Today I had to sort out one of the spider vanes as it was a little crooked. Yikes, I've not had to do anything like this before! After seeking advice, I managed to return the vane to it's original state, or as near as damn it! Phew, one hurdle down. Next, was to realign the secondary with the primary. Again, something I'd never had to do before. This took some time because I wanted to know what screws moved what and in what direction.( This is a huge achievement for me, like, massively because I'm not techy at all and I'm a girly girl haha!)  That is very important, getting to know your kit and why you're doing certain things and what effect they have. After a short while I managed to get the secondary as good as I could so next, was to collimate the primary. Collimation is something I'm used to with my 5" newt, so this came as no hardship thankfully. I just use a collimation cap then use a star to test how well I've done it.

Balance was the next thing to overcome. I find balancing a scope, a tad on the fiddly, faffy side especially one of this size. My second 5kg counterweight has never seen the light of day in 2 years! Out the box it came. I marked up my counterweight shaft once balance was achieved because setting up needed to be of relative ease. I also marked up my vixen bar for where it sits on the mount. Again, for ease of setting up. So, it seemed I would need a ladder (yes, I do plenty of visual) so I could see through the eyepiece! Ok, not a great idea especially being on grass. I decided to rotate the tube so the focuser was over the counterweight shaft. Job done. Pleased with what I had achieved.