What did the postman bring? V2

[Highburymark]

New mount for travel - the Sightron. Added an ADM clamp and metal slow mo handles which I had sitting in a drawer - perhaps from my Skytee? Amazing what you can find stashed away. Definite improvement on the plastic originals. Feels like a nice mount, handles the TV85 easily, and packs down for our flight to Menorca on Wednesday. Booked holiday late this year - by pure chance it coincides with ten days of virtually no Moonlight. 

[CraigT82]

Got a finder foot off of AliExpress for £15, similar to the more blue one but lots cheaper. Actually quite nicely made, and I prefer the silver coloured screws to the gold ones of the more blue version, as there is n nothing else gold coloured on the scope. 

 

 

[TiffsAndAstro]

2 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

Got a finder foot off of AliExpress for £15, similar to the more blue one but lots cheaper. Actually quite nicely made, and I prefer the silver coloured screws to the gold ones of the more blue version, as there is n nothing else gold coloured on the scope. 

 

 

There's more than a good chance they're all the same from same factory. 

Looks nice

[Deadlake]

5 hours ago, Highburymark said:

New mount for travel - the Sightron. Added an ADM clamp and metal slow mo handles which I had sitting in a drawer - perhaps from my Skytee? Amazing what you can find stashed away. Definite improvement on the plastic originals. Feels like a nice mount, handles the TV85 easily, and packs down for our flight to Menorca on Wednesday. Booked holiday late this year - by pure chance it coincides with ten days of virtually no Moonlight. 

How does the scope balance once a NVD and TV67 mm are on the focusers end of the TV85?

[Highburymark]

14 minutes ago, Deadlake said:

How does the scope balance once a NVD and TV67 mm are on the focusers end of the TV85?

Good question - I’ll see if I can test it tomorrow

[paulastro]

2 hours ago, Highburymark said:

Good question - I’ll see if I can test it tomorrow

I don't think you'll have much trouble Mark.  I gave first light to my Sightron mount on Friday/Saturday night for approaching three hours.  It was good enough that after a while I forgot I was actually testing the mount and just enjoyed the session.  

The scope I was using was my StellaMira 125ED f7.8!  I won't say anything else now as I'm going to post a review on SGL and  don't want to spoil the ending 😊.

PS Have a great holiday Mark, I hope you have a week of clear skies.

Edited July 29 by paulastro
PS

[Highburymark]

26 minutes ago, paulastro said:

I don't think you'll have much trouble Mark.  I gave first light to my Sightron mount on Friday/Saturday night for approaching three hours.  It was good enough that after a while I forgot I was actually testing the mount and just enjoyed the session.  

The scope I was using was my StellaMira 125ED f7.8!  I won't say anything else now as I'm going to post a review on SGL and  don't want to spoil the ending 😊.

PS Have a great holiday Mark, I hope you have a week of clear skies.

Thanks so much Paul, and that’s a great thumbs up if it can carry your 5”! Amazing - though I know the SM 125 is extremely light for its size.
The Sightron easily handled my 4.5kg 85mm and binoviewer. It’s also stable at reasonably high powers - I’ve just split Izar with TOE 3.3mm at around 180x. So much easier to follow the target with slo-mo.
The only potential issue is the slo-mo controls can be slightly awkwardly positioned at some angles, but so far it’s not been a problem. 

[paulastro]

21 minutes ago, Highburymark said:

Thanks so much Paul, and that’s a great thumbs up if it can carry your 5”! Amazing - though I know the SM 125 is extremely light for its size.
The Sightron easily handled my 4.5kg 85mm and binoviewer. It’s also stable at reasonably high powers - I’ve just split Izar with TOE 3.3mm at around 180x. So much easier to follow the target with slo-mo.
The only potential issue is the slo-mo controls can be slightly awkwardly positioned at some angles, but so far it’s not been a problem. 

Long slow motion controls might help but I've not tried it.

Also you can turn the arm to face out from the mount.  The arm is in two bits held together by a bolt joining them at the mid point. (Take it out and flip the top of the arm the other way and replace the bolt, also reposition the altitude clutch knob.) Though if you have a heavy scope it will be less stable.  

Or, you can just turn the arm the other way, using the ratchet adjustment knob, so that it attaches to the other side of your scope. 

I'm not sure if either of these things will help, but may be worth trying them.  

When I used the SM with the mount it moved so smoothly on the two axis by just pushing it from object to object, when the clutches were set right, that it didn't bother me that I couldn't reach the knobs.  It worked very well.

 

[Deadlake]

12 hours ago, Highburymark said:

Good question - I’ll see if I can test it tomorrow

I’m using an AZ75 mount with a Y axis adapter to balance a 105 mm with an a TV67 and NVD. I’m not convinced the scope tech I have would work with a heavy focus end load. Would be good to hear how you get on.

