Turbocoo

Thanks for the replies. Re balance I should have said that I am slightly east heavy 

Alan, yes I do dither, I'll have to check my settings and perhaps program a longer gap between subs. 

HI all recently ive had to throw out far too many subs due to star trails

Due to my terrible skies I bought a 150 quattro to get faster imaging.

However losing up to 30% of subs due to trailing isnt ideal , besides throwing away for the usual reasons.

The following where taken on a belt modded heq5, 60mm guidescope, 150 quattro, asi 533.
 

Guiding was sub 1".

Ive locked everything down well to rule out flexure and balance is good.

Trails dont seem to follow any pattern and occur at random

any help much appreciated

An old thread I know but was wondering if anyone has the 3mm extractor for sale as they are out of stock and I was wanting to do the mod. Thanks 

3 minutes ago, Stuart1971 said:

Shining a good UV light on it for a few hours will at least kill it, and stop it spreading anymore, then you can clean it yourself with some Baader wonder fluid, assuming you can remove the cell and get to it, and also as long as it is a removable cell and won’t screw up the collimation….

Thanks, I have both uv light and baader fluid, it's separating the two lens that bothers me. Wonder if anyone had disassembled an 80ed lens cell 

Hi all 

Really need help here. My old skywatcher 80ed has developed a couple of fungus branches on the inside of the rear cell!

Any advice on how to get at this to clean it or should I send the whole cell off to a specialist. 

Thanks 

Ive been using the ts maxfied for a few years now and ive found no problems at all. No reflections and stars correct across the entire fov.

Ive recommended this cc on numerous occasions escpecially when i see people mention problems with the Baader spacing and tilt.

I use 56mm spacing with an Asi533 on a 130pds

Have to agree Billy, living on the north coast of Northern Ireland I'm more or less in the same situation as you. 

Woeful weather, not just the winter either. In one whole year I've had the observatory roof open all night, twice! 

It's made worse when I see some guy in South England whinging about how bad their skies are 😡

Sometimes I do question if the hobby is worth it, living where we do. 

Hi Martyn did you sell your equinox 80?

This is why I bought an az4, straight fit to an eq3, eq5, heq5 etc tripod 

Bubble nebula taken in August, rubbish weather since! 

Asi533 

Ts Maxfield cc 

Optolong L-extreme 

Well, look what we have here. The dew shield screws off with effort and heat from a dew band. 

Thought most of these scopes did not have a threaded shield 

1 hour ago, alacant said:

it's not threaded. Hair-drier for a few moments around its base, then wobble and pull rather than unscrew.

You're going to remove the lens cell anyway but its easier to remove the lens shield with the cell still attached.

HTH

Sorry to appear a bit dopey but are you referring to the rubber washers in the focuser as they are still intact. 

Secondly you say that the lens cell is "jammed into the end of the tube" but surely it is threaded on and I can't see any way to adjust for cell being jammed in at an angle. 

Thanks for your help and quick replies 

Bryan 

On 09/10/2022 at 13:19, alacant said:

Hi

We've yet to see a 72ed emerge from its tissue paper correctly aligned. Apart from the infamous impossible-to-adjust grub screws on the focuser collar and the rubber washers in the focuser, another popular cause of misalignment is the lens itself which is jammed into the end of the tube at an angle and tightened to death at the factory. Or conversely, loose and not threaded home.

The latter can easily be rectified by loosening the slotted retaining collar until the lenses rattles upon agitation of the tube. This allows the lenses to re-seat. Then, keeping the tube vertical, gently tighten the collar until the rattle just disappears. Finally, remove the lens cell (it unscrews) and clean any swarf or plastic bits which would otherwise prevent the cell from seating correctly.

Now go back and realign the focuser. You'll probably find that it will be back to its original position. 

Cheers and HTH

"another popular cause of misalignment is the lens itself which is jammed into the end of the tube at an angle"

I wonder if this is my problem? See previous post.

Thanks

Been having a nightmare with my 72ed too. top left and right of subs have eggy stars bottom left and right are fine. Originally had an OVL FF but i wasnt impressed so bought a Stellamira , things started to improve at 66mm spacing.

