Jkulin

No Probs Just PM'd you the drawings

When I had mine built there was many discussions about having the pier level and that no flexure could occur with needing levelling nuts and bolts, I think it was referred to as a rats nest, so I had the concrete poured level 75cm x 75cm and I built a level frame work and ask the builder to make sure that he levelled the concrete to the wooden frame, a week later its solid and the pier bolted down. any levelling is corrected by your polar alignment.

Not a pain at all, glad to share.

No Probs, I'm not going to comment or post any more on this thread, for the reasons I posted above.

Just PM'd them to you Tom,

From what I understand Peter said that he could only offer the specific hand built OTA's on his website at the moment as he is developing a high end quality Newtonian that he is not ready to launch yet. He actually read his reply to me which was along the lines that his quality Newtownians were in development and not ready for market, not that he can't , only that it is in development. So he gave you a straight answer from what I understand. As for lacklustre response, he has been away for virtually 4 solid weeks with very little sleep working through the night setting up an army of new scopes at E-Eye in Spain, he hasn't seen his wife or son for ages, give him a bit of a break.

If it helps I can give you the plans for my pier that a mate designed for me: -

As I mentioned Peter has been in Spain all last week and only flew back yesterday, he stopped in at my place on the way home this morning and mentioned that once he has seen his family and unpacked then he will reply accordingly.

To be honest although I had a tripod I never used it as I have a pier, so I can't advise from that perspective. The centre balance is really quite unique. For those that asked the iOptrons use Commander, which at first looks quite basic, but I found it very simple to use to get excellent results, when you launch it, it asks how do you want to connect, e.g. RS232/USB or Wi-Fi/Ethernet and then it launches the main program where you can activate various pop up dialogues: - Hope that helps?

I have found the contrary iOptron would appear to underestimate the capacity, I really loaded my 60 up and it didn't even flinch. The IEQ45 will be discontinued in favour of the CEM40. With regards to the Comparison to the EQ6 range, the CEM40 would be the best comparison, but it does come at a lot more dosh.

I believe Rainer is on the iOptron CEM120 Google group, in fact it may well have been him that posted the launch photos on there.

Altair Astro have been the main dealers for a long while, so worth giving either him or FLO a call or email.

No Probs Rich, Peter is world renown for his skills in Astrophotography, Orion use him when they need a scope troubleshooting or setting up, I've just got off the phone to him as he is currently in Spain setting a complete armoury at Remote Scopes at E-Eye, this is his 3rd trip in as many weeks setting up I think it was 9 systems, here's a pic he sent me the other day from Spain: - I wrote Peters Powerpoint presentation for the PAS show and here was just a few of the magazines he was published in: - Peter has been plagued with requests for Newtownians, so he has launched a range based on his skill set and knowledge, I've mentioned to him about photos but between travelling to Spain regularly and with the launch of his business he's just plain run out of time. I hope that explains a little, he's a bit of a specialist, oh and a good mate as well ?

Thanks Ian, I don't use a hand controller as I control direct from my laptop, there is a procedure within the handset to do a polar alignment but I have never looked that closely, but having just had a read of the 120 manual which is bound to be similar, I found this: - So effectively not much different from a 2/3 star alingment.

I assume you didn't read my post then?...

I mentioned this to Peter, he grabbed that image as an example as he does a load of dev work for Orion, his will be custom designed to your spec, thus why he has no photos yet.

I was about to hit the button on buying a Lacerta as they are beautiful pieces of kit, but you do need to ensure you go for the 3" focuser and corrector to get the best out of it, I only stopped when I realised that it was going to be outside of my budget and then Peter Shah launched an optical range at www.656imaging.co.uk and his Newtownians are coming it at a rather good price, so I am holding back to get my shekels together to get one of his 12" Models.

Just seen this on FB: - I've heard a bit about their electronic Polarscope, maybe there will be one on show at the PAS this Saturday.

Morning Dave, On what grounds have the council rejected a dome, its a temporary building easily removable, so it confuses me a little. I'm still waiting until after the PAS to have a chat with some companies this weekend, I may even evaluate building a wooden structure with a dome, but my preference is a octagonal summer house with a sliding roof, have you thought of anything like that? I'm no carpenter, but I'm fairly certain I could build the structure and then work on the roof design.

That was exactly my thought James, at a pitch from 1.95m to 1.55m there isn't a lot of room.

I bought mine from Altair and on good seeing nights it was below .2"RMS, but I would say it average between 0.3" and 0.4" I've now upgraded to the 120EC and am hopeful of even bitter guiding.

Sorry Rainer I don't understand what you mean?

Yep the design is just like a smaller CEM60, the images seem to indicate that it has encoders on either axis, I do hope so as I may well get this in the future for my travel imaging. If it is anywhere near as good as the CEM60EC then it really will steal the market place.

IOptron have just released photos of their new CEM40, it looks truly gorgeous, no great details available yet, but loads of pictures at: - http://bbs.imufu.cn/thread-779999-1-1.html I had to laugh about their comparison photo against the HEQ5, the sticker on the side cannot be repeated on here, but for those interested then check the link out. http://bbs.imufu.cn/data/attachment/forum/201902/06/163335vg943117qqm31qjg.jpg I know Ian at Altair had mentioned it a couple of times, but I didn't realise that the launch was that imminent. Weight is about 6Kgs, carrying capacity about 40lb, this has got to be an option for the Travelling Astronomer. Here's a google translation of the page: - http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fbbs.imufu.cn%2Fthread-779999-1-1.html It will be very interesting to see the prices and options when it is available.

From what I know Dave the primary on the ODK is not an easy retrofit without stripping the whole lot down, the secondary was just a wrap around affair but it still meant running the power feeds across the vanes, which wasn't what I wanted, so that was why I ran the copper strips.. My RC is running perfectly fine with just the fans on the rear and the secondary dew heater.