SKylux mount meets a hacksaw...

Yeah that's better alright. Using the little plate from the tripod, it wasn't flush when you put it into the holder so wasn't that secure. So to mount the camera to the plate, just put a screw up through it?

Some test photos from this evening.

Canon 400d, Canon 50mm F/1.8 MKII lens, 92sec exposure, ISO800

Full Frame Image resixed down by 33% so as to fit on the screen:
www.astroshot.com/Skylux-Test-Photos/Test1-Full-Frame-33%25.jpg

Image Cropped near the centre so as to retain a portion at 100% which would fit on the screen: (ignore the fact that it isn't properly focused)
www.astroshot.com/Skylux-Test-Photos/Tes...ped-Frame-100%25.jpg

Will have some longer exposures shortly.

Same Camera and lens.
This time, exposure time of 731 secs (just over 12 mins). For fun, I used a h-alpha filter and converted the images to monochrome. However, I didn't spend a load of time processing them, as you'll soon see why! Besides, they were just test shots to test the mount. Unfortunatrly, you'll see that my polar alignment was well off, although at least this shows the error in the worm gear.

Full Frame Image resixed down by 33% so as to fit on the screen:
www.astroshot.com/Skylux-Test-Photos/Test2-Full-Frame-33%25.jpg
Image Cropped near the centre so as to retain a portion at 100% which would fit on the screen:
www.astroshot.com/Skylux-Test-Photos/Tes...rop-Frame-100%25.jpg
At least it shows that the error in the gear is smooth and not full of spikes. If I had it polar aligned correctly, alot of this error *might* disapper. Only one way to find out - more testing!

Hope this is useful to someone.

Hacksaw O'Connell

Classic!

There's the making of a film in there!

Coming to a screen near you....a deadly astronomer on the rampage...random attacks on tripods....buy who will survive?...find out more in this gripping thriller...starring Anthony Hopkins as Hacksaw O'Connell...only on a screen near you...

:lol: :lol: :lol:
Funny stuff!!

Well done Michael, nice job

Hey there Michael some promising results i bet
you were pleasantly surprised.The first image is
great it's a lovely rich star field the kind of image
you don't see to often.The guiding error is what
you would expect from a cheap mount although
i have seen a lot worse and as you said may be
improved slightly by accurate polar alignment.
Your going to have a great time next year with
M42 and a zoom lens but you've also got objects
like the North American Nebula etc on the way

Getting back to this project to see if I can improve the mount...might as well seen as it's lashing rain right now!

I am wondering if I can improve the polar alignment. There is no space for the mount to take a proprietary polar scope.
I'm wondering if there is any way I can attach on a polar scope or even better, a laser pointer to speed up polar alignment?
Anyone got any ideas?
(It has got to go perpendicular to the counterweight shaft.)
Any suggestions would be welcome.

Cheers,