[TiffsAndAstro]

rest of my ali express cable tidy order and two red headlamps (£2 each)

[JeremyS]

39 minutes ago, TiffsAndAstro said:

rest of my ali express cable tidy order and two red headlamps (£2 each)

Brilliant! I can’t even see the cables 👏

[bosun21]

Another 80mm refractor delivered today. This time it's a Skywatcher 80ED. I recently bought a Zenithstar II 80mm but I am not entirely happy with its performance visually. I think it's just an outlier as they are known as great scopes. Just giving it a go in daylight to check the focuser etc. I'm hoping to get a proper first light tonight. This is my recently accrued grab and go setup.

 

[Dave scutt]

A few more items arrived today 

Thanks to @Captain Scarlet for the Celestron Ultima Barlow .

 

Thanks to @LaurenceT for the Astronomic UHC filter.

 

And I had to buy this it looks so beautiful.

[TiffsAndAstro]

19 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Brilliant! I can’t even see the cables 👏

Trying Google htf to use the spiral cable wrap and spring action feeder thing

Turns out very easy seems a nice way of doing this stuff. I hope.

Edited July 31 by TiffsAndAstro

[CraigT82]

After my uncharacteristicly impulsive splurge on a FC100DC, which turned out to actually be a DF (another story), I decided to reign it back in and took to eBay to get a used more blue microfocuser. Fitted in a jiffy and seems to work very well, lovely feeling to it. Sticks out a bit though, although can’t fault it for that as I myself have one ear that sticks out further than the other 😂

[JeremyS]

6 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

After my uncharacteristicly impulsive splurge on a FC100DC, which turned out to actually be a DF (another story), I decided to reign it back in and took to eBay to get a used more blue microfocuser. Fitted in a jiffy and seems to work very well, lovely feeling to it. Sticks out a bit though, although can’t fault it for that as I myself have one ear that sticks out further than the other 😂

I might be missing something, but looks as if you have a few mm left in the slots of the metal plate. Can you therefore bring in the whole knob by the same amount?

[CraigT82]

48 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

I might be missing something, but looks as if you have a few mm left in the slots of the metal plate. Can you therefore bring in the whole knob by the same amount?

Unfortunately the knob is pressed hard up agains the end of the shaft (ooh err!)

Edited August 1 by CraigT82

[Highburymark]

On 30/07/2024 at 10:15, Deadlake said:

I’m using an AZ75 mount with a Y axis adapter to balance a 105 mm with an a TV67 and NVD. I’m not convinced the scope tech I have would work with a heavy focus end load. Would be good to hear how you get on.

It takes the TV55 plossl and PVS14 very well. As long as the scope is reasonably balanced, I can change eyepieces from a small Nagler 13 to 55 plossl + NV without affecting operability. I’ve installed an ADM clamp which might help a little. I’m impressed.

[Deadlake]

3 hours ago, Highburymark said:

It takes the TV55 plossl and PVS14 very well. As long as the scope is reasonably balanced, I can change eyepieces from a small Nagler 13 to 55 plossl + NV without affecting operability. I’ve installed an ADM clamp which might help a little. I’m impressed.

Interesting, highly likely this would work with a FSQ-85 as well then.

[Dave scutt]

A delivery from Flo today.

My set up is nearly complete , soon I can start looking up again, been too long

 

[Zermelo]

One of the items on my upgrade list has been a 4" ED refractor. My AR102S is quite decent on dimmer objects and lower mags, but it fringes noticeably when pushed too far.

Then this one just came up in the SvBONY summer sale, and I couldn't resist. They threw in a basic camera, which will be fun to play with.

[Rob]

On 30/07/2024 at 18:26, Dave scutt said:

A few more items arrived today 

Thanks to @Captain Scarlet for the Celestron Ultima Barlow .

 

Thanks to @LaurenceT for the Astronomic UHC filter.

 

And I had to buy this it looks so beautiful.

Very nice!. Been looking for one of those LP D62 ED’s for some time now. Enjoy

[Martyn87]

I really need to uninstall AliExpress from my phone... 

Nice little dovetail mount bought and installed last week, AngelEyes 355mm losmandy style. 

 

Then today, my first guide cam arrived, Toupteks IMX 290M model. 

Edited August 5 by Martyn87
Typos

[bosun21]

Delivery on Saturday of a Starfield Herschel Wedge. Just need the clouds to disappear now. I also ordered a Baader Solar Continuum Filter from FLO but it's a 7-10 day wait.

 

[wookie1965]

On 21/07/2024 at 18:36, Stu1smartcookie said:

A pier extension to make levelling the AZ Pro mount easy  , as adjusting the tri-pier is a real pain , purchased from FlO and hopefully making it's debut tonight (Sunday) . A bit fiddly to set up but once there it's a breeze to level . 

Can you use long Fracs now with the extension. 

Paul