Hi Chris, I definitely very interested in DYI wedge. I’m new to astrography, and want to slow down before spending another $1-1.5k on GEM. I still struggle with basic camera configuration and mount tracking. As soon as I can I will try this DYI wedge, and if was not successful I should just go and get GEM
I just wanted to share my experience with Nexstar mounts in tracking. After long research and nights of testing, I have concluded that Nexstar DOES NOT accept guiding command in AltAz tracking mode.
If you don’t have a wedge, you cannot use Eq north or south as the tracking calculations is totally off the charts, and no tracking correction will be able to fix this huge drifting. You are left with only one option without a wedge which is the AltAz tracking mode.
AltAz tracking is pretty accurate for the modern mounts, and doesn’t need much correction from guiding scope or module, but definitely not suitable for long exposures (I tried 25 seconds and I started to see star trails).
My only option is to buy GEM as many advised against the wedge for AP.
That was my conclusion, and I hope it will save someone my painful (but a lot of learning) experience.