RolandKol

It will be challenging to PA without experience and without Polaris.

If you think, you will need to hide the rig each morning... I don't think it's worth the pain....

However, if you will be able to leave the rig outside permanent, -  it is worth a battle and 100% possible.

You will spend some time adjusting the position, learning PHD2 drift alignment, - but at the end you will manage to do it properly and will be able to have subs 5min or even longer, -  if needed.

Handset does have 3 star PA, but it will not be enough... At the end you will need Laptop, EQMOD, PHD2 to pin point PA.

My first EQ mount position was without Polaris, - it was very difficult and frustrating initially, as I had no one to advice and I had to break through all the ice alone.

If you will be confused, or not sure if you do something correctly, - drop me a line.

15 minutes ago, Adam J said:

I can 100% confirm to you that you will not have sufficient back-focus to accommodate the clicklock I tried it and it did not even work with a Baader MPCC MKIII and that does not change the focus position like the SW CC does. By moving the primary mirror an uncomfortable distance up the tube I was able to just...and I mean just reach focus with my LRGB filters but I was not able to reach focus with my thicker astrodon narrowband filters. I was not comfortable with leaving the primary hanging like that as I did not believe that it would hold colimation. 

You could try pairing it with a Explore Scientific Coma corrector as that moves the focus out 3.5cm....but that's an expensive game to play. 

Adam

Thanks a lot for confirmation Adam!
It looks like my upgrades are done for now....

Looking for the last upgrade.

Baader ClickClock looks luring...

Has anyone tried it with SW CC which is also 0.9 reducer and ASi1600MM?

That lock is 30mm, - I afraid my ASi  will not get in focus with it while focuser is Fully IN.

6 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

I use Photoshop + paints Shop pro

Unfortunately, - no idea.... I am a complete "Vacuum" in the Photoshop...

49 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Here's a question... in RGB the OIII part of the Rosette looks a sort of washed-out red compared to the Ha parts.

Is there a trick with selective colour or similar I could use to turn it blue with being overly artificial?

Not sure which software you use,

in Pix, you can run Color Mask script to generate Mask for each color and brighten the part for OIII.

In this case, I was actually made to push it very hard... as most of my OIII subs went to the bin ;(

"Workinprogress"
My OIII was a complete rubbish... had to crop a lot ;(
A bit overcooked, but I like it
 

OK!  So at last I think I have managed to finish off the collimation of the secondary

My tests on the bright stars from yesterday are still waiting at home, but a short stack looked very very promising!

Thanks all for any advice given!  happy!

Also... As lots of here are with 130PDS plus ASI or Canons, - been thinking maybe someone is interested in teaming up on the same target?

I have created a topic below,  - drop a line if you are interested!

9 hours ago, kens said:

I know how it works - I wrote it  It is a digital Bessel filter with a tuneable cutoff frequency.  Unlike the other algorithms it has flat response in the pass band and no nodes in the stop band and being a Bessel filter has linear phase response. The filter is fourth order so approximately 24dB per octave suppression above the cutoff.

It is the ability to tune the cutoff frequency as a function of exposure time that makes it useful. By allowing short exposure times you can reduce latency but still filter out the high frequency seeing-related deviations.

Sounds like adaptive guiding algorithm to me  I have completely forgot PHD has different options to choose

Will test my NEQ6 on your "Z-ombie" algo tonight if weather allows  as my mount went mad and does not want to guide properly on 3sec, - however on 1sec it works quite good, - around 0.55 Total RMS.

I doubt it can perform any better, but.... "curiosity killed the cat"

by the way, - why Z?

It looks like strongly overcorrecting...

Try reducing guide pulse down to 1000...

And maybe enable the time lapse option adding 2 or even 5sec delay

Yep! all nice

tried it before moving to SGP   (around 5 months ago) and it did not want to recognize my ZWO filter wheel

I was unlucky and was made to cash out a bit ;(

1 hour ago, Uranium235 said:

I meant tweaking collimation slightly to get the corner stars perfect   Three are acceptable, one is a bit "meh".

