Skywatcher AZ GTI mount owners thread

[bomberbaz]

Managed a half hour on M101 to get the SN2023ixf nova. Yes it's grainy as it is no where near enough data and I only had darks to stack with but it is very clear and in the bag.

More importantly, my tracking issue seems sorted as you can see. The stars look pretty decent to me too, this is magnified x4 (ish)

[AstroNebulee]

21 hours ago, bomberbaz said:

Managed a half hour on M101 to get the SN2023ixf nova. Yes it's grainy as it is no where near enough data and I only had darks to stack with but it is very clear and in the bag.

More importantly, my tracking issue seems sorted as you can see. The stars look pretty decent to me too, this is magnified x4 (ish)

Great Stuff Steve. Really pleased you got it all sorted. Lovely image for the time you had and no astro dark. Got the supernova good too. 

Lee 

[AstroNebulee]

It will be my 50th birthday on Sunday so I couldn't resist purchasing another az gti along with a pillar for myself. Purely for use on my visual setup with my ST80 and SM90. Also to use on some planetary and lunar imaging, all in az mode. 

Just love this little mount so much. 

 

Lee

Edited June 17, 2023 by AstroNebulee

[LaurenceT]

42 minutes ago, AstroNebulee said:

It will be my 50th birthday on Sunday so I couldn't resist purchasing another az gti along with a pillar for myself. Purely for use on my visual setup with my ST80 and SM90. Also to use on some planetary and lunar imaging, all in az mode. 

Just love this little mount so much. 

 

Lee

I had two AzGti some time ago and used them in exactly the way you intend. I sold one thinking it was superfluous and have regretted it ever since.

PS you don't look 50, must be the air in Cornwall, happy birthday.

[Elp]

Next you're going to want both of them imaging...

[Ratlet]

5 hours ago, LaurenceT said:

I had two AzGti some time ago and used them in exactly the way you intend. I sold one thinking it was superfluous and have regretted it ever since.

PS you don't look 50, must be the air in Cornwall, happy birthday.

I had a similar reaction to the age lol.

It's a brilliant little mount.  I bought one for a good price because I thought I would sell it one.  Not happening.  More stable than my az5 and whilst I'm still get issues with the goto sometimes, I just figured out how to get it to point and track and honestly it's the absolute bee's knees.  Would be worth it just for that.

The only downside to this is that it made me start thinking about the refractor shaped hole in my life.

[Elp]

You know you want to.

[AstroNebulee]

16 hours ago, Elp said:

Next you're going to want both of them imaging...

Nope this one is purely for visual, planetary and lunar imaging. Ah go on maybe some alt az imaging. Then maybe another wedge for eq imaging. Oh dear.. Nope just doing to stick to the basics 😂

Lee 

[AstroNebulee]

16 hours ago, Ratlet said:

I had a similar reaction to the age lol.

It's a brilliant little mount.  I bought one for a good price because I thought I would sell it one.  Not happening.  More stable than my az5 and whilst I'm still get issues with the goto sometimes, I just figured out how to get it to point and track and honestly it's the absolute bee's knees.  Would be worth it just for that.

The only downside to this is that it made me start thinking about the refractor shaped hole in my life.

Yep go on, you know you need one 😉

 

Lee

[AstroNebulee]

My new AzGti mount and extension pillar arrived today very speedy delivery again @FLO.

A quick test in daylight, tested with a quick North level alignment which I always find the best, yes I know it's daylight but it was correct in goto to Venus and the moon and seems good. Maybe a little stiffness in RA but I'm going to leave as is for now and not tinker with it until its had a proper first test. It'll only be used in az mode as I said for visual, then lunar and planetary imaging so all good. Updated the firmware to 3.40 left hand as when I updated to 3.36 RA dual mode the ST80 didn't sit right with the vixen clamp knob obstructed.

Going to figure out a way of making it a dual setup for my ST80 and SM90 (4.64kg with all attached cameras). By fixing a dovetail clamp to the counterweight bar, seen this on a thread before. 

Another happy az gti unit in my family now. During the update of firmware via my imaging set ups eq dir cable the two mounts got along quite nicely. 

Lee 

 

Edited June 21, 2023 by AstroNebulee

[bomberbaz]

3 hours ago, AstroNebulee said:

My new AzGti mount and extension pillar arrived today very speedy delivery again @FLO.

A quick test in daylight, tested with a quick North level alignment which I always find the best, yes I know it's daylight but it was correct in goto to Venus and the moon and seems good. Maybe a little stiffness in RA but I'm going to leave as is for now and not tinker with it until its had a proper first test. It'll only be used in az mode as I said for visual, them lunar and planetary imaging so all good. Updated the firmware to 3.40 left hand as when I updated to 3.36 RA dual mode the ST80 didn't sit right with the vixen clamp knob obstructed.

Going to figure out a way of making it a dual setup for my ST80 and SM90 (4.64kg with all attached cameras). By fixing a dovetail clamp to the counterweight bar, seen this on a thread before. 

