How to....
Setting up and using a spectrograph - Introduction
A summary document which covers, hopefully, all the practical do's and don'ts of handing and using gratings (as well as some other interesting and useful stuff) is available here. Read it through carefully. Further information is given in the various sections.
The spectroscopy page of the BAA Equipment and Techniques section available here contains some very useful and up to date information. Well worth checking out.
Setting up gratings
Generally most amateurs start with the 1.25" filter sized transmission gratings - The Star Analyser, SA 100 or SA 200 (The eyepiece gratings from Baader and Rainbow Optics are no longer available). These can be used in front of a camera lens "Objective grating" or with the telescope optics "In the converging beam" Using the objective grating is as simple as mounting the grating on front of the camera lens. You can either modify a lens cover to hold the grating securely, or purchase a suitable adaptor which holds the grating and screws onto the front of the camera lens. Make sure the grating is aligned to present a spectral image horizontally across the chip.
The illustration shows the filter grating attached to a 1.25" T thread nosepiece, fitted to the DSLR camera lens with a combination of the Baader T thread to M48 adaptor and a M48 to M55 KOOD filter stepping ring. (Note the wrap of elastic on the T thread - this allows the grating to be slightly rotated to bring the spectral images horizontal)
For use in the telescope as a "in the converging beam" configuration, the grating can be fitted to a 1.25" T thread adaptor and mounted directly to the DSLR camera body using an appropriate T2 to camera adaptor. Alternatively the grating can be fitted to a filter selector (or filter wheel) mounted in front of your CCD camera.
There's a copy of the Star Analyser manual available here
There's a spacing calculator for the Star Analyser grating here
Christian Buil's Star Analyser page is also informative, available here
Dr. Doug West has a interesting write-up on the resolution of a grating set-up available here
For further information on transmission gratings and their optimum set-up, spacings etc. See the Gratings section under Spectrographs
Setting up a slit spectrograph
It is assumed, if you're considering a slit spectrograph, that you have moved well beyond "Spectroscopy 101".
There are many new challenges associated with the slit spectrograph - fitment (and suitability) to the telescope, acquisition and guiding, reference lamps and wavelength calibration of the grating.
This Introductory tutorial covers the basics of setting up a slit spectroscope on your telescope, focusing, setting wavelength and guiding. Read it through carefully.
This BASS tutorial also covers the basics of setting up a slit spectroscope on your telescope, guiding, acquiring a series of spectra and processing the spectra using BASS Project. Read it through carefully. Andrew's recent BASS Tutorial (based on an ALPY instrument) is more conprehensive, very helpful and should be consulted, available here.
Solution: Pick an easy target to start with! As an amateur astronomer you're probably familiar with the Spectral Classes - OBAFGKM basically covering from the hot blue stars (Class O) to the dull cool red stars (Class M). As the temperature of the star changes so to does the general composition - the hot stars (>25000 degree) have Helium and Hydrogen, the intermediate stars (~7000 degree) less Hydrogen and more metals - Calcium, Iron, Magnesium and the cool stars (<4000 degree) start to show molecular bands of Titanium Oxide and Vanadium Oxide. Knowing these elemental distributions helps to establish a starting point. Don't expect to find Titanium Oxide in a Class O,B or A spectrum; and Helium (or much residual Hydrogen) in the Class M stars.