adyj1

And - as I understand it under the Consumer Contracts Regulations - the retailer does not have to pay for the return postage if their terms and conditions state this. (if it isn't stated, then the retailer must pay the postage). The retailer can also deduct an amount from the refund commensurate with the loss in value of the product. So if a retailer can only sell a returned item it if they discount it, then they can deduct this amount from the amount refunded. You have no legal right to buy something online, open it and then expect to return without any cost to you, unless it is faulty or not as described. Even though Amazon let you do it 😁.

Exactly. Which is why my post is in response to the comment "In theory, the store loses exactly nothing"

I'm not sure many people would pay full price for expensive astronomy gear that had been used by someone else...

I should clarify that the subscription is only if you want further updates... for new users if you don't want updates after your first year, you don't need to pay any more - you can keep using the version you've got for no extra charge.

Just to add further info (so you don't have to go look at the SGP website like I did 😉), if you aren't upgrading from a previous version then it is $149.00 up front then $59.00 / year.

Ok, so the EQ8 has a flat base, apologies - I should have looked into that 🤔. (I think the comments on using a brake disk have probably come from the picture of an eq6 in the first post, and maybe your comment of 'eventually take an EQ8'.) Looking at the information provided by FLO, it appears you have all the dimensions you need to fabricate the correct 'top plate' for your mount out of a flat metal plate - without needing a brake disk or pier adapter; - You don't need the brake disk because the EQ8 mounts on a flat surface, and the purpose of a brake disk is to provide a raised platform with a hole for the pier's central mounting column. - If you bought the pier adapter, you'd have to fabricate a plate with the necessary mount holes to mount the adapter, which is just as much effort than as making a custom top plate to mount the mount directly. The following thread shows what I am talking about in terms of a 'top plate' onto which the EQ8 is directly attached (and goes into the level of detail probably required when thinking about mounting the EQ8) Mind you, I'd wait for confirmation from someone more familiar with kit at the more exotic end of the equipment spectrum - if you've forked out for an EQ8 you want it to be as close to perfect as you can, and I'm more at the 'let's see if this works' end of the aforementioned spectrum 😉 HTH Ady PS - I've just noticed from the FLO web page that the EQ8 is delivered on a pallet. wow 😮

As Ade's pictures show, the point of using a break disk is that the centre well acts as the puck, so no puck required. If you want to use a puck (or perhaps need to because of the dimensions of your mount), you don't need a brake disk... I have brake disks for my eq5 and eq6. Different sized disks, of course. Ady

@JamesF, I think you've just had a lightbulb moment. 😂 Good result for you @fifeskies👍

I spotted a new AZ-GTI tuning video on YouTube; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgEzeXrhhEg Not sure how good it is yet, but seems quite detailed... Ady

For a DIY job, brake disks are a good solution - I have an old black EQ6 which needed a 65mm centre hole. The investigations were quite lengthy, but I finally bought a "Genuine SKODA brake disc 1K0615601AC VW / AUDI / SEAT" from eBay for £15. The mount fits like a glove. It then needs a metal plate on the back to bolt the mount to, a pin mounted in the top for the alignment screw, holes drilled in the disk to mount on the pier a coat of paint It then replaces the top plate in your first picture. (Luckily I had a mechanic who owed me a favour, so for me the backplate plate was mounted with bolts and I got it sprayed for nowt 🙂 )

Both have an impeccable reputation within the community and I wouldn't hesitate to use or recommend either. I went to Cheap Astro where Juan did an excellent job.

It appears to me that if things keep going in this direction I'm closer to what will be considered a 'good' astrophotograph than I ever thought 😂 (and I agree wholeheartedly with your point of view) The weird thing is that I can accept the 'prison' photo being given an award, even with what we would consider normally to be faults, because the finalists of this competition will receive massive 'general public' awareness, and so the impact of the new satellites can now be appreciated more by the non-astro community. And they'll think the halo around the star looks cool. But the macro-like illusion presented by the winner that suggests there are stars in front of andromeda as well as behind seems a step too far.

