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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,

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.

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

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

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.

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.

@@dumpydalekobservatory Whitby that’s a lovely place enjoy

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

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.

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.

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.

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

Hi there Chris, yes the larger heavier scope is closer to the centre than the refractor although it's not properly balanced as yet as I'm waiting for the autofocuser to arrive so I can then attempt to balance it all properly also need to get a dew heater for the secondary mirror to so still going to be a while before it all gets a first light.

Thanks mate hopefully I won't have to wait to long cheers clear skies.

Thanks & yes it is Ascom compliant if you watch this video by Andy he shows you it working within NINA, the drivers can be a bit of a faff to find but he does show you how he got his. ua-cam.com/video/zMlYYb_ENdE/v-deo.html

@@dumpydalekobservatory Thanks mate.

Ha ha yeah sorry about that Tom although in my defence I've owned both scopes for quite a while now lol, weird as I saw that you'd commented a couple of days ago only to see that it had gone for some reason very weird. Clear skies!!

@@dumpydalekobservatory Hi, it's odd as I to had noted this, hence re writing another comment I've even had to re subscribe to others after they'd disappeared from my subs list ??..

I think it's youTube just being mardy lol.

Thanks Tony lets hope I won't have to long to wait, clear skies.

No worries Neil I paid over that for a second hand focus cube a while back so I'm hoping the Gemini EAF is going to be ok.

Yeah mate that's going to be the fun part getting everything to work so fingers crossed it does, it'll be nice to use the Newtonian again to as it's been a while.

Cheers Simon I doubt I'll be doubling the data though as they would need to be aligned & I'm betting they're going to be a fair bit off from one another, but nice to have the choice for different targets rather than swapping out scopes. Hopefully the Gemini focuser will be ok & like the ZWO EAF is powered by the USB cable so that's one cable less to deal with. Clear skies

Thanks Logan I think balancing it may prove to be the tricky part but we shall see when I get everything fitted, I'm guessing I may need another small counterweight bolted on somewhere but we shall see. I hear ya regarding saving your back & as I'll be off to hospital for an op in a few months might as well get the heavy stuff sorted out now so I haven't got to worry about it later. Cheers & clear skies

Thanks Jason hope to get it all up & running soon.

Cheers Ollie yeah seen Logan's with his SCT & Esprit very nice that, an SCT would be a better bet in mine to to be honest but I managed to squeeze the thing in lol.

Ah thanks DIY isn't my strongest point I must admit but sometimes I get it sort of right 😂

Thanks Stuart the Onstep isn't the problem on this it's the design of the mount itself as it has limit & home switches on each axis so it will always use those so the mount knows when its at the home position if that makes sense. You would have thought that Celestron would have given you the option just to rotate the saddle but sadly this wasn't the case, fingers crossed I'll get a first light with it soon cheers.

@@dumpydalekobservatory ah, ok my mistake, well you came up with a great solution…

No worries mate I did ask Chad who built the kit if there was a solution as he has a dual setup on his mount but he said there isn't sadly & as height is the issue this was the only solution I could come up with.

To be fair at the time I hadn't had it long & was a bit clueless with the settings as people were telling me different things when I asked about them, since then I do run it at around 282 now, also since filming this its runs with NINA just fine now.

@@dumpydalekobservatory How is the cam? Ive just gotten it.

@@Oxizee It's a brilliant camera although I did buy another one last year as I sold the first one to fund a 26C, my only niggle with it is that it can sometimes suffer with condensation on the sensor window so a separate heater might be required, other than that it's a great performer

Yeah I've been looking at the weather myself & thought about going out but nope sadly not. Hopefully we'll get out soon though eh? Clear skies!!

