Custom upgrade for my TS ONTC Newton

Not too long ago I made a video about the TS ONTC 6" Newton telescope, where I mentioned the 3D printed ringclamps to be a bit unstable and not really sturdy. Thankfully, a fellow astrophotographer (Marvin) reached out to me and provided me a fantastic solution to this problem: A custom designed mounting solution for the 6" ONTC telescope.
But wait, there's more: Later in the video I'll be talking about some upcoming projects on this channel as well :)
Link to the original video: • Why I swapped my TS Ph...
#astrophotography #ontc #newton

[@scotiaastro]

Awesome mods on the Newt, mate...looks great and nice job to Marvin! HUGE congrats on you passing 1,000 subs (so well deserved!) and I'm excited to learn more about that iOptron HEM!!! ;) Have a great weekend buddy! :)

[@ChrizzlyUniverse]

Thanks a lot Steve for that comment, appreciate the kind words! ☺️ Have yourself a great weekend, too!🙌🏻

[@LogansAstro]

Very cool looking 3d printed kit there. Congrats on hitting the 1k subscribers. I too will be interested to hear your thoughts on the HAE mount you have there. CS Logan

[@ChrizzlyUniverse]

Thank you! Review will be coming, thats for sure :) Clear skies!

[@flightdeckstudios1668]

Great video...Does Marvin have a web store for the Rings and clamps? or maybe .stl files?

[@ChrizzlyUniverse]

Thank you and unfortunately no, he reached out to me directly and did not want to have his credentials mentioned in the video. He also doesnt have a store, sorry for that!

[@jrjeps1]

Hello, Chrizzly I am looking for 182mm rings for the ONTC 6" telescope like your new one's. I can't find them in shops! Should you help me?

[@loneoceans]

Hi Chrizzly, thanks for the nice video and great upgrade! Inspired by your video, I recently finally got my own TS ONTC6f4. It looks like decent quality. However, I was disappointed to see that TS Optics actually used the HSZ6 primary mirror holder instead of the triangular 9-point HSZONTC6 holder which is explicitly shown to come with the telescope on the ONTC6f4 sales page. I contacted TS Optics and they admitted that the different holder was used (without telling me) but justified it being 'functionally the same'. This is not acceptable since I ordered the ONTC version instead of the Photon or UNC series precisely for the upgrades. Just wanted to ask if yours came with the HSZ6 or HSZONTC6 holder? Thank you for your time.

[@ChrizzlyUniverse]

Hey there! Oh man, that doesnt sound too good... :/ Just had a quick check (without complete disassembly) and as far as I understand I have the HSZONTC6 equipped in my scope. The outer most backplate has definetely this triangular shape. So thats a bummer hearing from your situation :/ Here you can see the cell used in my scope, I just took a picture: ibb.co/JBxLK4H Hope you can clear this issue out with TS! Best wishes and CS! Chris

[@loneoceans]

@@ChrizzlyUniverse thanks so much for your time! Yes it does look like yours is the right one. I've reached out to TS again,; just surprised to hear that they had knowingly swapped it and then justified that it was ok. I'm sure the regular pri-holder works fine especially for a smaller mirror like this, but it isn't what I paid for.

[@loneoceans]

@@ChrizzlyUniverse After some back and forth, TS finally agreed to replace my primary mirror holder with the correct one, though this means a few weeks of down time. As a side note, I noticed you have a small fan at the bottom of the mirror holder. May I ask if you added that yourself or if it came with it? Do the wires connect to a 12V DC receptacle at the back (which I assume is where the hole with the big hex nut is?). Thank you again!

[@ChrizzlyUniverse]

@@loneoceans Glad to hear that it worked for you in the end. No, the fan was also part of the delivery and is not custom installed by myself. But this fan also puzzled me a bit...It is a 12 V fan, but the connector is not your standard DC 5.5 x 2.1 mm plug, but instead an AUX 3.5 mm (audio) plug....very weird to me, had to get an additional adapter for that only recently after I experienced some dew/frost forming on the primary during extreme cold nights. But with the adapter the fan worked with 12 V. And yes, its the big hex nut hole. CS!

[@desmcmorrow2978]

Hi, many thanks for the video. I am thinking of buying the same scope so your video has been helpful. Is there any reason why you went for the 3d printed rings from TS? My understanding is that one can specify aluminium rings. Also, is the scope easy to collimate and does it hold collimation well? Cheers, Des