The postman brought something that combines my three hobbies; A Raspberry Pi4 (bought from the forums, thanks @Stuart1971) - that's my computing hobby. An sd-card running astroberry, to see whether I can finally get away from using Windows at the mount... Astronomy, obvs. All safely wrapped in an old filament box - and that's my 3d printing fix sorted too 😂.

Looks good. Which Pi camera is that?

I have a theory. Not about dinosaurs, but light shielding after led streetlight upgrades... 😉 I was also successful at getting a shield fitted after a streetlight led upgrade, and I dealt with a department of the company who did the upgrades for the council. I reckon that part of their contract says that they have to resolve any initial light pollution issues, which they are well equipped to do. However, if you raise a complaint that doesn't coincide with the upgrade, I think you then deal directly with the council, who are much less likely to spend the extra money fitting a shield. Does anyone else's experience match this?

"Open the bay doors, HAL..." 😉 Hopefully a temporary glitch. I just tried it from SourceForge and it worked on the second time of asking...

Just noticed you can get a USB-DC lead (not a voltage converter, just a lead) with different connectors from Amazon for £9 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07GTKBVKN Haven't tried it personally, and you may get one cheaper from fleabay, but if soldering scares you at least you know there's an alternative... HTH Ady

That guide is a little out of date now. APT now supports ASTAP for both blind and near platesolving. I found it much easier to set up and *dramatically* quicker and more reliable than the other much older platesolving software choices. (In fact I never got ASPS working and used to just have to rely on near-platesolving with PS2 until ASTAP came along.) Give it a go - https://astrophotography.app/usersguide/pointcraft_and_plate_solving.htm HTH Ady

It sounds like it needs a strip-down. Hopefully one of the other members will have had experience of this and be able to advise...

Can I just check what you meant by Do you mean you are manually turning it back to where it started because it wouldn't move any further? I just dug out my old EQ2 (it's been a few years! ) and the Dec fine tuning adjustment only has a range of about 25 degrees from turning as far left until it will go, to turning as far right as it will go. This doesn't reset if you unlock the RA thumbscrew and point the scope in a different direction - if you were at the rightmost limit (say) then manually slewed by loosening the RA thumbscrew, you'd still be at the rightmost limit when you tried fine-tuning on the new target. This suggests it is best to find the 'middle spot' (about 12.5 degrees from either limit) before manually slewing to a new target, then you'd have a healthy amount of fine tuning in either direction... Does this match the issue you are having?

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm waiting for 3 or 4 more pictures... 😉 That image looks really good, and as a processing beginner I'd be interested in seeing the others too (if you don't mind).

+1 for SS Plus as a mobile phone app. If you aren't sure whether you need SkySafari Pro, you *don't* need skysafari Pro 😉

So what do we think? Post our STL files to existing 3D respositories such as Thingiverse, Youmagine and like, and then just link into them into a thread on here? (for those that don't already have a satisfactory web location to use) Ady ( I'm keen to keep this thread going... 😉 )

You've got to admit that your use of currency symbols as substitutes for letters might be taken as 'money' by a reader that isn't familiar with trying to get round forum decency filters 😉 @Viktiste, they are just substitutes for the letters P, I, S and S , meaning that @newbie alert found the forum perhaps 'less than useful' 😉

I did find a really useful 'collar' posted by @Stub Mandrel that can be found on his website called a Lifting Weight Bush, which basically fills the gap between the counterweight hole and the (normally) much smaller counterweight bar, centering the weight. I had to search all boards for 'stl' and sift through a number of false hits before I found this... (I was looking for any astronomy STLs rather than these specifically) Although, thinking about it, I don't think that everyone would *have* to post the actual stl files on an SGL 3D Printer board - if they preferred, a description and a link to a website where the managed version is stored would be just as useful - possibly more so. (As is perhaps the case for Stub's files, which are already stored at http://www.stubmandrel.co.uk/astronomy/177-lifting-weight-adaptors-for-telescope-mounts) If 'other' astronomy forums don't have a 3D-Printing board already, SGL may even become the de facto place to look for everyone 😉 Hopefully we can see the new board idea discussed soon... Ady