Tenby2

Thanks Peter, I will try a few other fixes, tried nylon washers. But PTFE tape, not thought of that. Just seems a lot of weight on 2 bolts bearing down on knurled rods particularly when I put my phone holder and phone on the bins, obviously unbalancing tbe mount

Thanks for the response. I was considering an Omegon head, bit cheaper as money tight atm. And yes the quickfinder is great saves time and easy to use. Only other bugbear with my model of the 6.3s is they only take the dedicated eps, 20x, 30x and 37x. Older model I presume although adequate I think I could squeeze a bit more magnification out of them and am trying to source, without any luck, pair of reducers of some kind as the eps measure 1 3/8" instead of the regular 1 1/4"!

Hi. I need to buy a new fork mount for my 6.3s 20, 30 or 38 x 100 because the one I have now keeps slipping! The grubs screws and knurled bolts are worn and imho difficult to replace. I'm not sure who made the supplied tripod or fork mount as they were given to me a few years ago. I've been looking at a few fork mounts priced around £260 - 550ish. Then I read about fluid heads but think my bins may be a bit on the heavy side for them. Can anyone recommend a fork mount suitable for the 6.3s?

I'll be looking at the Nirvanas and could buy one at a time as opposed to getting a 'set', I am an impatient soul at times, wrong hobby you might say, but if they are that much better then the extra will be well spent. Thank you all for your 'spanners' 😂👍

I'm hoping from what I've read are bit better a buy that the Svbonys! Thanks T Clanger look very nice but at almost double the cost of the Opticstars I'm wondering if it's worth the extra expense. Also the 7mm and maybe/definitely the 4mm could be asking too much of my 8SE which is my only scope atm. Tempted as I am and not quite ready to splash out, albeit more of a drip, until mid September ish as my work is soon to kick off after virtually nothing for the past 16 months.

I was looking at the SWA series http://www.opticstar.com/Run/Astronomy/Astro-Accessories-Telescopes-Opticstar.asp?p=0_10_5_1_8_320 probably just the 10,15 and 20mm eps as budget is limited.

Thanks a good read. Seems to me the Svbony could be the way to go, probably the set of 4, the 6mm maybe too much for my C8 but as cheaper to purchase than 3 individual eps and as soon as my work returns to some kind of normality I'll be buying a small refractor, but that's a decision for another day. I'd like to find some more info on the opticstar eps first though I'm sure I read somewhere they are Meades!

Hi. I'm hoping to buy probably 3 wide angle eyepieces, probably 9,15 and 20mm. Either Opticstar or Svbony. Maybe the Syvbony set of 4 works out cheaper than buying then 3 in some cases and includes a not really wanted 6mm ep. I use a C8 on an 8SE mount, sometimes on an EQ5 mount. Budget is limited as you can see. I just can't decide which of the above to buy! Which would you guys suggest? Or maybe there's another brand I've not even thought of! Thanks in advance Marcus

Hi. getting back to my giant Helios bins. The tripod, although adequate, seems to have a weak spot. The 2 thumbs screws, top, holding the bins in position are not holding as well as they should. especially when I add my cell phone holder. They just screw down onto a knurled rods going through to screw into the binoculars. The bins aren't centred on the mount you can see they are back heavy. I'll post some pictures to illustrate. I might need a better type of fork mount to support the bins. I have seen the Explore Scientific U-Mount jobbies, ruddy expensive! Picture on the right shows the cell phone holder attached.(great cell phone holder by the way). Any suggestions please? Mark

Thanks Stu, excellent shots. No nightcap that I can find on android. Maybe there's an android equivalent

I will try that too Neil, cheers

Yes I am the NexYZ. I'll try again using some of the manual settings thanks

Hi. I have a Lunt LS60TH B1200 which I usually mount in my Celestron 8SE mount which tracks just fine. For now I only have use of a mobile phone for a camera, that will change hopefully soon. The views of our star are fabulous although sun still relatively quiet but can't seem to capture anything decent using my phone which is quite a fairly new Pixel 4a. Always seems overexposed. I presume there may be some apps on android to help but I can't seem to find them. Has anyone tried similar? Any tips will be greatly appreciated. Mark

Thanks, given me an idea 💡 before I wreck a perfectly sound tripod.

I still need to apply some varnish😏

Nice, I made a wooden one too but found it a bit cumbersome. Am hoping to fit aluminium parallelogram to standard tripod

I've built a parallelogram from 20x20mm aluminium from a design below and can't work out how to fit the parallelogram securely onto the tripod. http://www.janvangastel.nl/Astronomy/binocs/binocs.htm Has anyone else tried this and can help? Thanks. I can see from the above there's something there, bit of wood and some metal. But can't see the details which are not on the link either! The tripod I have is a First Horizon 8115 and supports my 16 x 80s no problem. Also wondering if I might need a stronger tripod to support the parallelogram too. Cheers Mark

Cheers, worth a try

There is a gap of around 2-3mm around the 1 1/4" standard eps. As I said maybe there are reducers of some kind available somewhere. I might email Helios

I have a pair of very much used Helios 20x100 BT binoculars and was wondering if 1 1/4" (31.75mm) eyepieces can be used with some sort of adaptor? They came with 3 pair of dedicated eyepieces with measure 1 3/8" (35mm) Mark

I'll look them up, cheers

Not yet

Sold the mount just waiting to sell the 925 OTA. I bought a 8SE in the meantime and managed to some observing last week. I forgot just how cold you get. Also how prone to vibrations the 8SE mount is. Any suggestions to help stop this? I will buy suppression pads for the tripod, there are so many out there, with prices varying from £15-£80 I wonder if there's really a great deal of difference justifying the prices! And how much they will help stop the vibrations. Any advice always appreciated.

this is what I've purchased

I have decided to bite the bullet and buy my friends Lunt 60mm double stacked pressure tuned scope with EQ5 pro mount and some other bits and pieces for the price my friend is asking a new set up for the same would be nowhere near as good and will buy the 8SE in November. Thanks for all the replies much appreciated. I will return with some pics asa I've mastered the equipment hoping to catch the transit of mercury