Quetzalcoatl72

I noticed something very interesting, when slewing to the west, there is no backlash but westerly it starts grinding

The grinding is gone hurray! but there's a slight knocking sound on start up and before the stop.

aaaaanddd it's back, it either grinds or has binding, i can't have neither 

5 minutes ago, Stuart1971 said:

The RA sounds exactly like it should now....but DEC is still not right......

Thanks, at least I can leave it alone, I didn't do anything different with the DEC, but I'll try the grub adjustment.

26 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

I didn't say it was normal. it is common though as I've heard several EQ6s and a few HEQ5s make that sound at start and stop of slew. Granted it's not ideal and in the video above it is quite bad, but it should be relatively easy to minimise with adjustment of the spur gear mesh which may improve the guiding on its own (as seems to have been done for the RA with the new video posted). It is the ticking/crackling noise during the slew I'd be more concerned about. 

Actually just re-reading the second post by the OP which says that they couldn't managed 3 min exposures with "perfect guiding". If guiding is perfect and stars are dodgy then there is nothing wrong with the mount... differential flexure is your issue. 

I had to look up differential flexure, that sorta makes sense, because different objects yielded different results, m81/82 was better than m51. I was using this extension tube because I couldn't get focussed. However my new scope that i'm testing the gears on has never been used, tonight I plan to have a go and see if collimation has survived the transit and see if my workings have payed off. Currently trying to get that grinding sound out of the dec, that's all. Is the spur gear mesh method the same as loosening those 4 screws and adjusting the grubs then tightening the screws because thats what i did with RA to make it solid. DEC is even more solid with no backlash so I didn't bother with those.

Come to think of it, i was having problems until my camera fell off the scope...

48 minutes ago, Stuart1971 said:

This is not right at all, I had this mount a few years back, and it was nothing like this one, it was smooth with just the hum of the steeper motors when slewing, and no noise when it stopped, I can assure you those “coffee grinder” noises are NOT normal....

The gears looked ok to me, nice and firm when they rotate no slipping, the grease flys off when they rotate anyway so it's not like i can get the teeth fully drenched

The RA sounds better imo, DEC still needs work I'm not sure what to do, i feel like the more I mess around with it the more chance I'm going to ruin a £950 piece of equipment. The humming sound is new, I don't know if that's a good thing.

10 minutes ago, Stuart1971 said:

You can’t tighten the gears so there is no backlash, all bears need some backlash to work, you have to find the balance, also you have to,take into account the colder temps at night this will cause binding if the gears are too tight, and yours obviously are...maybe you should have  posted this on the thread you already started about the noises your mount makes...as we are providing info on there for you.....🤔🤔

I couldn't find out how to delete this topic when I realized that mistake as I thought that thread was deleted as I couldn't find it and I also noticed how stupid I was because after posting I did a little test and I felt dumb because the scope was moving at rate 2, it was just so subtle that I couldn't see it without making a marker to check movement. I'll continue to post progress on the other topic, a new video.

30 minutes ago, AllanJ said:

The clicking might be a balance problem - try moving your counterweights to see if that helps - it solved it for mine when I changed the scopes, etc but didn't re-balance properly. Mine seemed to be worse when counterweight axis was about horizontal.

It's hard to get balanced, when pointing scope diagonally down is moves straight vertical, same with scope pointing up.

I had horrible crunching noises in both axis, I cleaned the gears and relubed, they sounded great, gears solid as a rock, turn smoothly. Now when I put them back all hell broke loose, the RA had no coffee grinder noise but DEC still does. I have 0 backlash on both axis but the mount wont budge at rate 2. I'm so lost and need help, feel like giving up hope.

10 minutes ago, Stuart1971 said:

No, that does not sound correct at all...something is wrong with the worm gears, without opening up hard to know exactly what....🤔🤔

Is it the crackling I mentioned or something else? I have been struggling to get a 3min exposure with perfect guiding

Pardon the bad footage, phones are terrible for that. I'm testing my new RC8", I've never had a scope heavier than 5kg on this NEQ6 mount, so there's a good 10 on there and that's without full accessories. It makes a crackling sounds on start up and before it comes to a stop. Is that a problem and if so how do I fix it?

5 hours ago, The Lazy Astronomer said:

Ok, well that's good news, because an RC is still on my wishlist!

I might have just "accidentally" bought one, I hate it when that happens lol.

1 minute ago, johninderby said:

Same scope but don’t forget the import duties and taxes if ordering from Germany. 

Fair point especially with brexit now, there's a lot of sites like these where I'm not sure where it's shipping from.

6 hours ago, lukebl said:

I started that thread about my struggles with Ritchey Cretien collimation, which vlaiv referred to earlier. I would point out that one significant positive thing about them is that they hold their collimation extremely well, so I’m not sure where you got the idea that they need constant collimation.