Another happy az gti unit in my family now and during the update of firmware via my imaging set ups eq dir cable the two mounts got along quite nicely. 

Lee 

 

 

 

nice setup Lee, good idea not to convert to eq. I found mine had issues at times when trying to run in Altaz.

My latest purchase, a heritage 130p will arrive tomorrow. Intended use is as a galaxy imaging OTA and for spectroscopy. After that is I do at least 4 mods to it.

[AstroNebulee]

22 hours ago, bomberbaz said:

nice setup Lee, good idea not to convert to eq. I found mine had issues at times when trying to run in Altaz.

My latest purchase, a heritage 130p will arrive tomorrow. Intended use is as a galaxy imaging OTA and for spectroscopy. After that is I do at least 4 mods to it.

Thank you Steve. I will enjoy the simplicity of the az mode and just my talentcell battery pack, going back to old times. 

I hope you enjoy your heritage 130p, a very nice pairing with your AzGti. 

 

Lee 

Edited June 21, 2023 by AstroNebulee

[bomberbaz]

8 hours ago, AstroNebulee said:

Thank you Steve. I will enjoy the simplicity of the az mode and just my talentcell battery pack, going back to old times. 

I hope you enjoy your heritage 130p, a very nice painting with your AzGti. 

 

Lee 

Weight as always the biggest issue pal, that is why the heritage. The open tube design and simple fittings knock about 800gram off, a lot when we are talking the AZ Gti.

[Stu1smartcookie]

18 hours ago, AstroNebulee said:

My new AzGti mount and extension pillar arrived today very speedy delivery again @FLO.

A quick test in daylight, tested with a quick North level alignment which I always find the best, yes I know it's daylight but it was correct in goto to Venus and the moon and seems good. Maybe a little stiffness in RA but I'm going to leave as is for now and not tinker with it until its had a proper first test. It'll only be used in az mode as I said for visual, then lunar and planetary imaging so all good. Updated the firmware to 3.40 left hand as when I updated to 3.36 RA dual mode the ST80 didn't sit right with the vixen clamp knob obstructed.

Going to figure out a way of making it a dual setup for my ST80 and SM90 (4.64kg with all attached cameras). By fixing a dovetail clamp to the counterweight bar, seen this on a thread before. 

Another happy az gti unit in my family now. During the update of firmware via my imaging set ups eq dir cable the two mounts got along quite nicely. 

Lee 

 

Nice , Simple set up , Lee . The az-Gti in alt az mode just as it was designed to be . You never know , it might catch on

 

[AstroNebulee]

4 hours ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

Nice , Simple set up , Lee . The az-Gti in alt az mode just as it was designed to be . You never know , it might catch on

 

Thank you Stu 😊. Funny how I've regressed back to how it all started for me with the AzGti. Just love the mount so much and always wanted 2 of them. I've taken the rigel qf off now as not really needed on the goto now. 

 

Plus with living in my 1st floor flat needed something portable and I can take this further afield if needed. 

 

Lee 

Edited June 21, 2023 by AstroNebulee

[AstroNebulee]

Hi all.

Just a update to my dual AzGti setup project. I have cut a star adventurer counterweight bar (had 2 of these around from my eq setup when I needed the weights) down to roughly the length needed to keep it as close to the mount as possible, then drilled a new hole down the centre of the bar and re threaded it. Attached a M8-M10 adapter and screwed into the mount. I've had no issue with my eq counterweight bar unscrewing so this should be fine, it's nice and tight) To this I've attached a silver vixen dovetail clamp I had laying about and jb welded the bolt holding the clamp to the bar. 

On the left hand side I will mount the ST80 with 9x50fs (2191g) and the SM90 with 6x30 fs(1738g) the SM90 dovetail bar may need some shim adding between it and the clamp to bring the scopes into alignment with each other. Both the stock clamp and silver clamp are level with each other so only should need shimming in az. 

I will probably replace the 6x30 on the SM90 with a simple red dot or my rigel qf. Though may do away all together when aligned?

The whole setup weight of both scopes and Canon 600D with I will use on the SM90 for full image lunar shots comes in at 4849g, so just under the recommended payload (though my eq set up is higher still and works great) , this is including a helios 7.2-21.5mm zoom lens on the ST80. The dslr won't be on very much as I can replace with my zwo asi120mc-s for planetary and close up lunar imaging. 

This is all on a celestron 1.25inch steel tripod with 2kg of counterweights bolted under the centre of it for stability. 

Still waiting for first light for the mount and will test the alignment too. I'll update when done. 

Lee

 

 

 

Edited July 1, 2023 by AstroNebulee
Addition

[Elp]

Looking good. You've welded the second saddle/clamp onto the bar? It'll be more secure than loctite though aluminium is a difficult material to weld. The main issue I've found with dual setups which you're aware of is scope alignment, hopefully yours should be fairly straightforward, but I found with my Samyangs that one needed some sort of fine pan and tilt adjustment, and also roll in order to get them aligned (EQ is more complicated), still experimenting with mine but hopefully I'll get them both centred onto a target for double the fun.

