Guiding heLp

[astrokat]

I'm trying to get my guiding up and running I've just got abaader lvi and oag though oag is poo and a pain in the bum what other ways can I do this not costing more than 100 pound any help would be good

thanks

toby

[samtheeagle]

If you're not getting on with the OAG I'd say the cheapest alternative route into guiding would be with a 50mm finder/guider. They're cheap, small and light. Search the forums here, there are quite a few of us using them

[jgs001]

What scope are you imaging with ? You could use one of the others as a guide scope with the LVI attached. So perhaps the WO 70.. Mount it piggy back to start with. The other option would be to buy an ST80, they are £85 with rings and dovetail and mount that piggy back.

[beamish]

You beat me to it Sam !!

[astrokat]

I want to use the wo 70 for imaging I've got a guide scope off my 10" newt how do I convert to a guide scope also how do I fix it to my scope

thanks for your help

toby

[samtheeagle]

You beat me to it Sam !!

Well we do like to evangelise the 50mm finder/guider setup

[beamish]

Yes we do !!!

They've been a couple of threads re making a guider out of a finder & I'll try and find mine in a bit but Sam's got one too. In a nutshell, remove the back-plate/eyepiece from a stnd Finder add a means of using a 1.25" eyepiece ( I used a 2"-1.25" adapter, shaved a couple of mm off the male insert so it would fit in), then used it in the stnd bracket !

My 2nd one I mounted in some hm'made guide rings, made from 90mm tube rings, which were then mounted on a dovetail plate

You will have to bare in mind that the tube will need to be cut shorter by about 5-8mm to allow the w/cam or guide cam to come to focus.

Alternatively, you can buy an adapter plate from KW Telescopes for about C$40.00 which then negates the need for cutting/shaving etc... and can be removed and allow the guider to be returned to a stnd finder in the future.

[beamish]

Take a look at this thread

ASTRO-CHAT - Astronomy Forum :: View topic - Homemade WO ZS66 mounting rings

I followed this for the guiding on my WO ZS66SD works a treat !! ( re 2nd finder-guider in my last post )

[jgs001]

Toby, I guess the options are..

1) Mount the Newt, then piggy back the wo70, use the newt as the guide scope. The downside might be the FOV is gonna be very narrow, I don't know the LVI, but if it's anything like the QHY5v or the QHY dedicated guidecam it's gonna have a tiny chip in it. Or you could mount the two scopes side by side.

2) Invest in an ST80, mount in the same way as above, the FOV is much wider.

3) Go the 50mm finder guider route. The FOV will be much wider than either scope. Given the short (ish) focal length of the WO70, the very short focal length of the finder isn't likely to be an issue.

There's probably many more options available though.

[astrokat]

thanks guys ive sorted it out i was able to take the finder and mount for the 10" off and fit on the 70 zenithstar though did not realise there is a plate behind the mount fixing and it droped on the mirror lol didn brake it thank god

thanks toby