Hi, do you use simple Cheshire for collimation?

I struggle a bit with my secondary... My Cheshire is just a bit Wobbly in and results are bit "luck" dependant.  
 

Loosing my patience...

I made a bad decision... Just before putting OAG on, decided to collimate my secondary for the last time...

Now I simply cannot get my stars back  I tried to change camera and CC spacing 55mm with +-2 and +-1mm using darling rings...

result is more or less the same as below.... I thought I have somehow managed to over-tighten the primary during collimation... loosening the bolts did not help...

a bit confused what has caused this.

If you have no option to step up and get HEQ5 level mount, check for a second hand one. 

As sooner or later, Exos2 will not be enough for you expectations.

On another hand, if you will put Camera (for ex. Canon) and 135mm or maybe even 300mm Canon lens on it,

It looks like this mount will be more than enough to download quite a nice images from the sky without any telescope 

To summarize,  - it will mostly depend on what rig you are planning to put on the top. 

Hi DS, I will completely agree with Alan and support any of his advises.

Just keep in mind the main points while choosing another one:

1) Payload, - mount Must be able to carry some extra, not just the scope. if you will try diving into astrophotography, you will add camera, field flattener or coma corrector, guiding camera, guiding scope, few meters of USB cables all other around.

So that extra payload should not be just 1kg, but the More is better  probably 5kg extra as minimum.

2) all specifications about gears/belts, amount of stars in the memory, WiFi, -  are completely irrelevant for the entry level mounts, - the main quality is Ability to track without errors (or probably more correct, - with as much little errors as possible).

For short Focal Length scopes up to F10, Skywatcher HEQ5 (which is a bit better than a simple EQ5) has proved itself as one of the best entry level mounts for Astrophotography.

So keep the level of specs of HEQ5 as a starting point. 
If you still need AZ option for visual, there are even AZ/EQ mounts (two in one) like this one https://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-mounts/skywatcher-az-eq5-gt-geq-alt-az-mount.html

In Skywatcher brand, they are usually more expensive as they are like End Of the Class and usually considered a better quality.

P.S.

You have not mentioned which scope you plan to add on top. If not decided yet, try keeping F value low as Entry level mounts will not be able to guide properly at longer focal lengths.

P.P.S. As per WiFi, if you will try using one for AP, sooner or later you will run into some problems (guiding and reliability related, AP software connectivity issues, plus - not sure which camera will allow you to download images from it directly via WiFi) and you will Stick USB cable back, leave laptop next to the Mount and control it via another laptop using TeamViewer or similar option.

2 hours ago, spillage said:

I would just get a 10mm t2 extension and a pack of delrin as these should have three 1.0mm spacers allowing you to gain the extra 2mm with more left for fine tuning your cc.

I just looked at it once again... And these will go between CC and OAG... 

in such a case... OAG will go almost directly to EFW and I will not be able to focus a guiding cam.... as 11 mm will disappear which are now introduced by that bloody ZWO 11mm ring... 

thanks a lot!!!!

Will give a try

6 minutes ago, spillage said:

I would just get a 10mm t2 extension and a pack of delrin as these should have three 1.0mm spacers allowing you to gain the extra 2mm with more left for fine tuning your cc.

what is the delrin?

4 minutes ago, spillage said:

I sure this is the set I brought along with some delrin spacers.

thanks ... It  will take 6 weeks to come.... plus these are 2 in one (like 11mm+2mm from my picture), so I will need a 12mm which is not in the set
what a headache..... 

Hi guys,

Can anyone advice the naming or even post a direct link to the 10mm or 9mm T2 spacer/extender?

I cannot find the analogy as in the picture below, -  it is 11mm one, - It's a bit too long for my optical train (SW CC>ZWO OAG >ZWO EFW > ASI1600).

