I have owned a 10" GSO RC for over a year now and have just started to get it working properly. I have had a hard road having an SBIG STL-11000 camera, the full frame size is challenging for any telescope. Here is some of the issues and fixes so far.
Problem 1. Really bad collimation. Tried all sorts of ways to get it right.
Solution 1. Got a Takahashi Collimation Telescope and adaptors, WOW really easy now.
Problem 2. The GSO 3" focuser is just not the job of holding a heavy camera and being motorized. Is it possible to use, ummm yes. Would a sane person want to HELL NO.
Solution 2. Lots of help from Ron Newman from Moonlite Focusers. He made me a very low profile 2.5" focuser with a motor attached that I plugged directly into my existing Robofocus control box and cabling. The focuser has a 1.5" drawtube and a M68 threaded top which is important.
Problem 3. Using the 2" compression type fitting to hold the camera is not good enough as there is to much tilt caused by sagging.
Solution 3. Solved by using the Moonlite focuser and some other fittings see next issue.
Problem 4. The field is not flat and stars at the edge of a 35mm chip are to poor to be used without a flattener.
Solution 4. Got a TS2.5-Flat from Teleskop-express in Germany. This has a M68 thread and screws directly into the Moonlite focuser top! They then make a 50mm extender tube to mate the Flattener to the STL thread on the SBIG STL-11000 camera. So a threaded solution all the way, no sag. Very first tests show this flattener is fantastic, more later as I have just got this working last night.
Problem 5. There is funny flat fielding issues and strong reflections in the corners of the image. Here is a video that shows the cause which is the Primary baffle tube being to short and light getting in at the sides of the field.
Youtube Video
Solution 5. Not sure yet but I have heard GSO have an extension tube available. Just starting to make enquirys will let you know.
At last I am starting to get raw images that are getting much nicer. Now to actually take some real images!!!!
Dave Moorhouse
Auckland NZ