Edited July 1, 2023 by Elp

[AstroNebulee]

On 01/07/2023 at 13:52, Elp said:

Looking good. You've welded the second saddle/clamp onto the bar? It'll be more secure than loctite though aluminium is a difficult material to weld. The main issue I've found with dual setups which you're aware of is scope alignment, hopefully yours should be fairly straightforward, but I found with my Samyangs that one needed some sort of fine pan and tilt adjustment, and also roll in order to get them aligned (EQ is more complicated), still experimenting with mine but hopefully I'll get them both centred onto a target for double the fun.

Yep I used jb weld a two part expoxy adhesive very very strong and bonds rock hard. 

I've began to fit the shims to the solver dovetail clamp I think I've got the right amount now. I used a far away tree on the horizon to align to. I've been using metal strips to add together to get the right amount. The SM90 needed moving away in az to the right. The alt alignment was good. I will glue all the shims together and test again.

This setup will be purely an alt /az setup. 

I could of bought a pair of guidescope rings from Ali express to for the SM90. But wanted to try this first. ( edit.. I have bought a pair of guidescope rings from Ali a cheap one day deal for the size to fit the SM90 as a back up) 

Lee 

 

Edited July 3, 2023 by AstroNebulee

[Jules Tohpipi]

Hi folks, I've got a really really simple question about the AZ-GTi! Despite having owned one for a while now, I've never yet used the Freedom Find feature.

Question is, when already aligned successfully on an object (say Jupiter), and the mount is now tracking that object, can I just loosen off the clutches and push the mount to a different location and re-tighten the clutches? I suppose the other way of asking my question: is it OK to loosen and re-tighten the clutches when the gears are in motion? Or will it cause gear grinding? 

Just want to double-check before I potentially break anything! Googling has given no concrete answer (which I imply to mean 'No problem to do that') and the manual says OK to do at anytime.

 

 

 

Edited July 9, 2023 by Jules Tohpipi

[Zermelo]

21 minutes ago, Jules Tohpipi said:

Hi folks, I've got a really really simple question about the AZ-GTi! Despite having owned one for a while now, I've never yet used the Freedom Find feature.

Question is, when already aligned successfully on an object (say Jupiter), and the mount is now tracking that object, can I just loosen off the clutches and push the mount to a different location and re-tighten the clutches? I suppose the other way of asking my question: is it OK to loosen and re-tighten the clutches when the gears are in motion? Or will it cause gear grinding? 

Just want to double-check before I potentially break anything! Googling has given no concrete answer (which I imply to mean 'No problem to do that') and the manual says OK to do at anytime.

 

 

 

Yes, you can.

[Richard N]

I stripped down my spare AZGTi yesterday. It was pretty easy to do. No problem to work on if you are methodical.

[AstroNebulee]

31 minutes ago, Richard N said:

I stripped down my spare AZGTi yesterday. It was pretty easy to do. No problem to work on if you are methodical.

Yes that's the key to be methodical. You can learn a lot about the mount and how it works by stripping it down and maintenance on it. 

Lee 

[LDW1]

I just bought one of these mounts / tripods and have a quick question just to confirm. Once it is linked to my tablet(s), each time I use it in AZ mode / goto do I have to do an alignment when starting a new session and if so which one do most fellow users do ? I used it for the first time last nite and it worked pretty well but the goto didn't take it to where the object was in view but pretty close, as well I was just using one of my zooms with a very narrow FOV in my small 80mm f5 ST refractor as my first try in my Bortle 5 backyard. Wrong gear ? I do like its ease of use and future potentials !

[Zermelo]

9 minutes ago, LDW1 said:

I just bought one of these mounts / tripods and have a quick question just to confirm. Once it is linked to my tablet(s), each time I use it in AZ mode / goto do I have to do an alignment when starting a new session and if so which one do most fellow users do ? I used it for the first time last nite and it worked pretty well but the goto didn't take it to where the object was in view but pretty close, as well I was just using one of my zooms with a very narrow FOV in my small 80mm f5 ST refractor as my first try in my Bortle 5 backyard. Wrong gear ? I do like its ease of use and future potentials !

If you are able to leave the tripod/mount undisturbed between sessions, you can get it to hibernate and continue on the next session. I have to bring all my gear in, so I do an alignment each time. I prefer the "north level" flavour, but if I'm trying to align at dusk then the stars may not be obvious, so "brightest star" is sometimes better.

You will get better with practice. I find that mine is always good enough to get me within my finder, and usually within a long eyepiece fov. That's all you need.

[fwm891]

If you can carry your kit in still assembled then I've found that I've marked my patio where the three tripod legs sit before moving stuff indoors. Then next day I drilled three holes at the marked positions and now I can place the tripod legs in the holes each time and very little adjustment is needed. I do extend tripod sections but to their stops so constant each time. Mark one leg and its hole so you put the same leg in the same hole each time...

Edited August 6, 2023 by fwm891