Hi, Just watching more Utube and thinking about all those wonderful expensive shiny triplet scopes that have arrived from China these days (No envy, honest😁) I feel your comments regarding a good quality doublet, even an older scope was a good evaluation,(except for my TAL 6inch reflector I owned which weighed a ton and was probably built with Russian submarine spares😂😂) after all the hobby is what you make it, technically advanced cmos cameras and software are making a big difference, but really just happy with my achievements and the gear I have. Some of the planetary images taken with a Philips modded Web cam on the classic 9.25 still look good and hang in our hall to this day. Using early registax and a modded PHILIPS 2U webcam from the late 90s-mid 2000s was awesome at the time, one of my composites even made it into Astronomy now magazine with a cracking Mars image. Speaking of which I must get those mags & sky at night down from the loft just to remind me of specs and prices of the day, funny I have no laptop or PC capable of playing those cover cds these days... Regards atb Tom👍..

I hear you Tom I had some of my best images of Jupiter using a modified Philips webcam & two stacked 2X Barlows, maybe I'll have another go again sometime when they're around at a decent time. Cheers

Thanks Don it took some sorting with the background but pretty happy with the end result. Clear skies mate

Nice one Nugsy wonder why it kept deleting on there very weird. I hope you do a video about it mate be interesting to watch. Cheers clear skies

Yeah I guess I've never really put in lots of hours on an image apart from the Helix nebula twice now but even then it were only about 8 hours on each session but a lot of those subs ended up being tossed aside as its low for a UK target. I may have one last try at it this season if the weather allows but I think it will be the last time for me.

Yeah I used the Antlia triband RGB filter for the entire run the star colours were almost perfect straight from the camera, M106 needed a bit more work to tease out the colours but it didn't take much to do. Altair astro also do an RGB triband filter & I've been hearing great reviews about it to. Clear skies!!

Thanks for your kind words & for the sub it's very much appreciated.

Thanks mate yeah it is a pretty decent performer I'm very happy with it one of my better purchases I'd say, the Antlia triband RGB filter also worked well a very decent performer.

@@dumpydalekobservatory Nice filter that Antlia! I’ve got the Altair triband RGB to try!

@@SimonsAstro I did think about buying one & by the time I'd made up my mind they'd sold out at the PAS which is why I bought the Antlia, be good to do a comparison of the 2?

@@dumpydalekobservatory 👍

Thank you for your kind words & thanks for the sub it's very much appreciated.

Thanks Logan more time would have improved it I think but I'm pretty happy with the result, the Antlia triband RGB filter did a great job to as the star colours were pretty much spot on although with the galaxies I did have to tease the colour out a bit.

Looks like the weather is back to normal now though so who knows when we'll get out again, thanks for watching & clear skies.

I think the Aurora last week made up for the months of cloudy nights we had here so Saturday night turned out to be a bit of a bonus.

How strange you should say that Tom I was given a Skywatcher ED100 for when I did solar outreach events, I still have it now although I did buy a case with a reducer some time afterwards. I did try imaging with it a couple of times with my old QHY8 camera & DSLR & even though it's pretty slow it didn't do a half bad job but for solar it performs great for white light. The only let down is the rubbish Crayford focuser that Skywatcher still build to this day but it's one of those scopes that I think to myself do I or don't I upgrade the focuser & would it be worth it? Blimey I remember seeing Prinz refractors in Dixons although I never owned one myself. Clear skies

Thanks mate definitely especially here in the UK lol

It does Tony a very good scope indeed one of the best purchases I've made I must admit.

Thanks Rob it were nice to get out again. Clear skies

Hi I have a metre square of concrete with 4 M22 threaded rods sunk into the concrete as the pier itself bolts to those rather than having the pier sunk into it. It's been solid all this time & hasn't moved although if the pier was longer I probably would have sunk it in the concrete.

First light optics sell them here's a link although I'm almost certain other vendors sell them to. www.firstlightoptics.com/zwo-accessories/zwo-anti-dew-heater-strip-for-asi-cooled-cameras.html

It was an incredible night mate I wish I had more cameras to point at the sky as there was so much to see so I were kinda going all over the place lol.