Hello from Yorkshire!

[soldave]

Good evening all. Just joined the forum as I've just joined the ranks of telescope owners with the purchase of a used Sky-Watcher 130M. I have zero experience with telescopes and astronomy so this is very much going to be a voyage of discovery for me. The telescope looks in good condition though so hopefully I've made a good purchase. I'll be reading up on here to find out what a decent replacement lens is as I've heard the 10mm isn't spectacular on this, as well as which laser collimator to get, decent grease for the worm gear etc. And that's before we get to using the thing! The only question I have right now Is regarding the metal piece that looks almost circular and then with an arm coming off it (see pics 2 and 3 below). The screw holding it in place was loose when I got the telescope. Can someone advise what it's for and whether it's in the right position or not?

Anyway, that's it from me for now. I'm sure I'll be active on this forum. Very active!

[Peter Drew]

Welcome to SGL.  Nice telescope to start off with, polar axis angle looks a little low for Yorkshire!    😀

[Cornelius Varley]

6 minutes ago, soldave said:

The only question I have right now Is regarding the metal piece that looks almost circular and then with an arm coming off it (see pics 2 and 3 below). The screw holding it in  place was loose when I got the telescope. Can someone advise what it's for and whether it's in the right position or not?

Hello and welcome to SGL. The pieces you are referring to form part of the clutch mechanism for the motor drive. The motor fits on the long shaft seen in the bottom right hand corner of photos and engages on the knurled wheel.

[soldave]

  

5 minutes ago, Peter Drew said:

Welcome to SGL.  Nice telescope to start off with, polar axis angle looks a little low for Yorkshire!    😀

Thank you! You lost me there in the middle but I got the gist! Was testing whether it worked by doing a little neighbour-stalking (joke!).

Hate being such a noob to things; was even wondering why the image was appearing upside down at first

3 minutes ago, Cornelius Varley said:

Hello and welcome to SGL. The pieces you are referring to form part of the clutch mechanism for the motor drive. The motor fits on the long shaft seen in the bottom right hand corner of photos and engages on the knurled wheel.

Ahhh thank you. As long as that's in the right position then I'm good. Will learn how to use the scope first before starting on the motor drive

Edited February 21, 2020 by soldave

[Peter Drew]

Yorkshire is around 54 degrees North, your axis looks around 35, there will be a dial on the mount to show you when the correct angle is set.  No need for great accuracy at this stage but "about right" will make using the telescope easier.  Have fun!      😀

[Dave Lloyd]

Hi and welcome. The mount you have is an equatorial. If you just want to point and shoot to start with you can put that dial to 90 degrees and use it as an alt azimuth mount. This just means that it will work just like a camera on a tripod. And don't worry, you'll soon be throwing those terms about like the rest of us😁

[Erquy]

Welcome!

[CraigB86]

Welcome! Clear skies!

[2STAR]

1 hour ago, Dave Lloyd said:

Hi and welcome. The mount you have is an equatorial. If you just want to point and shoot to start with you can put that dial to 90 degrees and use it as an alt azimuth mount. This just means that it will work just like a camera on a tripod. And don't worry, you'll soon be throwing those terms about like the rest of us😁

Good advice

[2STAR]

2 hours ago, soldave said:

Good evening all. Just joined the forum as I've just joined the ranks of telescope owners with the purchase of a used Sky-Watcher 130M. I have zero experience with telescopes and astronomy so this is very much going to be a voyage of discovery for me. The telescope looks in good condition though so hopefully I've made a good purchase. I'll be reading up on here to find out what a decent replacement lens is as I've heard the 10mm isn't spectacular on this, as well as which laser collimator to get, decent grease for the worm gear etc. And that's before we get to using the thing! The only question I have right now Is regarding the metal piece that looks almost circular and then with an arm coming off it (see pics 2 and 3 below). The screw holding it in place was loose when I got the telescope. Can someone advise what it's for and whether it's in the right position or not?

Anyway, that's it from me for now. I'm sure I'll be active on this forum. Very active!

Where in West Yorkshire are you, if near Wakefield come and join us.

eric

Wakefield Astronomical Society member

[soldave]

31 minutes ago, 2STAR said:

Where in West Yorkshire are you, if near Wakefield come and join us.

eric

Wakefield Astronomical Society member

Just south of Wakefield (Sandal or thereabouts) so that's a good shout. Thanks for letting me know about them

[Floater]

Welcome. Hope you have lots of fun on your journey of discovery. 🙂

[des anderson]

A warm welcome from Essex. Des

[PeterCPC]

Hello and welcome.

Peter

[banjaxed]

Hi and welcome to SGL.

[Bryan_D]

Hi and welcome to SGL 👋

I’m new as well and also have a skywatcher. Mines a Skyhawk 1145p, so smaller than your one. I’ve adopted the same approach as you, find out what everything does and try and learn on it. Best of luck with your observing. 😊

[rwilkey]

Hi there, a warm welcome from me too.  Clear skies!

[westmarch]

Hi there,

welcome to the forum.  Clear skies.

John

[soldave]

Done my first bit of stargazing prep this afternoon, with the creation of a collimation cap. So I'll try and check the secondary alignment tonight indoors. The primary... well that's going to be a whole different ballgame as taking the primary mirror out of the 130M to put a centre spot on it is an absolute nightmare (https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/348759-removing-primary-mirror-from-130m/). Might have to do it by sight and then ask someone at the local Society to give me a couple of pointers.

I'm also going to order Turn Left at Orion and Nightwatcher tonight, grab myself a red LED flashlight and have my eye on a BST Starguider 8mm to replace the 10mm one I've got, which seems to be the first good eyepiece move. Then all I need is Arctic gear so I don't end up looking like Jack Nicholson at the end of The Shining after an hour of being outside!

 

[Neil H]

Hi and welcome if I was you get a Cheshire not a laser every time I put my laser in it showed Collimation out 

So the other  day I got a short Cheshire so I collimated so it was 100% did star test and that showed Collimation was spot on I pop in the laser and guess what Collimation shows as out so I binned the laser, the set up with the Cheshire sounds hard but it's not I am a newbie and can collimate it so your be ok too just take your time 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ostara-1-25-Short-tube-cheshire-collimating-eyepiece-for-Newtonian-reflectors/151160043810?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

[ronl]

Hello, and welcome to SGL, hope you enjoy your time with us,

see you around the forums.

Clear Sky's.

[soldave]

37 minutes ago, Neil H said:

Hi and welcome if I was you get a Cheshire not a laser every time I put my laser in it showed Collimation out 

So the other  day I got a short Cheshire so I collimated so it was 100% did star test and that showed Collimation was spot on I pop in the laser and guess what Collimation shows as out so I binned the laser, the set up with the Cheshire sounds hard but it's not I am a newbie and can collimate it so your be ok too just take your time 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ostara-1-25-Short-tube-cheshire-collimating-eyepiece-for-Newtonian-reflectors/151160043810?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

Thanks for the post. Even wit a Cheshire though, I think I'd still need the centre dot on the primary. And getting that primary out (or rather back in) is a big pain with my scope I believe.

[laudropb]

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL.

[sloz1664]

Hi Dave, and a very warm welcome to the Lounge

Steve

[JRM]

Hello soldave, Welcome to the lounge.

 

Rick