Despite my trials and tribulations, I have now mastered RC collimation, which is easy once you get the hang of it! I take it on and off the mount frequently when swapping with other scopes, and it never needs re-collimation.

What is the difference between that first RC you sent and this one I found https://www.astroshop.eu/telescopes/ts-optics-ritchey-chretien-pro-rc-203-1624-ota/p,46250?utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=46250&utm_campaign=2103&utm_source=froogle&utm_content= other than being 99£ cheaper, same specs

35 minutes ago, The Lazy Astronomer said:

Well that's what I thought, but more than one person said they just don't hold collimation very well at all. I like to spend my limited imaging time actually imaging, rather than resolving problems (ha! An AP session without problems - imagine that! 🙃), so I was put off it for now.

To be honest, collimation seems to be a thing to do for all newts and similar scopes, so we'll all have to go through it eventually I guess. Might get used to doing it too! I've spent countless hours working out what scope I want so I don't waste money and to be honest, every single scope has problems. I've made my decision, will probably be the TS Optics Ritchey-Chretien Pro RC 203/1624 OTA

26 minutes ago, The Lazy Astronomer said:

Ritchey-Chretiens are definitely deep sky imaging scopes (hubble is a Ritchey-Chretien!). I was very tempted to get one because they seem very good value for their size, especially when compared to a comparable Edge HD from Celestron, but was put off by others bemoaning the constant need for collimation.

Surely if you're just using it in the garden and being careful when picking it up, placing it on saddle and packing it up it should be fine right?

18 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

I replaced focuser on mine because stock focuser does not come with threaded connection and I had issues with tilt with all of my accessories. I think that threaded connection is a big plus for imaging rig.

I'm not sure where you read that it is primarily lunar scope - that must be CC (Classical Cassegrain) - or this one:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/stellalyra-telescopes/stellalyra-8-f12-m-lrs-classical-cassegrain-telescope-ota.html

These are different scopes - first one that I linked is F/8 RC type scope. Second one, is F/12 CC type scope.

First one is better at DSO astrophotography, while latter is better suited to planetary / lunar imaging although it can work as DSO imaging scope - but with smaller field of view.

Do pay attention to exact model as the very much look alike and have the same price.

600D has 4.3µm pixel size and if you get that x0.75 Reducer, or maybe this one:

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p8932_TS-Optics-Optics-2--CCD-Reducer-0-67x-for-RC---flatfield-telescopes-ab-F-8.html

for that one you can use with 61mm distance instead of 85mm to get x0.75 reduction. I don't recommend that you go with x0.67 reduction for APS-C sensor as you'll get strong astigmatism in corners. In either case

you'll get 1.45"/px if you use superpixel debayering - which I would recommend. That is very decent all around sampling rate. Close enough for small objects and with enough FOV to capture larger things. Some things may need mosaics.

In the end, I need to warn you about collimation of this scope. You mentioned that you don't like collimation - well this one has tricky collimation. I did not find it particularly demanding but people have struggled with it. Some seriously enough that they ended up letting go of the scope.

Here is some light read on that subject:

 

 

I'll give this some thought, I'll most likely be keeping the 600d for quite some time, unless it breaks, then I'll get a CCD which I already need anyway as I don't have a planetary camera. The planets of late have been very poor in the past few years, however will change nicely in a couple more. As long as my new scope is better than the C5 in both deep sky and planetary I'll be happy.

18 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

8h does not happen in one night - you need multiple nights to get that much data. Yes, I know - that is a problem, but that is a cost of light pollution.

If you want to image emission type nebulae like Rosette, Veil or HH - use UHC type filter. It blocks most of the light pollution and passes light from these targets. Problem is that you won't be able to get proper star color with such filter. You can either shoot separate images just for star color and do some gymnastics in PS to blend that in or settle for strange color stars.

Do try LP filter - I've used Hutech IPS P2 and it helps quite a bit. With LED lighting - LPS filters are not as efficient.

SCT-s are not good imaging scopes, even reduced. Internal focusing is a problem even with focus lock. OAG is solution for that. But you really want EdgeHD instead of regular SCT if you want to do DSO AP.

Maybe take a look at this scope:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/stellalyra-telescopes/stellalyra-8-f8-m-lrs-ritchey-chrtien-telescope-ota.html

You'll need a focuser upgrade if you are sensitive to focuser quality. I replaced focuser on mine with:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/ts-focusers/ts-25-rack-and-pinion-focuser-m90.html

You can use this to reduce scope to F/6:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/reducersflatteners/astro-essentials-075x-reducer-for-stellalyra-gso-ritchey-chretien-ota.html

 

 

That scope looks really sturdy, and as for the focuser that should be ok because a typical newt has it on the side which I'm guessing is mainly why they need to be replaced with a sturdier one. I probably wont mind the diffraction spikes because it gives it a sparkly Christmassy feel to it :D. It does say it's primarily a lunar planetary scope, but I need big pixels? will the 600d be ok in that regard?

