Adam1234

It's my 29th birthday today 🎂🥳 so I've treated myself to the QHY Polemaster, due to arrive in the post tomorrow. Hopefully I can then get better polar alignment than I'm currently getting using the polarscope. How accurate polar alignment can one expect to gain from this? Any tips on getting the most out of it? I next plan on upgrading my mount soon, with the aim to get better tracking, as I'm unconvinced of the quality of tracking on my current mount ( had a look at the gears earlier and they seem a bit jittery), and as I'm into imaging, I'd like good tracking (yes I will eventually get into guiding - one step at a time). I'm thinking of the Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro https://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-mounts/skywatcher-eq6-r-pro-synscan-go-to-equatorial-mount.html It's clearly going to be much better than my Meade LXD75, but thought I'd see what other peoples thoughts are on this mount? I was debating between this and the NEQ6 Pro, but it seems like the EQ6-R Pro has an advantage over the NEQ6 Pro with the higher payload & belt driven etc. What do you guys think? Worthwhile getting this one?

Welcome and good luck with the stargazing

Wow brilliant!

Nice image there

Hi and welcome

Hi and welcome

I'll look into that, thanks Carole

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I definitely lost some sleep over it the other night, I was up until about 11 PM attempting and failing to collimate, and was miserable the whole of the next day due to the lack of sleep and the frustration. At least I'm getting somewhere now though.

Hi all, so following on from my previous post on help with collimation, I have taken advice and bought a collimation cap which is much easier to use, and I can actually see the mirror clips (which I couldn't with Cheshire). Below is a picture of my efforts using the collimation cap, please let me know if this looks good... But... if I then put in the cheshire, it then looked like this: However... what the cheshire shows seems to depend on how I tighten up the screws on the eyepiece holder and i can put it in again or apply some movement to the cheshire and end up with this: Then if I put in the laser it also shows to be off, but again the laser shows up in a different spot each time putting it in and if I move it slightly or change the way I tighten the screws. So the question is, which method is correctly showing how my mirrors are aligned? Is the view through the cap correct? And is my collimation ok? Thanks Adam

Incredible image

Yeah I did that, and placed another bit of paper behind the secondary. It seemed to look as if the secondary was centred under the focuser, but I'll double check this evening.

Good luck!

I know the feeling, it was driving me up the wall when I was trying to collimate yesterday, thought I was going to end up turning into the hulk. I've been trying to unscrew both thumbscrews by the same amount, then screw them back in at the same time to see if that helps, I've not reached a conclusion as to if this helps at all though.

I've now got a cap on order so hopefully arrives soon. In the meantime I made a makeshift cap using a bit of paper with a hole in and taped it over the eyepiece holder. Not perfect, but as you said I was able to see the walls of the focuser, and I could also see the primary mirror clips which I couldn't with the cheshire. How are these efforts? View with makeshift collimation cap (you can even see the sheep on the kitchen blind 🤣): View with cheshire:

I'm glad you posted this, I'm having this exact same issue with the laser shifting with the thumb screws, I'm getting it with my cheshire eyepiece too. Makes you wonder how to tell if the collimating device itself is in the centre of the focus tube.

That's one of the things I'm struggling with. I don't have a collimation cap. What's the difference between the collimation cap and cheshire (aside from the cheshire being a long tube with crosshairs).

The only other thing I can think of then is ensuring that you're dark and flats match the light frames. Sorry I can't be of much help

Have you registered the files?

I've got the Meade 6 inch Newtonian I bought it 2nd hand over Christmas and I thought it was about time to check the collimation with my Cheshire collimating eyepiece (this one https://www.firstlightoptics.com/other-collimation-tools/premium-cheshire-collimating-eyepiece.html) and it did appear to be out of collimation, but I've just made it a hell of a lot worse by trying to correct it. It's the secondary mirror I'm mostly having issues with. The primary seems easy to adjust, but I wasn't convinced that the secondary was 100% right so I tried doing some adjustments and I've made it worse and just can't seem to get it right. I do have a laser collimator but need to check the collimation of the laser so have mostly been trying to use the cheshire. Another thing that is frustrating though is I'll put the cheshire in the eyepiece holder, tighten the screws, but then I can move the cheshire around by wobbling it even though the screws are tight and it makes me wonder how do I know if the Cheshire itself is central to the focusing tube.

Hi all, I'm really struggling with collimating my scope, and it's making me really frustrated. I've read every set of instructions and YouTube videos going and just can't seem to get it right. Every time I think I've got it in collimation, I take a closer look and realise it's not. Is there anyone in or around the Southampton area that would be willing to physically show me how to get it in collimation? Thanks

Welcome to the forum

Incredible! I'd be jumping and down with joy until my legs gave way if I got an image like that, well done.

Looks very nice

Ah I think I see what you mean now.