Newtonian Telescopes - How to make them work - because from the box they are useless!

Getting a Newtonian Telescope isn't the end of the journey, there are a lot of modifications to perform and items to make before they become even close to being useful. This is a few of them.

[ceejay]

One reason the mirrors in commercial Newtonians move is that the primary is often supported by nylon screws at the back. As the telescope is moved to different parts of the sky, the change of weight distribution between the back and edge supports causes those screws to compress by slightly different amounts. This can affect both the focus and the collimation. The solution I adopted was to replace the nylon screws with stainless steel ones, which don't compress. If you do this, make sure to file the ends to a very slight convex shape first: screws straight from the box usually have a raised irregular rim which is not a good shape for the support. For normal imaging the effect may be quite small, but I was imaging the ISS, so the telescope was moving through more than 90 degrees in a couple of minutes. The change of alignment and collimation was very noticeable under those conditions!

[dumpydalekobservatory]

Why did I think of Holly from Red Dwarf after watching this?
Great tips Andy yeah Newtonians are a pain I will agree I think the same could be said for most reflecting telescopes as I'm fighting a battle with the RASA to.
Lets hope that we have the power to beat them all into submission so we can get some stunning images like your Orion image.
Clear skies

[anata]

I am really looking forward to use Newtonian. It is potentially better than refractor. Actually, any mirror-based telescope system is better than refractor system.

[Tony-Elliott]

Lets hope you finally get yo use this telescopes very soon

[cliveroberts]

Bit of a pain to collimate regularly otherwise not a problem with them, as for cooling down they are probably the quickest design. Maybe you have been unlucky

[stephenc]

It is strange that you can buy a telescope or a mount and it does not work properly and that seems to be considered ok and normal. These problems are really defects. You don't buy a new car expecting to change the tyres or have the engine tuned before it will run so why do dealers and manufacturers think it is ok to sell products with these problems? This is a hard enough hobby without all the nights lost because of equipment problems!

[MrKA]

Mirror clips aren't the main cause of diffraction spikes!
These spikes are caused by the secondary mirror holders, the so called "spider legs".
The thicker they are, the brighter these spikes will be.
So, do not make useless mirror masks, use thinner spider legs instead.