Improving a 6" Newtonian

A tale of two mirrors

The mirrors are good, apparently having been specially selected by Teleskop Service. They are made by GSO. But the mirror supports are not so good and that needed to be addressed.  I have had a nightmare trying to collimate the scope as a result. 

The GSO primary has a centre donut left out of the silvering so it is very easy to see and dead centre. In fact it's a bit too bright so needs a layer of tape behind it to dim it down to be useful.

Secondary considerations

The secondary is oversized, edge blackened and offset on its aluminium support as sold by TS seperately for a princely sum. 

To get it to behave properly I have added a strong spring to the centre bolt. The problem now is that when the three adjustment knobs are used the secondary mount rotates. The ends of the knob bolts are rounded and seated in rectangular divots in the secondary holder.

The solution will probably be either the 'milk lid' fix (plastic washer) or a large metal washer.