Transferred my 12" Skywatcher optics into a new body. This Geoptik Nadrius structure was a kit however and I did a lot of work over the last 4 days to polish the system into a very smooth experience. Setup, tear down and movements are all silky!
Holds collimation like a boss, and the open mirror box and cell means I don't need to install my 120mm fan.
Used an air brush to apply Musou Black to the mirror box and upper OTA for that 99+% light absorption. I realised though that when applied by air brush that paint is very fragile and applied 2 coats of matte varnish from a spray can. It lightened it up a bit to the eye but it is still orders of magnitude darker then the Black 2.0 which I used as a primer. The varnish will at least keep any particulates from releasing when using an air blower and provides some water resistance - which will help with dew. I may touch it up once a year or so. I still have a full bottle of each Musou Black and Black 2.0
Future things to add to it include:
- Low profile focuser as some of my eyepieces and especially my coma corrector doesn't have enough in-focus despite pulling the primary as high as it will go.
- Figure out a mounting solution for my iPad. A pole on the side or something as the UTA is crowded now.
- Install the wireless DSC that are actually made bespoke for this structure.
- ......and I don't know. Maybe sand the whole thing back and stain varnish it? I do appreciate the lighter colour does make it easy to see in the dark.
- While I feel I've never had an issue with the current optics - which are now 11 years old. Might switch them out for a Hubble Optics sandwich mirror.