When my scope arrived collimation was out by 7mm!! Having adjusted the focuser to tube alignment, with those awful grub screws, I really cant tell where tilt issues are coming from. Three different dslrs all tell the same story.

As far as main lens cell is concerned my dew shield cannot be removed, when i try twisting it off, the entire lens cell starts to unscrew and its a newer version of the scope!

The scope was bought new from Camarthen Cameras at the start of August, I'm very tempted to return it. I've wasted very few precious clear skies( North coast Northern ireland For goodness sake), trying to sort this out.

Should have went for a WO 73 or similar

On 05/10/2022 at 11:03, Skyline said:

A smelting new Quattro 150P with the included bespoke coma corrector.

REALLY interested to know your thoughts on this. Im very tempted. I currently have 2 130pds scopes and was thinking of selling one and getting one of these.Thanks

1 hour ago, AstroNebulee said:

Very nice too 👍, your 130pds be better suited to this to grab more light and your tendrils (pillars are looking really good) 

Lee 

Thanks Lee. I'm crap at editing, only just signed up to photoshop and haven't really a clue what I'm doing. The image should be quite a bit better as it is 135x3mins 

Asi 533 

Optolong L-extreme 

BTW are you still at 64mm spacing on the 72ed? 

Best Bryan 

Had a go at that too with my 130pds. Still waiting on spacers for the 72ed. 

On 13/08/2022 at 14:30, AstroNebulee said:

Looking at your M31 images shows tilt too, only the bottom right corner looks ok to me when pixel peeping. 

I have the older (longer tube version) and use 64mm of backspacing atm 

Lee

Lee, 64mm!!?  9mm above the recommended 55mm. 

Are you satisfied with the field at that spacing? 

Besides my tilt I'm really having second thoughts.... Keep putting money and precious few clear skies into experiments with the 72ed and ovl ff spacing , or buying the dedicated ff, or returning the 72ed with its poorly supplied collimation and biting the bullet and get a something that can produce decent results from the get go with similar wide field. 

Best Bryan 

21 hours ago, AstroNebulee said:

Looking at your M31 images shows tilt too, only the bottom right corner looks ok to me when pixel peeping. 

I have the older (longer tube version) and use 64mm of backspacing atm 

Lee

Thanks Lee,  yes the tilt is really bad and you are correct, only 1 corner seems OK. 

I managed to get 2 subs rotated 180 apart here's the pics along with their respective curves 

Hi Lee seems I'm at the same place you were and it's doing my head in, especially as I have few clear skies. 

I've got the newer 72, ovl flattener, rotator and started with 55mm.

I also centered the focuser with the laser but my pics are rubbish. 

Any advice greatly appreciated. 

Tempted to send it back and stick with my 130pds! 

Post a pic of your star test if you can 

2 hours ago, Iem1 said:

Just the lcd screen on my 600D  

Yeah can do that easily on my 250d but not so on my 450d..... No tilt. 

It's much easier to do both cameras on my pc screen in the obsy but like I said, my monitor seems poor 

On 17/11/2021 at 20:58, alacant said:

Hi

If you're planning multiple sessions, simply leave the camera attached. 

If you really have to remove the camera, mark its position using adhesive tape applied to the interface between the camera and focuser that it be replaced in the same orientation.

Cheers

 

Im a beginner and have this problem. Can't rotation be displayed via software for dslr? 

On 22/11/2021 at 15:56, StuartT said:

Ok, a Bhatinov mask should be giving you good focus if you're really zoomed in on the live view.

Get more data and post what you get . Not sure where you are, but it's looking like another crystal clear night in southern England...

What monitor are you guys using (besides dslr lcd screens) to view and focus etc? 

ATM I'm using a 21 inch TV via hdmi from the pc. My canon 250d displays focus on the Canon eos software on x5 or x10 zoom 

Problem is the view on the TV looks very pixelated with the mask on 

I've seen lots of bahtinov focus screeshots with really sharp display. 

Any help appreciated