DaveL59

been a few days, but after lots of frustration getting the L-shaped casing to get a nice even finish, I ended up sanding it back hard and getting it nice and flat, then rather than burn thru hammerite white spray, went with laying a few coats of grey primer and then smoothing and repeat, to get a better surface finish. So on with white hammerite smooth spray and several coats later... at last, no sags in the paint and finish is pretty smooth too! Mind it was cooler too so maybe that helped a little So into the curing cupboard it went today with the rest of the parts and I'll wait for a week or so for it all to harden off. Still to sand the focuser and OTA carrier and try a paint-pad to hopefully get a less brush-marked finish, when I obtain the pad I'll revisit that bit as it shouldn't take long - unless its a total fail in which case lots of sanding back to do lol

sounds better if its a screw on cap rather than a part twist type

I have the 222 and it is very good, can be bought relatively cheap off the bay quite often and spare quick-release plates are inexpensive too. I overhauled the 222 and retouched the paint so it's like new and cost me under £20. Paired to a Giottos M5570 monopod (also off the bay) which has the option to use feet to stabilise, and these are stored in the lower section of the monopod. It extends to well above head height for me (5ft8) and even more so with the 222 on the end. The monopod ain't light though but is very stable even when extended and handles my binos easily with a bracket in place of the camera. Should add here - the 222 you will need also a 3/8-1/4 tripod screw adaptor to fit it to a regular photo tri/monopod

sounds interesting, one of those miniature jam jars perhaps, or the slightly larger ones that stores use for things like mint sauce? Only risk there tho is the heat relaxing the grip of the lid and the jar working itself loose. Tho a strap under it might help retain it in place.

I see this one is around again, different wording a couple days back along the lines of "selling on behalf of my company... contact me..." so I guess some bidders as having some fun with them https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Meade-14-inch-f10-LX200-R-GPS-Coma-Free-Telescope-UHTC-Catadioptric-w-Tripod/283872998174?hash=item421826331e%3Ag%3Az8EAAOSw5NJetukF&LH_ItemCondition=7000|3000 He's got 2 of these listed at the moment and a nice pair of binos too https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ZEISS-Germany-20-X-60-S-Image-Stabilization-Binoculars-with-Aluminum-Case/283872998222?hash=item421826334e:g:09kAAOSwhw5etukH

ahh doh! mixed the terminology, my bad (corrected)

cool, so you're using the camera afocal prime focus in that case, hopefully someone with the right expertise will be able to advise with that information

ah ok, but using an eyepiece in it? or just using it as an extension tube?

are you using eyepiece projection to capture, or just the DSLR in afocal mode? Can't answer if a reducer or coma corrector is needed but I'd think if eyepiece projecting it wouldn't help at all.

the observing vest looks handy too, better than slipping the EPs in my pants/jacket pocket when I swap them over. A vest used only for observing would at least limit extraneous debris that might gather in a general purpose jacket and be better for the EPs... hmmm

doh! I totally missed that lol yeah and its green all year round too 🙂 just those damned slugs. Will have to go round and check the lawn at my Dad's soon and mow that again tho.

well its a case of little option in my small garden John, the patio segment is next to the shed under a pergola and the oak tree reaches toward it too, so a very narrow range of view from there restricted to NE and having to aim over the house roof which is only 40ft away. The ground under the astroturf is rock solid so the scope sits fine and stable, depending where I place if I can view ESE-SSE as objects rise into view, or W-N shooting over the higher fence and roofs. Another bonus too, no muddy feet traipsing in and out of the house, the gear stays nice and clean

not so much snails, but here I get a load of slugs in the garden, somehow they seem to love the astroturf. Always a worry when the scopes are out in case they find their way into things, the slime is a right mother to clean up, almost as bad as catching eels. Worse still they seem able to find their way into things and cause havoc with electronics. One found its way into the catflap control section, electrocuted itself across the board which rendered it broke and leaving the kitties locked out till I found out what caused it. Took me ages to clean it all up and then it had scrambled the kitties ID codes, they were seriously unimpressed at having to be held and passed under the reader in what was, from their protesting and look at me, such an undignified manner. I bunged up every opening I could find with blutak and so far no further infestation. Does leave me a little paranoid about the SynScan tho so I try to keep cables off the ground or run off battery so there's no easy route they can sneak along in the dark.

in some ways sadly the don't make 'em like they used to... tho optics have improved greatly of course

looks in great condition John and circle-T is I think Towa, its one of the things I look for when I scan sales ads for older fracs as they're generally good quality. Shows in simple stuff like the focuser knobs being solid ally rather than the plastic type you get on later ones.

as ledge1962 above said, if the encoder isn't working properly when moving the scope manually, then maybe the encoder is the problem, in which case the GoTo isn't sure where the mount is pointing and just goes "wierd". You'll need to have a look at the motor/encoder to see what's up and if it can be fixed.

love how the older gear used to come in a nice wood case, makes for easy storage and transporting as well as having a classic look.

