Chris Murray

Hello, you can adjust the tension of the rack by tightening the screws on the plate that holds the rack in place, each side of the lock screw. it depends if you want finer focus control, if you do there are options out there, moonlight, steeltrack, revelation ect... i have changed to a steeltrack for finer focus with a camera, when i changed i had to drill holes for the new focuser, now i think there are plates for the ota so this is not nessesary now, hope i have helped you, check those tension screws. cheers chris

i made this from scratch, i have houses with a lot of light on the left so had to make the roof swing up to block the light and the right side is open, just slides down,views from the North east to South, so i get the better view

your in the same position i was a few years ago, i had and still have an orion xt10, but wanted to find and track objects with a bit more accuracy and repeatability, i went to my local telescope shop with full intentions of returning with a shiny new goto 127. i was talked out of this and returned with a cg5gt eq mount instead,a little small for my tube but for visual its fine. i just had to buy some tube rings and mount my old scope to the new mount. its a bit fiddly to get going but worth it, the other benefit is you are then, by choice of mount, set for astrophotography,its a little more money than your budget but maybe second hand will cut it. this is just my experience but it inspired me to move on to imaging, since i had a dslr already, if you want to try new setups then yes you can go the az goto or you can get an eq goto and future proof the adventure, i hope this gives you another angle to look at things from

hia, just had mine in bits today, there is plenty of room in there so bolts being too long shouldnt be a problem, i found that with a little force (not much) i could move the wheel by hand, if you try this you will check for the bearing being to tight or other mechanical probs, i would first check the usb cable connection, unplug, replug, different cable ect... shut the program and restart, when you start the program the filter wheel will do a loop to find p1, if thats not happening i think connection or cable, qhy can be a bit funny at times, best to close everything and restart, usualy works, good luck, chris

hia, i had a similar problem with PHD" drift allign routine, thought my polar align was good, actualy it wasnt that good but eventualy got there, its the constant drift which makes me think, look at polar aligning again, cant do any harm, drifting will tell

hia, set up the mount, add the couter weights and slide them all the way up the shaft, mount the ota then slide the weights down to ballance, mark where weights are with electrical tape so you can repeat this easely, you should be ok setting up like this, cheers

i would look at you collimation, needs to be a circle your seeing, also i agree chop the focuser tube, i like getting to the mechanics of it all, good luck

hai, are you taking flats for each channel? i never know whether to take them before filter change or at the end of the session, focus change ect...

hia, i use a fishing brolly, its big enough to have a small table or stool for the lapy and got room for a chair to do all the setting up, then close the lid and go indoors, it keeps dew and frost off and is comfortable when checking every thing, cheers

hia, do you have the manual? if not i think you can find a soarce to download it on skywatchers web site or google setup intructions, then follow them to the letter, dont skip steps, this should get you going, cheers

hia, the lcd screens on the hand set are rubbish in the cold, some people have a hand warmer strapped to them to help, you can rub the screen lightly and see the display come back (when very cold) for a second but you risk damaging the screen and not very practical. i think this is the only poor thing about computer, try keeping the hand set warm is the best ive managed, cheers

Hi Kev i got one of these on my pier, my top plate is 10mm thick and i have about 2mm of thread left on the end of the bolts with the nuts and washers done up, so i think longer bolts are needed, extra 6mm should do as your plate is 16mm. i drilled and tapped my top plate so the nuts are only locking nuts against the bottom of the plate, i used the adapter as a template to mark for the holes. this is a bit late and your probobly sorted by now but it should help if your still scratching your head, cheers, chris

hia, astroshed has a realy good and simple way to show you how to ballance and set the circles so you can always have your mount alighned, then just set your tripod to north, if you set up in the same place regularly mark the ground so you are almost there, just check level and then drift, or for visual dont worry about drifting, just a 2 star alighnment, some times you gota just play a little to see what you get on with cheers, chris

Hia, if you have a bit of a view from your garden, you can set up and try to get focus on an object like a tree or building ( during the day), turn the exposure down, ie.. fast frame rate, rack the focuser in or out to get focus, if it looks like your getting closer by moving in but havent got enough travel then add a barlow, if you cant get far enough back, be carefull and loosen and slide the camera up the draw tube, if you get fucus this way you need an extension tube, i think though it will be inward travel that will be the problem, have a go in the day time, good luck, chris

Hia, research, research, research, astronomy shed video,s are great Dion will talk you through it all and tell you what not to do as well, i still fight with my quattro from time to time, good luck and be patient, chris