Modded SkyWatcher Star Discovery 150p

[ukbeejay]

22 hours ago, LeeRich said:

Once all collimated up, take your barlow and inset it in the focuser then put your laser in the barlow, now fine tune the cell by looking at the now projected doughnut marker reflecting in the collimation side window.

Hi Lee, I have been following this thread with interest and will be attempting to reproduce your mods on my own Star Discovery 150p some ime in the future. However I was intrigued to read your comment about collimating using the Barlow lens. I have never seen or heard of this before in any other tutorial or  'how to video' about collimating I have encountered. Is this your own idea or is it a recognised procedure?

Edited March 3, 2016 by ukbeejay
spelling

[Guest]

35 minutes ago, ukbeejay said:

Hi Lee, I have been following this thread with interest and will be attempting to reproduce your mods on my own Star Discovery 150p some ime in the future. However I was intrigued to read your comment about collimating using the Barlow lens. I have never seen or heard of this before in any other tutorial or  'how to video' about collimating I have encountered. Is this your own idea or is it a recognised procedure?

Thanks for the kind words man   here is a vid demonstrating the barlow collimation method. It really works a treat as once the laser has vanished into the hole you assume thats close enough but by simply projecting the doughnut primary marker back into the display window of the collimator you then realize there is much more room for adjustment. 

 

 

[Guest]

To be fair the guys center spot is a strange shape, like a radiation sign so its hard to make out on this vid....a simple circular doughnut just appears as a ring with a dark hole and its that that you just center around the actual collimater hole.

http://www.obsessiontelescopes.com/learning_center/collimation/

http://www.astromart.com/articles/article.asp?article_id=827

Edited March 3, 2016 by Guest

[Guest]

I am totally happy with my Discovery now i have collimated it. I took it out the other night and before i and all my eps froze up i got a cracking pic of Jupiter with my Samsung S4 mini holding it above the ep !!! this has got me thinking about a DSLR now lol

[happy-kat]

That is a surprisingly good hand held shot you even got 3 moons.

[SilverAstro]

13 hours ago, LeeRich said:

thinking about a DSLR now lol

    "slippery" and "slope" are words that come to mind 

Nice beginning, was that with the barlow and is it a full frame or a crop ?

 

[Merlin]

What's needed now is a dew/glare shield about a foot long. A rolled up camping map works well and there's no weight penalty.

[Guest]

Haha this is the only in focus non blurred fluke of a collective 20+ shots that all got deleted. This is a cropped image off my mobile original. If you look closely there are all 4 moons. Three at one side and one the other. Taken above just my 8 mm BST ep.

Edited March 4, 2016 by Guest

[rikroe666]

Good job on the scope, looks much better than stock.

I have tried to use my mobile phone to take pics of Jupiter but never managed to get one as good as yours.

Rick

[Daniel-K]

21 hours ago, LeeRich said:

I am totally happy with my Discovery now i have collimated it. I took it out the other night and before i and all my eps froze up i got a cracking pic of Jupiter with my Samsung S4 mini holding it above the ep !!! this has got me thinking about a DSLR now lol

thats it your doomed. welcome to the dark side 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, rikroe666 said:

Good job on the scope, looks much better than stock.

I have tried to use my mobile phone to take pics of Jupiter but never managed to get one as good as yours.

Rick

Hi Rick, thanks for the compliment.

I fear it was a total fluke to be fair as i doubt i could get another as sharp...i was ages getting the blooming thing in the camera shot and then it was massivley a hit and miss on keeping it there while my fingers atempted a shutter press lol

I seriously did 20+ rapid shots in the end and this was the only in focus one....so luck played a vital key.

However i have been pricing DSLR's since lol

1 hour ago, Daniel-K said:

thats it your doomed. welcome to the dark side 

So yes Daniel....i reckon your right £££££

[D3f3nc3]

Hi Lee,

Seeing this brilliant post and how you've modified your scope has made me finally register on this site.

I have the 150p and would love to know where you purchased your focuser from. Would you mind giving a link to the website?

 

Many thanks 👌

[Ricochet]

2 hours ago, D3f3nc3 said:

Hi Lee,

Seeing this brilliant post and how you've modified your scope has made me finally register on this site.

I have the 150p and would love to know where you purchased your focuser from. Would you mind giving a link to the website?

 

Many thanks 👌

Unfortunately, Lee's username showing as "guest" suggests he is no longer a member. However, the focuser in the photos looks like this focuser. You should pay careful attention to the dimensions given in order to work out if changing to that focuser will still allow you to focus. 

[Merlin]

Add a foot-long extension to the top of the main tube. It's too short at the top, letting in stray light. They make the tubes short to make the'scopes look more compact.

Place your eye at the extreme edge of the eyepiece tube without an eyepiece in it, look in andyou will be able to see outside of the top of the main tube.  This is were lots of stray light is entering. I made my extension tube on the 8-inch Newt from rolled camping mat, lined with black art card.