Craig a

I have the same scope and went with a moonlite cr2 focuser, its excellent can carry a bit of weight and no flex, what I did too is add another tube ring to stiffen the tube around the focuser even though it’s carbon fibre it’s not thick carbon so the tube can still distort from the weight of a camera but if your visual only no need to do that 

Beautiful image and really well controlled, what gear was used to grab these fabulous galaxys?

My neq6 has been outside under a telegizmos 365 cover  for about 4 years, I just take the cover off every now and then to let it “breathe”, temperature shouldn’t be an issue mounts can take some big temperature changes, take people who live in the likes of Canada who lug their gear out from a heated house outside to -30, I’m glad my mount is outdoors permanently makes setting up a 5 min job 

+1 for off axis guiding, I tried for months and months with a separate guidescope on my 10 inch Quattro, differential flexure was my problem, I got a zwo OAG and guiding was much much better 

Just to note I have had a couple of nights with my new spring and silicone mod and yes it’s much much better at holding collimation at any angle 

2 hours ago, david_taurus83 said:

Sorry to thread hijack but my issue is kind of relevant. I disassembled my 200P mirror cell yesterday (managed to loose hold of the screwdriver somehow on the mirror clips and scratched the primary slightly 🙄😤😭), gave the cork pads a blob of silicone, some new springs etc and reassembled everything. However on reflection, I think I have tightened the clips too tightly. I have read elsewhere that it is common practice to be able to slide a bit of paper between clips and mirror so to avoid pinching. This may be OK for observing but how about if the main goal is imaging? @alacant should I keep the clips in firm contact with the mirror or allow a tiny gap?

A very very slight gap like the thickness of a cigarette paper, the silicone will hold the mirror perfectly well so some never put the clips back in but I like abit of security just incase, best be safe than sorry 

The mirror still needs to be allowed to expand and contract during changes in temperature so the sealant needs to be elastic enough to allow this 

I used grip bond pro for my 130pds and my Quattro 10inch, that has worked with no issues whatsoever, just ensure the mirror and cell is grease free before you stick 

I vouch for the 533mc pro it’s an excellent camera, the square sensor is actually great for framing albeit it’s smaller than you’d like but I’d class ot as the little brother of the 2600, same pixel size etc, the 294 is particularly picky with calibration frames but once mastered it produces quality images also, there is a recent vid on YouTube on mastering the 294 calibration, at least 3 second flats it’s one that’s mentioned 

On 15/12/2022 at 11:00, Rob said:

Sorry to hear this. If it were me I would re strip down, and swap those ceramic bearings out anyhow. I did my Heq5 this year and purchased the best I could for bearings. Mine had various issues.. including having to rubber mallet off the RA bearing. It was a horror show. Needless to say once all back together and set its now running like a dream. 
 

you will get to the bottom of it I’m sure!. Good luck.

Rob

My neq6 had the rubber mallet treatment too for an hour 😂

But all is well once back together and tuned backlash it’s running great 

Yep I’d check the Bayer matrix pattern 

Some of my favourite things to image and look at are galaxy clusters, I did the Perseus galaxy cluster this week, although not as spectacular to look at as some of our own galaxys show stopper nebulas, there’s just something about these images that gets my mind working overtime, and the fact that the photons took all that time to get to our cameras sensors is astonishing there’s no way on earth that there isn’t any other life out there I refuse to believe it😂

well done for having a crack at this 

That’s a lovely image of m42, and from a fellow Quattro 10 user that’s nice to see, you pulled some nice detail in the clouds 

this is my first image since doing a few more mods on my quattro 10cf over the summer, including upgrading the primary mirror springs to stronger ones and also siliconing the primary to its cell. its also my first image with the starizona nexus 0.75 reducer/coma corrector bringing the scope down to f3 some call it a poor mans rasa, but adding a 600 quid nexus isnt a cheap accessory  😂

guiding was abit of a pain had to bin a few subs but hey ho

taken with skywatcher 10cf reduced to f3, asi 533 mc pro

106 x 2min subs 3 hours ish 

im quite pleased with the nexus reducer dont think its done a bad job for 3 hours on these faint galaxys please feel free to comment, please bear in mind that this is a jpeg version on here and astrobin as im too tight to pay astrobin for premium that allows larger png files to be uploaded to it so for the moment im stuck to uploading images under 25mb

https://astrob.in/lsb1t6/0/

1 hour ago, AMcD said:

I went out to check the mount when I got back from work.  The DEC worm was immovable until I ran a hair dryer over the DEC axis, after which it began to loosen.  I guess the grease has become very sticky in the extreme cold.  I plan to reset the seating of the DEC worm tomorrow and will look to clean and re-grease the mount this summer.  @Xsubmariner, what lubricant do you use.

It is interesting that everyone is having issues with the DEC axis but not the RA 🤔

The Ra is constantly on the move so the gears are  pretty much always meshed but the dec is fixed until a guide command is issued so if the gears have contracted away from each other slightly widening the meshing it will cause problems, that’s my thinking anyway I could be talking absolute garbage and looking for something to blame 😂

5 hours ago, AMcD said:

I wonder whether contraction of the metal parts was my issue.  The DEC motor continued to respond to commands but the DEC axis did not move.  In the circumstances, I wonder whether a set screw shrunk sufficiently to loosen the connection between the motor and the worm shaft such that worm shaft was slipping within the connector.

