Posts Made By: Gary McKenzie

Hi,
I used to have a Synta ED-80 with excellent optics. In a moment of madness I sold it. I now miss it and wish to replace it.

Has anyone had a chance to compare an ED-80 to the Astronomy Technologies AT80ED?

The astrotech has a much nicer focuser, tube, and fit and finish, but from what I can find on the net it seems as if it is not quite as good optically as the ED-80???

Have also heard that it is a knock off of a William optics scope - if so, which model??

Opinions sought please

cheers
Gary

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24036602-5000117,00.html

cheers
Gary

Hi,
you could add a home built goto drive. Mel Bartels http://www.bbastrodesigns.com/cot/cot.html
Provides a superlative design and free software that is adapatable to any telescope there is. There is also a yahoo group with 1600 members for support. I have 2 scopes both using this system, a dob and an gem. It is at least the equal of any commercial system out there.

hope this helps
cheers
Gary

John Love said:

Does anyone know how many teeth are on the drives of the EQ-6 mount? Are they 180 or 144 tooth or some other count. I have looked at serveral of the web sites, but can't find any specs.

John

180 teeth - I have one driven by a Bartels controller and belt drive on the worm

cheers
gary

Actually the latest eq6's are VERY good. My own has a pe in the +/- 6 arc second range (ie a total of 12 arc seconds.) It had a 15 sec pe (I posted data on cloudynights showing a tracking log to this effect) I dropped it onto a floor and feared major damage, but after dismantling and checking everything after some adjustments I got it back to this range. The latest batch have phosphor bronze worm wheels and stainless steel worms. There is standard grease on the bearings and what looks like moly grease on the worms. The overall machining was excellent. 2 friends bought eq6's at the same time, and are reporting similar errors. If you wish I'll email you my pe correction file so that you can examine the errors. Makers of more expensive mounts should be very worried. It seems the chinese are on the way.........

cheers
gary

ps I have no attachment, emotional or otherwise to any equipment, I'm just reporting my experiences.

Philip Blanda said:

I have read that the new EQ6 has a smooth periodic error of +/- 7.5 arcseconds. Have these mounts reached new levels of mechanical fabrication? Are the users of these mounts mistaken? I am skeptical, given the level of construction I have see such mounts so far.