EQ3-2 set-up?

[Stargazer33]

Hi, I am hoping for some help on setting up my EQ3-2 mount. Sorry if this thread has been posted before only I couldn't find anything on the subject using the search option.

I received my mount yesterday after buying it through UKAB&S and I am really pleased with the stability of it and the fact that I can track objects by just turning one knob. I was using a camera tripod with pan/tilt head before and it was so frustrating!

Anyway, is there an idiots video guide anywhere to setting up a Skywatcher EQ3-2 mount? I have read the manual and looked at a couple of videos on You Tube - Astronomy Shed was one - but dials on my scope either don't move when I think they should, or they move when I think they shouldn't!!! I am talking about the clock dial and the date dial.

Should the date dial be rubbing almost grinding on the time dial for instance. It is a great mount but it is very confusing and the instructions don't seem that concise for a bear with little brains.

Any help or directions to suitable video tutorials would be most gratefully received.

Regards, Bryan

[spaceboy]

The dials are for show so don't bother with those. The set up is easy enough and a manual for the mount can be downloaded from SKYWATCHER SKYLINER 200mm/1200mm PARABOLIC DOBSONIAN | eBay. For accurate PA you will need a polar scope but can be done roughly with out.

[Stargazer33]

Hi SB,

I have got the instruction manual for the mount - the seller included it with the mount/tripod and the mount came with the polar alignment scope which was a bonus!

I thought you needed the setting circles to find objects by their RA & Dec - if you haven't got a goto facility?

I would like to start trying to find Messier objects now that I have a proper mount and can set the home position.

If I find say Vega, as in the instruction manual, and lock the RA ring on 18h 35m and start to track the star, the thumb screw lock grinds against the RA setting circle and slowly unwinds the more I track. The setting circle then moves as I swing the mount in RA. So how can I then find objects that aren't visible to the naked eye as I have now lost my reference point?

Is there something wrong with the mount? When the RA setting circle is locked in the '0' position (there is a hole which the thumb screw goes into) it holds its position, but when I clamp it anywhere else it seems to press against the core and therefore starts to turn with the RA movement. This is consequently grinding a groove in the setting circle.

BTW the link you put in your post goes to a dobsonian scope on e-bay! Are you trying to temp me into buying a dob?

Regards,

Bryan

[spaceboy]

BTW the link you put in your post goes to a dobsonian scope on e-bay! Are you trying to temp me into buying a dob?

Regards,

Bryan

blumming PC is always doing that, no idea why it doesn't paste the last link copied from a newly opened page Sorry if there was any temptation

Any way as I said before the setting circles do not work and you will only be wasting your time trying to get them to work. To find messier objects with a manual mount you have to do it the old fashion way..........Sky & Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas: Amazon.co.uk: Roger W. Sinnott: Books / Stellarium a telrad may help you to star hop to objects but this depends on the LP in your area and how many stars are visible to hop to and from. First Light Optics - Telrad Finder

[Stargazer33]

Hi SB,

I did download Stellarium yesterday, but haven't really had a chance to look at it yet.

LP is pretty bad here. Didn't think it was until I was looking for DSOs the other night. Still, Birthday coming up and I have asked for the Baader Neodymium Filter 1.25" so that should help with that!

The next chance I get I will make a list of a couple of things I want to look at and where they are and see if I can find them.

Thanks for the advice/guidance!

Regards,

Bryan

[spaceboy]

I wouldn't bother with the filter TBH as your money would be better spent else where. If you have bad light pollution where you are then there is nothing better than taking a ride out to dark skies. For one this will give you a better idea of what your scope is capable of when used under ideal skies. The trouble with a 4" slow MAK is it is best suited to planetary observing than fainter / larger DSO's and you will find you are restricted to viewing brighter & smaller night sky objects.

[onmehedson]

Like spaceboy says the setting circles are no way accurate enough to use sucessfully.

They will only get you `somewhere near` the object your after.

Stellarium, a sky atlas and the good old telrad get me to where I want to go these days..

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-300p-flextube-dobsonian.html

good luck..

[brantuk]

The 150P on EQ3-2 was my first scope which I had for two years before upgrading. Took me six months to find out how to use it properly though lol. For a very rough alignment (good enough for observing) set the tripod so the mount points north. Magnetic will do but if you can get true north it will be better - just use a compass.

Then set the latitude (altitude scale) to your latitude on Earth. This will be approximate but good enough. All the scales on the scope are not fine enough to be completely accurate (as per above) so best ignore them - loosen the RA setting circle thumbscrew so it doesn't grind.

