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Skywatcher Quattro f4 Imaging Newtonian telescopes

FLO

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MikeWilson

MikeWilson

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Thanks Steve,

I left it with Martin who is waiting to hear from OVL who in turn is waiting to hear from Synta in China.

I've also noticed the baffles move (rotate, not like they're going to fall out) and there might be some debris on the mirror (no big deal, will hopefully blow off when I check centre spot).

First light review in progress - will post it when we get a clear night.

All the best,

Mike

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FLO

FLO

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Okay, I think I have a handle on what is happening.

The 8-inch and 10-inch Steel Quattro Imaging Newtonians are available from stock and are packaged with the correct tube-rings.

The 8-inch carbon-fibre Quattros are here in the UK but due to a packing error at Synta they have the wrong diameter tube-rings. They have been put aside until the correct rings arrive. (Only the 8-inch carbon-fibre model has the wrong tube-rings, the steel tube models are unaffected and Synta will no doubt ensure the 10- carbon-fibre model has the correct rings before they are dispatched).

In some instances Synta appear to have also forgotten to pack the finderscope but they are readily available so can easily be dispatched separately.

The 10-inch carbon-fibre Quattro telescopes have been delayed, they are now expected around the 2nd or 3rd week of September. I have contacted all but one (waiting for him to return from work) of the customers with backorders to offer our apology and a free Bahtinov focusing mask. They are all happy (relatively!) to wait :):eek:

For what it is worth, we are every bit as frustrated as you as we have a long backorder list for Quattro telescopes :)

Thank-you for your patience,

Steve

Glad you mentioned that, Steve, as I was considering going. Will FLO have a stand with things to look at? I was quite interested in seeing a GT-81 and one of the Quattros in the flesh.

Definitely, James, Martin and I will be at the South West Astronomy Fair this coming Saturday. We should have a Steel Quattro and hopefully (they are in very short supply!) a William Optics GT-81 refractor. We will also have a number of other telescopes and accessories setup.

Hope to see you there :headbang:

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Tim

Tim

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The 10-inch carbon-fibre Quattro telescopes have been delayed, they are now expected around the 2nd or 3rd week of September. I have contacted all but one (waiting for him to return from work) of the customers with backorders to offer our apology and a free Bahtinov focusing mask. They are all happy (relatively!) to wait :):)

Aaarrghh! Wish I hadn't ordered and paid for a mask now! :headbang::p

Steve, IF they DO come in on time in Sept I might need you to hold on to mine until we return from Kelling. We are leaving on the 21st Sept.

I assume they ship them from China via container, to arrive mid sept they should be loaded/loading around now I guess.

Cheers

Tim

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MikeWilson

MikeWilson

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The 8-inch carbon-fibre Quattros are here in the UK but due to a packing error at Synta they have the wrong diameter tube-rings. They have been put aside until the correct rings arrive. (Only the 8-inch carbon-fibre model has the wrong tube-rings, the steel tube models are unaffected and Synta will no doubt ensure the 10- carbon-fibre model has the correct rings before they are dispatched).

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the update. Do you know when the tube rings are coming? I've got an 8" CF that's somewhat cocked to one side :)

Want to swap some proper tube rings for the 200P set that I've got? :)

Cheers,

Mike

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Tim

Tim

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Hi Mike,

Just took a good look at your star test pics. The size of the star varied little from centre to corner which was good to see, however you will notice that in the bottom/top right corner star test pic the star is slightly out of focus, and more so than the stars to the left hand side of the pic. I would guess that might be down to collimation of the focuser which may be holding the camera at a tilt.

If you have a Hotech laser, look down the tube and make sure the dot is hitting the secondary dead centre of the focuser axis, probably in line with the spiders vane if the spider is mounted central to the focuser. With the laser slightly loose in the focuser, wiggle it a little to observe the motion at the mirror. Or you can remove the secondary and insert lined paper in the top of the tube and see where the beam hits in relation to the focuser.

May also be a combined collimation error where the secondary is slightly rotated off square and then tilted too much to compensate. You can't really see that error with a laser, need a chesire etc to see it visually.

Thanks again :)

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MikeWilson

MikeWilson

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Hi Mike,

Just took a good look at your star test pics. The size of the star varied little from centre to corner which was good to see, however you will notice that in the bottom/top right corner star test pic the star is slightly out of focus, and more so than the stars to the left hand side of the pic. I would guess that might be down to collimation of the focuser which may be holding the camera at a tilt.