23 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

Ok, that now makes much more sense.

Your worst enemy is LP - you live in very high LP area - SQM around 18.5.

I know how that feels - as I also live in SQM 18.5 zone.

Fact of life is that you'll need a lot of exposure time. I mean a lot.

This is two hours with 80mm scope and cooled dedicated astro camera. With additional 1.5h, and some careful processing - I believe you would match or even surpass this result with your setup.

In order to get really good image - we would need to image, say 8h, or even more in SQM18.5

 

That looks right actually can notice similarities, 8 hours though, a clear night of 8 hours? What are the chances of that happening without interruptions? So what would I expect from nebula? Orion is easy any LP can image that because it's so large. Horses head, rosette, veil and other wispy gas is what I'd like to see. I tried to image the Pleiades and I've seen people get spectacular blue gas around the stars, which has never showed up n my camera. That is basically my goal in the long run to capture something like that. I do have an expensive optolong LP filter that I haven't used yet till I get my adaptor, I'm hoping that would help, was recommended from 345 astro site. In regards to making a choice for a new scope since I'm used to a SCT and the c925 having a large aperture I've seen people get reducers to take it down to a f6.3.

5 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

Are you sure?

First image looks like it might be taken with ED80, but second one looks like it was taken with camera lens, maybe 100mm or so lens?

I must have it all muddled up you're right. I checked the info of that picture and it says I used a 70-300 Lens which is what I have but I really cant remember doing that, I must have had it piggybacked on my ED80 for some reason. The first one was taken the same year at a different time so it must be the ED80

2 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

I'm trying to put my finger on what would be most beneficial to your imaging.  I'm still unsure what to recommend to you as I don't fully understand your AP needs.

So far I've gathered that you want large aperture scope capable of all sorts of targets. You have considerable budget. I'm inclined to say - go with about 1200mm of FL and use super pixel mode on your camera.

That would mean 10" F/5 Newtonian - something like SW 250PDS.

However, that is large and heavy scope and long focal length. It is not something that I would recommend unless you have enough experience to handle scope like that for imaging.

You've shown image of 30 minutes with ED80 and you mention that you can't get color out of Rosette. I tried to look up where you might be living and only Nissan plant that I've found is one in Sunderland. If you live somewhere south of there - you are still in red zone - that whole area is in pretty heavy LP:

Gradient in your M81/82 also suggests presence of LP.

What you need is more total exposure - as @The Lazy Astronomer already pointed out. Large scope will certainly help if you can manage it and process data appropriately, but I'm wondering if I'm doing you a disservice by recommending such a large and demanding telescope?

 

I'm in Washington which is just below the pink zone, chances are I'm permanently living here. Very rare chance at the moment to get out somewhere because I rely on my mother who likes my hobby but doesn't like driving too far in the dark as a don't drive. I don't mind a heavy scope as long as the NEQ6 mount can take it, my issue is collimation and focussing. I've had a 200P newt but I sold it because the focuser was rubbish and wobbly.

The first image was from the C5 and it was only 4 or 5 pictures stacked
The second was from the ED80, again only 4, 4 mins
Due to time constraints and many other problems I was only able to capture so much, and I have a habit of bouncing between different objects, It was my first time imaging at a dark site so I got too giddy.

1 minute ago, vlaiv said:

Ok, I can see why you might not get along with C5, but what would be your objection to ED80?

I'm keeping my ED80 as the picture was taken with that, it's just not going to be great for planets or smaller nebula. I've used my C5 for a lot of things, mostly planetary. Below is a gif I created from images using the c5 and asi120. I can post others to show you what I imaged as well
 

1 hour ago, dannybgoode said:

A focal reducer for my scope would cost the same as a nice 60mm ED triplet and even then I would still be struggling to fit it in so would rather get the smaller scope  .  Plus my scope is heavy and I want something more portable for a grab and go.  If you are not seeing colour etc then it is down to the imaging process.  What camera are you using, what exposure settings are you using, what software to control everything etc?

If you could post a sample image as well so we can see what you are managing to capture

single frame of 3 minutes 800iso

59 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

So you have EQ6 and C5. That is what we know so far.

What camera are you using?

Are you guiding or not and if yes - how?

What is your processing workflow and what is typical total exposure time for your images. What is light pollution level at your location (you mentioned garden exclusively)?

canon 600dA, using a 120asi to guide, I don't know the exact pollution stats but It's very rural with Nissan factory floodlights in the far north distance. I can show you an image of 30 minutes total from Thursday night with my ed80. I have a new "filter and x2 barlow I haven't used yet because I don't have a proper adaptor for the camera that fits 2"