Newtonian Upgrades The Good The Bad & The Ugly

[@astrostufftomtrubridge7915]

Thanks Titch, I'll probably solve it at some point. We've been North of border this Week/ weekend for Mother in laws 80th birthday treat including Edinburgh and Tattoo. no rain but plenty of clouds, maybe due to thought of bringing some astro kit, 😂😂.. Atb Tom...

[@happinessloveyoursmile]

Awesome and fantastic, Super amazing presentation, Brilliant work

[@Tony-Elliott]

Story of my life mate five minutes job turns into 3 day job , glad you got it all sorted and looking forward to seeing you your first light with this new set up

[@dumpydalekobservatory]

I think it ended up being more a 3 week job waiting for parts etc to get delivered, it does however to be ok now so hopefully I'll get a first light with it soon.

[@whyf16uy]

You're becoming the DIY king. I feel for you with your mirror cell. When I went to put my mirror mask on the mirror was pretty much stuck fast to the cell so I never got it off.

[@dumpydalekobservatory]

Ha ha I wouldn't say DIY king as everything was fighting me in this mind you the RASA did when I fitted the Celestron retrofit focuser ended up having to totally strip that thing down, the thing is when I first had the Newtonian I pulled it apart & cleaned the mirror & it were just fine, maybe I should clean the mirror more often than 10 years I think.

[@astrostufftomtrubridge7915]

Always the same, still it looks like yre winning, I had same issue with my ASi AF adapter in the Evolux, ended up grinding some metal off the adapter to fit in hole, not sure why they've never standardise things like that. Maybe just to annoy people 😂. Atb..

[@dumpydalekobservatory]

This is true Tom but I suppose if everything is standardised there's no money to make either, getting there slowly I guess clear skies

[@richardhendrick5835]

Richard - Belgium- Had the same problem with one of the screws (M4 thread) of my 250 skywatcher. Manage to drill it and recover the thread. In the end I only use 3 points out of 6 to hold my miror...😊

[@dumpydalekobservatory]

Seems I'm not alone with this issue then I'm glad you managed to sort it out.

[@markjagger7139]

Excellent mate, glad you managed to work through the problems and come out with good results

[@dumpydalekobservatory]

Hopefully I'll get to use it soon although we're gearing up for out holiday to Whitby in a week, we'll probably make it just in time for the wind & rain ha ha.

[@markjagger7139]

@@dumpydalekobservatory Whitby that’s a lovely place enjoy

[@bbroastro]

Hi, just come across your channel :) I just want to give you a huge word of warning from experience. The focuser you have is the same design as the Skywatcher / Astro Essentials low profile focuser and has a fatal design flaw. The mounting plate that attaches to the tube and holds the focuser onto said plate via 4 grub screws *WILL* come loose. It's just a matter of time. I along with another person had their entire camera imaging train fall out the tube. This included my entire mono / EFW setup. I highly highly recommend replacing the screws with a more conical end and applying blue thread lock to keep them in place. It's crazy to me it isn't threaded on AND has grab screws. The dovetail end (where the grub screws sit) isn't aggressive of an angle. I had to hold my focuser in place with steel cables wrapped around the tube for months as over time it kept slipping out - the worst part is I was only using the focuser while waiting on the ridiculous 12-14 month back order of the Baader Steeltrack focuser, which I hiiiiighly recommend. The Baader has a similar mounting setup, however it uses 8 grub screws and has a much more aggressive dovetail ensuring it won't come loose (of which it hasn't since I installed it almost 2 years ago) Also, glad people are enjoying the CNC spider, I'm proud to say I got them stocked into the UK from Germany after years of trying to get one.

[@dumpydalekobservatory]

I must admit I wasn't very happy with it as it has some tilt, probably due to a misshapen tube over time & there's no way to adjust it, I have since changed it & adjusted out the tilt so at least that's something. Thanks for the warning though as I'll be avoiding them from now on, clear skies

[@boaty1968]

I fitted a cnc spider to my 200pds excellent upgrade , used a deepskydad apeture mask and I fixed the mirror to cell using VHB Tape clips are totally free of the mirror and my stars are brilliant now no flares totally clean ,

[@dumpydalekobservatory]

Fingers crossed I'll get to try it out soon just a pity mine seemed to fight me all the way so it'll be great to see the differences.

[@neilhankey2514]

The Gemini focuser is working great for me. No issues with it at all and a bargin at 80 Euros. Aluminium is a horrible alloy and subject to quite some variation. When the copper content is too high, you get all sorts of issues with corrosion due to the "galvanic reaction between dissimilar metals." A kind of welding for free!!! The trick is the tighten and then loosen, well at least that normally works for car heads!!!

[@dumpydalekobservatory]

Yeah I did try the loosening & tightening the screws as I tried to remove them Neil but sadly 4 still still snapped, maybe due to the poor quality of metals but it seems ok now even though its a bit of a bodge but seems solid enough so I guess I shall find out when I get round to testing it out. The Gemini focuser I have is working although I shall need to set up the backlash which I'll get round to doing to. I'm just a bit annoyed about the temperature sensor being missing & the damage done to it & all they're offering is $1.

[@LogansAstro]

Well done on carrying through with the whole thing after all those screw/bolt issues. Pretty poor of Alliexpress to try and give a $1 compensation for a 13 pound item. They should be sending the probe out to you. Anyway, hope you get it sorted. CS

[@dumpydalekobservatory]

Thanks Logan yeah I'm not to happy with the Ali Express seller I must admit there's also the dented cover which I think happened in transit so I may have to take it up with Paypal. Clear skies

[@Felldisulfide]

Oh man. The bolts you took out were so twisted they looked like they were ready to shear as well. Glad you were able to sort it out. Did you use a drill press? Don't imagine you hand drilled out that bolt. I hope you get a chance to use the whole rig soon. CS!

[@dumpydalekobservatory]

Thanks Chris yeah it did turn into a nightmare in the end but fingers crossed I've got it sorted. I did sadly drill it by hand as I only have a really cheap & nasty drill press from Amazon ( See the CGE pro ONSTEP install in the observatory video) It did the job but only just & isn't the most precise of tools lol. We're away next week so hoping to try it when we get back from our holidays,

[@kajouman]

now its time for the 16 "....😎

[@dumpydalekobservatory]

Hmmm I think I would need to sell a few body parts to afford one of those lol

[@Cheapass-tro]

Sorry, missed the premiere. I believe Andy of Astro also got his delivered without the temp. sensor. I think he just assumed that was another option, but the listing does say it's included. I wonder how many actually get one?

[@dumpydalekobservatory]

It's ok Nugsy we were late back so weren't around at the premier oops lol, I think Andy bought his with the hand controller as the listing had it pictured, the one I bought had the sensor pictured but sadly didn't get one so seems a bit of a lottery when you buy the things. That said it does work & you can always set it to do a refocus every couple of hours so not to much of an issue.