With the mount now correctly pointed pop the scope and weights on and balance up (I'll assume for now you can do that bit). Then bring the tube round parallel with the mount (home position). You should see polaris somewhere in the finder - through trial and error you need to center it in the eyepiece using say a 20mm. Then adjust the finder so it too is centered on polaris. Then pop a 10mm in and repeat - this will give a better accuracy.

Once thats all done - loosen the RA and Dec and swing the scope round to your object using the finder. Center it and lock the clutches. You can now track with RA only and odd tweaks in Dec. Hope that helps

[Stargazer33]

Hi,

Thanks for all the advice.

The mount came with a polar alignment scope which is why I was really worried about the setting circle slipping/sticking as according to the manual: "At midnight on November 1, on the Central Meridian of your local time zone, Polaris is directly above the NCP. It is therefore directly below when viewed through the inverted view of the polarscope. This provides a good way to orient the polarscope in the mount.

Unlock the R.A. clutch and rotate the mount in R.A. until November 1 on the calendar dial is lined up with '0' (midnight) on the 24-hour clock dial."

With the setting circle slipping I can't get a proper set-up for the polar alignment scope.

Are these scopes just another useless item put on the mount to make them appear better/more expensive than they really are?

Bryan

[JamesF]

They work fine though they're not as good as the ones in the higher end mounts. I'll see if I have something written up about it.

James

[JamesF]

The first thing to do is to make sure the polar scope is aligned with the RA axis of the mount. That's something that can be done during the day. Does your polar scope have three adjustment screws sticking out sideways at the eyepiece end?

James

[The Warthog]

For visual astronomy you only need to be close, not exact. Get yourself an RA motor for the mount. I have a RA and Dec driver, but I disconnected the Declination drive as I find it easier and faster to do that adjustment manually.

[Stargazer33]

Hi James,

Yes, I have the centring screws on the polarscope mount. I have centred the polarscope with the RA axis of the mount. I used the lining the cross hairs with the cross bar of a nearby aerial method as shown in a You Tube video by Astronomy Shed.

My problem is how do I get the Polaris reticle in the right position? I fully understand how lining 1 November on the date setting circle with midnight on the time setting circle and having the reticle in the 6 O'clock position would work. It's just if the date setting circle isn't moving with the RA exactly it is obviously going to be out. Also when I then go to set up for an observation session I will not be able to accurately set the current time & therefore Polaris position.

Warthog: I am experimenting with and hope to advance in astrophotography so would require a more accurate set-up.

Thanks for the help BTW - much appreciated.

Bryan

[JamesF]

Having the polar scope centred is a good start

On the end of the polar scope adjacent to the month/day ring is an index mark. On the inside of the month/day ring is a scale with "0" in the centre. You need to line those up. Then release the RA clutch and rotate the mount about the RA axis so that November 1st on the outside of the month/day ring lines up with midnight on the time of day ring. This is the date when Polaris is "highest" above the NCP, but because the polar scope inverts the image it will be "lowest" in the polar scope, so the game is now to rotate the polar scope inside the mouth so the circle is at the bottom. Because the reticle has cross-hairs aligned with the circle for Polaris, I do this during the day and line up the appropriate line of the cross to a local vertical such as a door. That's all that's required.

If the date ring is not turning with the RA axis then that's a nuisance, but easily overcome by manually turning it to the correct position against the time ring and then holding it in position whilst rotating the RA axis so the index mark on the polar scope aligns with the "0" on the inner index of the date ring.

There's still some margin of error with this method because the time and date rings are far from perfect. If you need better then you'll have to move on to drift alignment, but that's probably far easier if you can get close to start with.

If this isn't clear, I'll bring my mount in and take some photos. Perhaps I'll do that anyhow. We're not forecast any clear weather for the next few days...

James

[spaceboy]

If you have a laptop you can use this software to get you fairly accurately polar aligned Free Polar Alignment Software Download Polar FinderScope by Dr. Dale Jason Version 2.04. Regards advancing in astrophotography you will need a more accurate PA than what a polar scope can offer Drift Alignment of an Equatorial Mount

[Stargazer33]

Hi, James

I think I have got my date dial set up so that it doesn't skip or stick when I rotate the mount in RA so I should be able to set the NCP correctly with the polarscope now.

SB: that programme is really handy! Now I can just print off where Polaris should be at any given time and check it against what I have in my polarscope. Thanks!

Bryan