Brginners worries - red dot finder and EQ2 clutches

[westwales]

Hi

One nervous beginner seeking comfort please.

Firstly, I'm a little nervous as to how tight I should screw down the clutches on my EQ2 - I'm frightened of doing damage.

Also, I've tried aligning my skwatcher rdf in daylight but the dot isn't bright enough in daylight despite a new battery and max power,

Any thoughts/comments would be very much appreciated.

Thank you

[Steep]

Re the RDF pick a bright star or planet (Jupiter is good just now) and do it at night, you've probably got it close in daylight so it shouldn't be too difficult

[westwales]

Thanks Steep - I'll give it a go next clear evening. I don't know if it's just me but I find the rdf a bit awkward - probably because I'm a bit unsure of how accurate I need to be with it.

[Tinker1947]

Try to align it with first a high MM Ep then change to a higher power and get it centered a Telrad will be a better tool to use it also has a a module (Windows mode F11 then Alt-O) in Stellarium to show its circles and there are free Telrad maps to download. this makes for a much nicer viewing session....

[rwilkey]

Hi Westwales, yes, the RDF's supplied are a bit pants to be honest but go with what you have and align at night as suggested, get it as accurate as you can as this will pay dividends when you are star hoping. On the mount's clutch question, I usually just get it thumb tight, which for me is just bite-point then quarter/half turn to secure. That's on an EQ5, the EQ2 will probably be secure on a quarter turn.

[Neil_F]

Hi. As Robin says, the standard RDF on my Sky Watcher 130P was as useful as a rubber saw! I replaced mine with a Guntuff holographic rifle sight with 4 different reticles, 2 colours and 5 brightness levels....got to say, a 100% improvement.

[the bishop]

Might be worth considering a Telrad

I have just recently got a Telrad and I find it just great

It is very easy to set up and to use and far and away better than a red dot finder

I do know what you mean about the clutch tightness but you will soon get the hang of what is best for

Your mount

I do find that the SWeq2 is a bit slack even when you put a bit of extra twist,

but I haven’t broken anything yet