That's interesting, I thought as much although it is giving much better results than my 150P did and the Baader MPCC appears to be holding up perfectly well at F4 and was not adjusted coming from the F5 scope.

If you have a Hotech laser, look down the tube and make sure the dot is hitting the secondary dead centre of the focuser axis, probably in line with the spiders vane if the spider is mounted central to the focuser. With the laser slightly loose in the focuser, wiggle it a little to observe the motion at the mirror. Or you can remove the secondary and insert lined paper in the top of the tube and see where the beam hits in relation to the focuser.

Spinning the laser around (it's a Revelation Astro laser), the dot is central and if it moves it hardly moves at all. I haven't removed the primary mirror to check that the central circle is correctly placed yet (although I will - there's some annoying black stuff on the mirror - probably just debris from the factory and I can blow this off at the same time).

Collimating the secondary was difficult, however. I had to tighten two of the collimation thumbscrews very very tight and all in all it took about five minutes to get it right.

After then adjusting the secondary mirror I thought that I'd make sure the (wrong) tube rings were tightened up a bit more and I tightened them just *slightly*, which had the effect of throwing the primary mirror way off again and it needed collimating again.

Needless to say this scope is far more demanding of collimation than my previous F5 one at about the same focal length.

May also be a combined collimation error where the secondary is slightly rotated off square and then tilted too much to compensate. You can't really see that error with a laser, need a chesire etc to see it visually.

I don't have a cheshire but will look out for one to check for that. I suspect that there may well be a combined error given how tightly I had to adjust the screws to get the secondary collimated correctly.

But overall the error is mild and I'm pretty happy overall.

I haven't done a first light yet but my feelings so far are that this is a very good scope with excellent potential, let down by some rather poor parts (e.g. cheap screws) and fitting. Not to mention the packing missing finderscopes, rings, etc.

All the best,

Mike

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MikeWilson

MikeWilson

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Hehehe :). Seriously, my mouse finger keeps hovering over the "add to basket" button, and knowing Steve has steel OTA's are in stock is just eating away at any resolve I have left!

Do it. :)

The steel ones might well be easier to balance than the CF version - and given that they have the same mirrors and focuser, I'd say they represent incredible value for money. If you haven't already got one, you may need to add a coma corrector to the basket too. I have the Baader one and it seems to work very well.

The focuser is actually quite nice to use and didn't shift perceptibly at all while fine focusing.

All the best,

Mike

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Black Knight

Black Knight

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Do it. :)

The steel ones might well be easier to balance than the CF version - and given that they have the same mirrors and focuser, I'd say they represent incredible value for money. If you haven't already got one, you may need to add a coma corrector to the basket too. I have the Baader one and it seems to work very well.

The focuser is actually quite nice to use and didn't shift perceptibly at all while fine focusing.

All the best,

Mike

I already have the Skywatcher coma corrector for my F5 200p, so I believe it'll work OK with the Quattro ... still .... I ... must resist .... :):D:D

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MikeWilson

MikeWilson

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I already have the Skywatcher coma corrector for my F5 200p, so I believe it'll work OK with the Quattro ... still .... I ... must resist .... :):D:D

Holding out for the CF version? :)

These are very good scopes on the whole.

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MikeWilson

MikeWilson

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Hehehe, no, just trying to resist full stop :). TBH, I would probably find it hard to justify spending the extra on the CF at the moment. However much I might want it.

Sell stuff to fund it, that's what I did :headbang: It also helped that James at FLO put one aside for me while waiting for approval from my finance director.

Thanks to everyone who purchased something from me in the last month :)

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Tim

Tim

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Go easy on the collimation screws Mike. Remember, when you loosen one, tighten the other two, tiny tiny fractions. You won't get the results you need with over tight screws.

The f4 tube will indeed be trickier to collimate than your 150P! But once you are certain that the basics are right, ie. spider set right, focuser square, centre dot central, then it shouldn't take too long to check the rotation and tilt of the secondary and a quick tweak to the primary. When you have had it all to bits and checked the tightness of the mirror clips etc you can start to relax a bit over some aspects :)

When you do remove the mirror cell, could you please take a pic of it, from front, side, and rear if possible? Cheers.

Tim

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