spillage

I would suggest going larger rather than smaller. If I could redo mine I would actually use svp, my current pipework is just way to small to take any more cable.

Thought it was a coconut. ?

I would just like to commend Terry on excellent service. I damaged the pcb board on my old filter wheel and contacted SX hoping to be able to purchase one. Terry got back to me very quickly offering to get me a price. I emailed him a few days later to see if he had managed to price one up for me and was offered a free board because of his delay in responding. Now that is great customer service well above and beyond what I was expecting. I will definitely be looking towards Starlight Xpress kit when mine needs replacing.

I am with Noah on this one. Having a display mount side really helps allot. I was lucky as my garden shed it only about 5m away so I managed to run vga and usb cat5 extensions to run the mouse, keyboard and monitor from there. Just having a headless unit to start out with can be a real pain. The only thing I would add is that if you can do without wifi then don't bother. It will just cause you extra issues along the way.

I have always found my focuser on the 130 solid and hang off my 1600 and sx filter wheel from it in that orientation.

If possible run cat5 from you existing router in the house down to your kit. You can buy a length of cable from ebay ready to go with connections cheaply or make your own. Just grab an old wifi router, turn off dns (some setting will also need to be made for wifi) and plug your network lead into this. You will then have spare connection ports near you mount and a strong wifi signal. I just house a cheap £50 desktop and router next to my mount in a waterproof wooden box. I can then run this via team viewer from any location.

@RolandKol Nice round stars. What type of corrector are you using. I have constantly had tilt and distance issues using the baader mk111.

Most hard drives these days are at least 160gb. I am also sure that the mint setup comes with gimp installed. On the subject of install space and windows vs linux then linux will win hands down as it uses much less space than windows. In the UK I have installed a standard pc in the garden sat inside a homemade wooden box. It sits just off the ground and has been running for over 6is months without issues. I plan on using an old laptop to install linux and give ekos/indi a go and see if I like it, then maybe change my entire astro system over to linux.

And then the added complication of where you are gonna put the files from your ap sessions The same place you would with windows. With linux they state install should be 9gb vs windows who state 20gb. The thing to take into account is that whilst linux has advantages it also has some disadvantages compared to win o/s. You have to decide if its worth it but also give it a fair go. It took me a few years to settle with linux as everytime I tried it I found myself giving up. I have overcome these issue mainly due to the software developing more each time I tried.

Not very much space at all. With Mint which is a version of Debian (ubuntu) the recommended disc size is 9gb but 20gb is recommended. I would just like to add that I have been running Mint for maybe 10 years now on my main home pc. Why have I kept it? Reliability, in this whole time I have only ever had to reinstall it twice and both times it was due to user error. I know I can turn on the pc and use it.

Have a look here for instructions on how to make a bootable usb stick. This will work from ubuntu and mint. I am sure that is you run it from the usb in live version then you may have issues connecting via wifi. This is normally resolved when it is properly installed.

I have found that linux can be a bit of a steep climb to get things up and running and not just click and go like windows. The main thing to consider is that once its up and running you never need to do anything else and it will probably run for years untouched. I hate using windows and the last update screwed up loads of drivers for me and this cost a day to put it all right. You need to ask yourself if spending so time spent to have reliability is worth it. I am sure GIMP is just as effective a PS but I do find very little in the way of guides for GIMP but I guess its just a case of not being as popular. Currently I have a new pc to install at home for day to day use but will be looking at installing it with indi/kstars and see how it goes. If I like it I will swap it over with the one running my astro kit and then be microsoft free.

I have just made a wooden frame that just covers my mount and largest scopes. This is clad in waterproof roofing felt and one end has a velcro flap top to bottom I just pull back the velcro flat, tip back the frame and I am ready to go. I do use bungee cords to secure the frame to the pier to stop it moving. Not very pretty but does the job I need it to do.

If this works well then the price is very good. I love my eq6 wedge and the movement when tightening it all down is easly dealt with especially when using the polemaster.

Just had a text from the other half that this has arrived. App the adapter was for an eq3 which should be the same as the eq5 which should fit the neq6....well fingers crossed anyway. But as it was a bargain I am not too worried.

Hi Wilko do a cheap self-adhesive felt that you can use to flock the scope and also placing thick card on the rear mirror helps with light leak. Mark.

I do not use an oag (yet) but could the mirror be too far up. No really sure on aligning the oag but do you no have a threaded ring you can add to lock it off in the position you need.

I would agree with @Stub Mandrel the belt mod will remove allot of the mechanical issue from the mount and spending some time with drift align will iron out the PA. The polemaster will only improve your PA and the original mechs will still give you the same issue even after adjustment. I would also bear in mind that the belt mod is about 1/3 of the price of the polemaster. Mark.

I think to be really honest the best you can get is round stars.. I can spend many many hours drift aligning, balancing fiddling with phd. I have managed to get down to .40" but average .50" - .75"ish but at the end of the day its the images I produce that are important not the numbers. Still considering trading up my old qhy5 as I am convinced this would help bring the numbers down. Mark.

You can use a small steel plate and fix this to the main part of the mount (in front of the lug). I used expoy resin behind it, this will mean the bolt will not have to go in as far and lessen the angle of contact. Mark.

Have you made sure that the focuser is aligned (if this was removed). Mark.

Looks like a good time to install the belt mod??

You might find if you regrease the larger bearings that they will be okay and just replace the worm bearings. If you use astrobaby's hypertune sectioin (not sure if its on the heq5 but is on the neq6 section) then you will know what thickness of teflon to order. I also found if you do not have the washer on the top of the brass worm gear then the axis will be too tight as the outer collar can rub against the mount. ps I have asked about teflon washers here before in the wanted section and a very kind member sent me a few for free. I should have some hanging around. If you let me know what sizes you need I can try to find them and you can have them foc if I have the ones you need.

Work in progress. Lots of issue with flats and focus was out. Tried to remove double refraction's but this has caused an issue in M43. Also tried star reduction but this caused the middle of loads of stars being removed but not the outer, so looks like loads on donuts. But though I would still post it.

In apt you can set this using the flat assistant in tools. Just tell it the adu level and which filters to use. It will run and then add an new flats setting (under the light settings in the camera tab). I think. sorry its called ccd flats aid. If you want it to create a plan make sure that box is ticked.