Equipment rejig - Advise and input needed please

[dyfiastro]

Good evening everyone

Until recently I have been using two different scopes, a 130PDS for winter and a 200P during the summer.
Space is very much a premium in my little obsy and the 200p meant that I was crawling under it at times.
There are times in both summer and winter that the scope not on the mount and setup would have been the better choice (I am sure a lot have this issue).

I have just acquired a de-forked meade LX10 8" SCT which I will be replacing the 200p with (the 200p with be given a new home on its DIY Dob mount).
This has started me thinking about a complete re-jig in regards to my imaging setup and thoughts are currently at going with a single setup that can be used year round.
Correct me if I am wrong but I would think that the 130PDS would be too much along side the 8" SCT, guide scope and camera etc....
Do you think either an ED80 or something a little smaller (ED72 or 66) would be able to run side by side (or piggy backed) with the SCT on a HEQ5?

I know I will be pushing it and also losing some light gathering ability however the fact that I have everything all in one place without having to redo balancing, pointing models etc... is a very attractive option
Having just purchased my first dedicated cooled CCD (A QHY8L) I am hoping to use the SCT with the 0.63x focal reducer for imaging as well (which seemed a good match taking into account p/p arc second and my current guiding).

What options do I have in regards smaller scopes that would enable this type of setup on an HEQ5? I am currently using a 9x50 guide scope but considering if a OAG may now be a better option?
Any thoughts here would be great, if there are other options then please let me know (Before anyone says it a new mount is not an option at present)

Thanks in advance

Mark

[RolandKol]

Not sure about SCT8 weight, but as a dual rig on HEQ5, sounds a bit too heavy... isn't it?

SCT8 with a reducer will be min F7... and with overweight... will it be useful at all with all the guiding problems?

[dyfiastro]

1 hour ago, RolandKol said:

Not sure about SCT8 weight, but as a dual rig on HEQ5, sounds a bit too heavy... isn't it?

SCT8 with a reducer will be min F7... and with overweight... will it be useful at all with all the guiding problems?

With the 0.63x FR it should work out at f/6.2 which is about the same as an ED80 with the FR comes out at and plenty of people seem to image just fine.
taking into account my current average guiding the large pixels of the QHY8L should work out to be about the same as my 130PDS + 600D

Weight wise I have not yet measured (quoted weight for the ota is about 14lb), however it actually felt lighter than my 200p but that could be due to difference in size which is also going to play its part I would have thought.
 

[RolandKol]

Been thinking again about it...

maybe you can try to piggyback something like that new RedCat...

But if you want something larger, - to have side by side... No idea... SCT8 is heavy and something quite heavy has to be placed on another side and HEQ5 will struggle....

This topic is interesting as I recently piggybacked Canon+Samyang 135mm lens on my 130PDS and my NEQ6 refused to obey... PHD2 graph made my screen red....

I lost quite a few nights testing balance, learning to guide again, adding weights to re-balance, - testing balance again ant etc and etc...

And I even had thoughts I failed and I probably have to roll back to the previous set up.

I simply afraid to think about the same setup on HEQ5.... and plus 8" ota... it will be a challenge.... Keep in mind, - you will most likely need to add extra weight to assist with balance...

I hope someone will reply who already tried something similar

P.S.

Do you have OAG? it would reduce the total weight a bit

[dyfiastro]

1 hour ago, RolandKol said:

Been thinking again about it...

maybe you can try to piggyback something like that new RedCat...

But if you want something larger, - to have side by side... No idea... SCT8 is heavy and something quite heavy has to be placed on another side and HEQ5 will struggle....

This topic is interesting as I recently piggybacked Canon+Samyang 135mm lens on my 130PDS and my NEQ6 refused to obey... PHD2 graph made my screen red....

I lost quite a few nights testing balance, learning to guide again, adding weights to re-balance, - testing balance again ant etc and etc...

And I even had thoughts I failed and I probably have to roll back to the previous set up.

I simply afraid to think about the same setup on HEQ5.... and plus 8" ota... it will be a challenge.... Keep in mind, - you will most likely need to add extra weight to assist with balance...

I hope someone will reply who already tried something similar

P.S.

Do you have OAG? it would reduce the total weight a bit

I currently have a 9x50 guide scope setup so not too much extra weight.
I have an extension bar that I have used in the past with the 200p but if this works I may well add an extra weight instead so I can keep the weight closer to mount.
The SCT I have converted and intend mounting using a set of rings and a longish dovetail, I am hoping there should be enough adjustment setting up like this plus if I piggyback (using a second dovetail like I have at present) then I have some scope to be able to move additional weight forward and back.

Side-by-side is something I have looked at as an option if I am going down the route of a small frac but keeping options open. 

As a side note: I found the 130PDS harder to balance than the 200p due to the extra length and weight, one of the first things I did was put longer dovetails on to allow for extra adjustment and making sure you have balanced on all three axis (which adding the samyang would have thrown off).

I think at this point I am going to have to wait and see once everything is up and running. if it comes to it then I can always still use two seperate setups but was hoping to have just the one.

[RolandKol]

I was simply made to go OAG way if I wanted to keep my piggyback. I used to use Evo50ED as a guider and simply could not balance the dualrig while it was somewhere on.

I even tried to piggyback it alongside with samyang+canon on the top... and had no luck with balance. OAG saved my dual rig, but caused OAG related problems  which I am still sorting out,

it looks like I have managed to guide using it with around 0.55 Total RMS for several nights, but it I still do not feel confident.