optical-tube and attached the rings to it... I got longer bolts locally, metric, just like the original, short ones... The bar is rather short in its fixed position upon the tube, and therefore quite limited in being able to balance same when adding the diagonal, eyepieces, a barlow perhaps, and other accessories. Incidentally, I loathe the focusser... ...the body, shown there, specifically. I plan on replacing it in future with one that's a bit less "creative" in design.

The leg assemblies are now ready to be dyed; and yes, the brass is quite flat and conformative to the wooden surfaces...

On the flip side of those overlays, the brass, but the edges of the wood must be dyed first, as there'll be no dyeing where that epoxy touches; same with wood-glue, but I didn't want to dye around the maple overlays, as the glue might not hold in that instance. Why take the chance. I cut the dye, half to half, with denatured-alcohol, and it's still a bit dark... I may use two parts of the alcohol to one of the dye, but I'll need to test that first.

I did the last three in one fell swoop, whatever a fell swoop is. Now, those overlays are lighter than the legs, and I want them inconspicuous, so they'll get a double dose of the dye... Now for epoxying the brass...

Three are not done... ...but three are. You can't rush these things, you know.

The grain of the maple runs perpendicular to that of the lauan, or meranti, whichever, and for added strength.

Maple...

After the drilling and cutting-out, you tidy up the rough edges, oft very rough, with a rotary-tool and a small sanding-drum; then sandpaper and steel-wool to smooth and polish, and by hand.

Time-consuming, but it is what it is if you want it...

Lovely brass, although not quite as lovely as bronze...

The cut-outs have been shaped, and all the pieces sanded down. Here they are in the same box within which they were stripped... Now to cut out the brass...

The first, actually second, set of legs has been prepared further, sanded down, numbered, and in preparation for the brass, then the dye...

Indeed, and as they fall off the barge from overseas. Aside from the need to finish it, the trick is not to overload it, and then to enjoy an ultimate in grab 'n' go.

The mount-head is done for the most part; just a few odds and ends to which to tend... ...like clamp-screws for the saddle, a lock-nut for the latitude bolt, a lock-washer or other for the latitude-clamp; little things like that. My, it certainly is a diminutive, li'l darling... Incidentally, that Coke can is two years out of date, and it seemed swollen a bit, so I took it outside and threw it up into the air onto the road, then threw it in the bin. I didn't want it to explode one night whilst I slept. Now I don't have me prop. Today, I'm working on my legs... I have to get those cut-outs just right, and then epoxy that .010"-thick brass over each, a total of six. I may apply something or other over the outsides as well, and to further strengthen the wood there, since it's now thinner. I wonder if I should dye the legs first before applying the brass...

Thanks all. With the RA-clamp locked, there is only half of a millimeter, if that much, of movement in either direction; not nearly a full measure of same. I may then hold the mount with one hand, and with a little effort twist the worm shaft with the fingers of the other, and round it goes in a complete circle without a hitch; nothing short of marvelous, the motion. I removed the steel washers from the axes' lock-nuts, leaving only the bronze washers, and I must say the improvement was rather noticeable afterwards; those rotten steel washers, they're history now. Also, I feel that I used PTFE as a shim for the stepped RA-bore... ...in a pinch, with the now-obvious and most preferred solution having escaped me at the time. The PTFE shim was .015" in thickness, so I made two shims of .008" phosphor-bronze, and for a total of .016"... I made the inner shim 1mm shorter than the outer... ...a more solid interface, and it shows when testing the axis. Incidentally, PTFE is subject to creeping, spreading out over time, and what amounts to nothing more than deterioration. Hindsight is not only 20/20, but also most fortuitous. I don't think I can add or do a single, solitary thing extra to these axes.

I had to cut down the right-angled portion of a hex-key to batten down the bolts. Anyhoo, I had gotten three of these smaller bronze washers for the worm assembly... ...but I needed only two in the end; one polished only, and one with its O.D. ground down in order to recess into the hole of the threaded yoke... The one that's recessed is barely visible on the right... The motions throughout are most satisfactory, but I do expect that it will need a tweaking here and there once a telescope is mounted upon it.

Earlier, I took the block and the bolt with me. I went straight to the standard nut-checker and...<drum-roll, please>... ...10-32... Being that this is a Chinese clone of Japanese design and manufacture, why isn't everything in metric??? I would like to extend my thanks to Themos for urging caution when working within this area of the mount-head, for it is of the utmost importance not to torque-down the bolts when reassembling.

Drat, the longer bolts will not thread inward. I took the original bolt with me and fed it into the nut-checker. Later today I will take the threaded block itself.

Oh, I'm always careful, save for that one time...

The outing today was successful... The originals are 12mm in length, whilst the next size up at my local hardware is 20mm, so I thought about lock-washers in addition. The bolts turned out to be M5s, and as I had suspected. I may have to cut them down slightly, I don't know yet.

The DEC-control components, before... ...and after... The spring and the actuator are noticeably cleaner. But the insides of the two housings for the spring were rusty, particularly the larger. You can tell by the outside surface of the smaller one. I didn't take photos of what I sanded and scoured out of them, as I'll leave that to your imagination. I did spend at least an hour doing so. The components freshly-lubed and installed...