10 hours ago, jjosefsen said:

Well no I didn't expect it to be as plug and play as a frac, or everyone would use one. Part of the reason I got this one, but went for a higher end CC was that I wanted to see how I got on with a reflector, expecting to do ok, and then to go for something like an 8" F3.9 if it worked out.

That plan is on hold for now ?

I think my problem is with the secondary still..

The extra speed of this scope is very nice to be honest, and nice to work with.

If you will decide to go for a Cheshire, - keep in mind.

Once you are close for mirror to be in the center, adjust the middle bolt very very slightly...

It took me probably 10 or even 15  times to do all from the beginning and I was ready to bin the scope with all accessories all together  I even thought my Cheshire is bad or something

But in fact... I simply had to be much more delicate, especially close to the center.

130PDS is a nice DIY toy with very rewarding results

I see only one problem in your case, - you did almost all mods in one go!  

So a bit mote patience and you will not bin it... As per F3.9... I even afraid thinking of it after my battle with the secondary at F5...

If I will ever get one...  I will probably skip the flocking mod...

30 minutes ago, jjosefsen said:

Pheeew so I had the 130p-ds out last night again.. So far this little project is proving extremely frustrating!

 

The other day I spent all night redoing collimation as I still didn't have great stars, and suspected tilt.

I recentered secondary, adjusted tilt in focuser, and got what I believed was a good result when looking down my concenter eye piece.

Flats were also looking much better and evenly illuminated, so I figured I was good to go.

 

Last night I set up, and immediately I had what looked like wrong spacing in my CC, didn't have this issue before! Took camera, fw, and CC back ind, took it apart, meassured it and it was correct - 55.5mm..

Back outside camera in and now it looked ok again, but stars in the corners had strange artifacts. I spent an hour checking collimation again with eyepiece and defocused stars and it looked fine in the center of the image..

Finally I chucked the laser collimater in, and it was off - I adjusted it with the laser and took anokther shot - suddenly the stars were pretty good all around!! ?

Attached is the unedited RGB master of M37, only 30m of each channel..

Stars look a bit funky towards the bottom right still.

The thing is when I check collimation through my concenter just now, it looks completely bonkers and nothing like I would expect!!

This thing is driving me mad, and I am just about ready to chuck it in a box and dig out the good old ED80...

not sure about concenter, 

but  secondary mirror is a real battle... especially without experience... but once done, - do not touch it anymore!
I was not able to place back my secondary for awhile.... I even though I bough a spoiled Cheshire  or my focuser is way off... but it looks like my battle is won
btw, your 7 sisters looked very nicely, not sure why you were not happy with collimation at that time?....

16 minutes ago, souls33k3r said:

Cheers steppenwolf, precisely why i raised this point. It might be a good starting point but that's there is to it. If i hadn't run in to this issue last night, i would've blindly been following the diagram myself and suggesting.

And then there is that Of course ... in the grand scheme of things CCD Inspector is the way to go forward but nothing beats the good old fashioned eye

I do agree!
CDD showed 20% curvature on one of my stacked images.... I simply was not able to notice it by zooming/checking and etc... So whats the difference if you do not see it??? 
Anyway, if someone is a perfectionist and has plenty of clear skies to play around with that thingy -  why not.

Nice start!

And by the way,

some image tilt and other details can be collected using CCD Inspector.... 

It has trial, - so use it smart and check vids for tutorials before the install.

I still even have not investigated the abilities of bridging in my Mega S, - but so far... I have noticed it is not very capable even with 25mm Bridges.

To be honest, I always printed on default settings with a minor tweaks in temp and primary layer speeds,  as I even could not imagine longer bridges are possible to print without any supports

I had no time to check settings yet, - I hope Ultimate Cura has something in addition, for example: lowering temp while printing the bridge and increasing the speed.
 

OMG  Could not resist not to share here

Could not stop watching!   plus nice music
I need start calibrating my toy 100%!!!!