Help with red dot finder on Celestron C9.25

[Brinders]

Hello again chaps. My new Celestron C9.25 SCT OTA arrived today from FLO and a few items I ordered from D.Hinds, one of which is a Baader Sky Surfer red dot finder.

I was hoping to fit the red dot finder to the OTA in addition to the finder scope. The OTA has holes pre-drilled for the finder scope, but I was wondering if it is possible to utilise the two screws on the opposite side of the telescope to fit the red dot finder.

The screws to which I refer are in the 3 o'clock position when viewing from the rear of the telescope forward (or the 9 o'clock postion from the front). I didn't want to touch them in case this caused any harm to the internal workings of the scope (i.e. the focuser or primary mirror). I'd be grateful for some advice.

Still waiting for the Skywatcher GOTO mount which was also due either today or tomorrow form Pulsar-Optical, but as its cloudy here there isn't much chance of first light yet - typical!

[dweller25]

Hello Brinders,

I did the same thing with my 50mm finder - I put it on the other side of the tube.

You can remove any screws that have raised heads on the front and rear of the OTA. DO NOT touch any flat/flush screws.

Be careful to not over tighten the screws too as you could shear the threads on the OTA.

Check the new screw lengths do not interrupt the movement of the mirror.

Best of luck.

[Brinders]

Thanks Dweller 25, I raised the same question with Hinds, they said not to touch any screws but to glue it on! Think I'd rather give it a go as you suggest.

By the way, the scope came with the orange Celestron dovetail bar but I was rather perturbed to find some surface marks and pitting along its entire length as though it had already been used to mount the 'scope. Was your dovetail in a similar condition when you first got your 'scope? I may be being a bit [removed word] here, but I expected everything being new (including the accessories) to be in pristine condition or am I expecting too much? The OTA itself appears to be fine (not had a chance to look at in daylight yet) and the eyepiece, finderscope, visual back, manual etc didn't appear to have been touched until I got the scope as they were all still in their packages which didn't looked to have been opened - it is just the condition of the dovetail bar that bothers me though I guess it'll get some knocking about once I start mounting and demounting the OTA from the mount.

Also, Celestron's list of contents stuck to one end of the box says the the Sky Level-1 CD ROM is included. No sign of it in the box. Did you get one with yours?

I've raised these points with Steve at FLO and I'm waiting for him to get back to me.

Got to admit that after deep and meaningful discussions with my wife down the pub last Sunday lunchtime that I upgraded my order for the mount from Pulsar Optical to the EQ6 Pro. It arrived today and its waiting to be unpacked! Just need to play with it and hope for some clear skies!

Cheers,

Brinders

[dweller25]

Hello Brinders,

You have PM.

[dweller25]

I hope you are going to post some pictures tomorrow ....

[Brinders]

Hello Dweller 25, I'll post some pics of the scope and mount as soon as I am able, but I think astro images will have to wait awhile - I want to get used to using the scope and mount first. I was struggling to get the latitude adjustment right last night, I know others on this forum have had a nightmare of a time with the adjusting bolts on the EQ6 Pro and I now understand why. The bolts appear to be brass (or some similar soft metal) with a coating of chrome. Adjustment is fine (slackening one bolt off and tightening the other) until you get close to 50 degrees (I'm at 54 degrees 31 minutes north) then one of the bolts becomes almost impossible to shift and I'm afraid of bending it (indeed I extracted both at one point and one bolt does appear to be bending slightly). The problem is the weight of the motors and mount largely transfers to the one bolt as latitude increases. Anyway I have some others on order from some chap I've read about on this forum. Just waiting for them to arrive (indeed I'm about to chase him up). I'm going to live with about 48 degrees north at the moment until his bolts arrive (while I can still extract the existing ones). Nothing is straightforward in this game is it?

[dweller25]

The HEQ5 may be slightly different to the EQ6 but here is what I did.

I loosened both bolts and moved the EQ head by hand to 52'.

I then tightened up the bolt that prevented the EQ head from falling due to gravity.

Then I tightened the opposite bolt up.

Seemed to work ok.

Good luck.

[Brinders]

Yes I tried to move the head by hand but couldn't (I think due to the weight). Anyway no sooner had I sent my e-mail to John at Astrodevelpments they arrived in the post. Fitted them so easily and so effectively. Glad I did because there is a slight bow in the original altitude bolt I noticed after I extracted it. Why Skywatcher don't fit bolts like those from Astrodevelopments in the first place I don't know. What I do know is the Astrodevelopments bolts are so much better and look quality too.

As my youngest daughter would say everyting now is gravy! I can go out and enjoy my new set up, though I'm sure other problems will surface!

[dweller25]

I just looked at the weather report for tonight and you might just get first light :shock:

[waynem]

Brinders, did you get an answer to the missing Sky level 1 CD, as mine was missing aswell.

[Brinders]

Brinders, did you get an answer to the missing Sky level 1 CD, as mine was missing aswell.

Wow, that was some time ago. I've sold the scope on to another forum member since (about a year ago).

As I recall, I raised the matter with Steve at FLO and a copy was sent out to me by post. To be honest though, you are better of with Carte Du Ceil or Stellarium, both of which are free and much more useful.

Brinders