It was the dec that was causing my guiding problems the last two nights too, I do think the gear and worm contracted away from each other slightly, won’t know for sure till I get a warmer clear night 

I was out the last 2 nights, it was -6 everything had a coating of ice but it all worked ok, my kit is permanently setup outside under a telegizmos 365 cover but when I got in after work and looked down the Newtonians tube the primary had started to get ice on it, quick defrost with a hairdryer on low heat and was back for imaging again, to be honest it’s becoming rare to get temperatures as low as this for this long in England these days, everything is running on mains electric though, two laptops one by the scope and an old one in the house where I sit and control it all through AnyDesk, so I was actually watching the subs roll in from the couch 

One thing I did notice though is that I had abit more backlash than usual, I might be wrong but I think the gear and worm probably shrunk slightly due to the cold 

11 hours ago, tomato said:

Nice, I never knew there was so much dust around the Cocoon!
 

I think the checkerboard artefacts are a result of how the star removal software works. Other imagers have reported seeing them, but I have only seen them once with StarXTerminator when clearly something went horribly wrong with the processing…

Bloody hell that center of frame has demons faces in it, if that came back at me I’d have thrown the lappy in the fire and called an exorcist 

Sorted, it’s now sat on its silicone blobs on the kitchen worktop fully loaded with new springs 

2 minutes ago, alacant said:

No. Apply a generous blob of neutral silicone to the cork, degrease the underside of the mirror and place it (don't push it) back in the cell. Leave it on a level surface, that a silicone sample of approximately the same mass, taken at the same time, reverts to its original shape when distorted: ~24h @ 20° ambient.

HTH

Cheers, the springs are fitted and mirror is cleaned thought I might aswell while it’s out, just waiting for the mirror to dry before I give it the silicone treatment, I will still put the mirror clips back on for peace of mind 

1 hour ago, alacant said:

It's the only way we've found of preventing the mirror sliding in its cell as the tube changes angle. If you're concerned about the mirror falling from the cell, just leave the clips in place.

So my mirror was on 3 round bits of cork, do I get rid of the cork and put a blob of silicone there instead? 

On 03/11/2022 at 07:18, alacant said:

Hi

10" Quattro, so 1.6 x 15 x 20mm from here. Specify the size in the comments section at the checkout.

+1 for the three passive springs too; six in total.

Besides the springs, perhaps the best upgrade on a Quattro is to seal the mirror to the cell using neutral silicone sealant; a generous blob coinciding with the existing contact points. This prevents lateral movement of the mirror whilst still allowing for thermal expansion and contraction. If you have the steel tube, this benefits from a longer Losmandy dovetail plate. Complete the tube stiffening by fitting a rigid box-section aluminium profile to tie the top of the rings

If you're aiming for the best possible stars, use an OAG too.

Conclusion: a Quattro which holds collimation at all angles. Not just the one at which you collimated.

Cheers and HTH

I have the carbon tube version that I’ve fitted 355mm losmandy plates top and bottom, regarding siliconing the mirror to the cell, is this safe with such a heavy mirror? I did it on me 130pds and had no worries on a mirror of that size but I’m abit more nervous about doing that to my Quattro?

I already use an OAG I think this is a must for any Newtonian really 

11 hours ago, RolandKol said:

Hi mate, I would disagree about default springs on SW...

Not sure about Quattro, but my 130PDS primary holds collimation almost rock solid... Simply collimate it fully back (away from the secondary), - as much as possible, - in my case even locking bolts are not used and collimation is the same as springs are squeezed almost to the limits.
Another question is the focuser.... SW use quite cheap ones and yes, each time you put something IN, you get a slightly different view, - it may be to due tool locking mechanism, drawtube tilt and etc.

Do not hurry, check the focuser first, - check via Cheshire once it is vertical, later once it horizontal, take it out, put it back and check again without moving the scope at all.

Hi there, the mirror on the 130 is much lighter than the 10 inch in my Quattro my own 130 is fine with collimation, I Carnt see the focuser being at fault as I’ve fitted a moonlite to it, it’s been squared etc it’s been a pain to hold collimation since I’ve have it, for the cost of new stronger springs it Carnt do any harm and it gives me somthing to do while the weather is giving us all misery, thanks for the input 

6 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

I'd have thought that, if you used a blowtorch on a spring, you'd change its metallurgical temper and, potentially, ruin it. I'm sure someone with metallurgical knowledge could give us chapter and verse but I wouldn't be too casual about heating a spring, myself.

Olly

I’m hoping my measurements were near enough that I don’t need to do any heating or cutting, fingers crossed 

but I think you are onto something about heating a spring, I do know that heating metal re aligns the molecules or something along those lines, when I dig up bent fine silver coins metal detecting and want to straighten them heating them up and plunging into cold water before straightening stops them getting splits etc 

Ok springs arrived today and blimey can hardily compress them with my fingers 😂

will have a go at fitting them this weekend and report back