used with an RCD of course...

they'll probably just say we look like dalek's with those long bug-eyed things poking from our heads

ahh a nice age to get them interested then And yeah, just like we used to figure out the VCR controls that our parents couldn't get the hang of I expect I played about with my gear in daylight a lot before going out in the dark, just so I got an idea of how things moved and the controls, same with the GoTo on the EQ5. Always easier when you can see what you're doing/looking for than frustrated fumbling in the darkness. Dark sites, I'll be honest I've not looked. My back garden albeit with the limitation of the oak tree that obscures SSE-SSW completely while small is reasonably dark and the viewing has been pretty reasonable. So I've been a bit lazy to trek around, plus I'd like to sort some form of case/box for the refractor rather than just strap it on the back seat and hope it stays put. For the moment, convenience wins, easy setup by taking them from the conservatory and a couple steps into the garden, or just point out the door, amenities like warm drinks are a few steps away etc, getting to be a lazy old g1t huh

the EQ mount would likely throw them when trying to point to a target but other than that they're sturdy enough I think, depending on kids age and height. A bumper on the end of the counterweight bar might be a good idea tho. But then again, you'd end up relegated to the travelscope once they take over the "proper" one lol I'm Medway/Maidstone area by the way, there's quite a few kent based here I've noticed

think they've stopped asking "please turn it on, sir" like they used to, brings out the naughty side of me as last time I was asked, I replied "sure, not a problem, but surely if it was a B... then we'd both be stuffed..." CLICK Don't try that in the states tho, no sense of humour their lot

Welcome Phil. The SW130 you have, is the battery pack 4xD-cell and a single RA motor drive like this one? Quite likely it is in which case a jump start pack like that will not suit since your clockwork drive would be 6v. Connecting a 12v jump start pack would fry the control box so please don't try that. The battery box isn't great but should work so long as the wires are still connected and the battery contacts are clean. Do you have a meter to check there's voltage at the terminals and the plug at all? You might notice I have mine switched to S rather than N, the way the motor fits onto the EQ2 means it drives the opposite way to the instructions or the scope ends up tracking the wrong way.

Not asking for assist here folks, just been re-working my 12v converter as I had to nick the floating cigar plug for something else a while back so while putting in an alternate solution earlier this eve I thought I'd grab a few pics and share. After all this often comes up so it may be useful to someone down the road. So For my EQ5/SynScan setup, it needs a 12V 2A supply to be able to slew and not drop out with undervolt issues. I also wanted another 12V out in case I want to hook anything else up, at the moment a modified mini-CCTV that uses 12V power. At home I can run a mains lead out, sure, and use a regular 12V 5A power brick, which as you can see gives a correct output. But that means a mains wire and isn't always convenient. So portable power options then - Lead batteries are a no, I use way too many of those in UPS's, they're heavy and having to recharge after use each time etc is a drag. LiFePo are way too expensive for me given I'm pretty casual at this lark, as for those fancy powertanks, way too pricey for what they are IMHO So a simple cheap, lightweight solution that's easy to swap out once worn out, a LiPo car jump starter, in this case a 20AH one that has 12V out and 2x USB out, plus USB micro/C in for charging it up. It came with a cigar socket outlet as well as the car battery croc-clips so I can plug the OEM cigar lead for the SynScan directly into this and away we go, right. NO, don't! Here's why Now in theory the SynScan (mine according to the manual) has a 15V max limit, so here we're teetering on the edge of maybe blowing the boards? I wasn't going to risk that, given how expensive new boards would be. So the solution, put a buck converter between the LiPo pack and the SynScan controller. So my setup is LiPo pack -> Cigar outlet -> SynScan Cigar lead -> buck converter -. SynScan module power-in. As you can see, the buck converter drops that LiPo pack output to just a shade under 12V, so a safe level to feed into the SynScan controller boards. Yeah that inline socket with screw connectors ain't ideal I know, I do have some moulded ones on flyleads... somewhere in another black hole that formed in the house after I put them down Now if I'd got a starter unit that had a regular 5.5x2.1mm or laptop output as well it'd have been even simpler to wire in lol So a side concern, perhaps, what happens to the output on that mains power brick should we get a surge or it starts to fail? So just in case, how about feeding that through the buck converter too as a failsafe? So there you go, a simple 12V 5A buck converter with a couple plugs on flyleads to hook to the mount and camera and a socket to connect to either the LiPo starter or the mains brick and I should now have peace of mind that the power source won't blow the SynScan boards. Works very nicely too, no idea how long continuously as I'm not imaging or running dew heaters or fans but the battery level hardly drops with a couple hours play time slewing and tracking. Yet to hook the CCTV which will be an extra 0.5-1A draw. Hopefully useful to someone else, but also hopefully a prompt to check the output voltage of this type of battery pack before hooking them straight to your GoTo controllers. cheers

Might be best to just enjoy using the scope visually until we're out of our restrictions and then go along to an astro club and get someone there who knows how to take a look and advise/show you?