Two things of note in this post, both of which are related to Skyquest XT modifications - well one is specifically for Orion Skyquest XT scopes, while the other could be of use for most solid tube-type dobsonian mounted telescopes.

1. I’ve added a new page to the mods section detailing the creation of cheap, simple, easy-to-make weights that can be used to counter-balance the telescope altitude adjustment. In fact I made these counter-balance weights quite a long time ago, but didn’t really consider them particularly exciting! However I read a forum post the other day where folk were asking how other people achieved balance for their Dobsonian mounted tube telescopes. The page is: [1] How to make counter-balance weights for a dobsonian telescope.
2. Just last week I received my latest purchase; a Low-Profile Dual-Speed Crayford Focuser from Orion USA, ([2] see here) complete with an [3] AccuFocus Electronic Focuser also from Orion. These are very nice well-engineered pieces of kit, which I have just finished installing to my Orion XT10i. I’ve taken tons of pics of these two items, and very soon I will create another page for my [4] Mods section reviewing them, comparing the old and new Crayfords and showing the installation of a) the new Crayford focuser, and b) the AccuFocus electronic motorised focuser onto i) the old single-speed crayford focuser, and of course, ii) the new dual-speed crayford. In fact the AccuFocus can also be installed on older rack-and-pinion style focusers.

A quick try-out last night with the XT10i and everything installed, provided excellent pin-point fine-adjustment of focus, without any jarring/vibrating of the scope as is usually the case when focusing by hand.

So keep an eye out for this if you’re interesting. I’ll announce it here in my blog.