what do I buy?

[iwagland]

i have a 12 " Dob and find it cumbersome to drag around.

I am looking at buying a buying a new scope and it would have to be portable (Anything is portable after a 12" Dob).

My main aim is for deep sky viewing with some Planetary viewing.

I am willing to spend about 3K

Any suggestions.

Tim

[madwayne]

If you are happy with the push to's go for a 16" Lightbridge. Maximum aperture and Bintel have them priced under your 3k with enough left over for some accessories, like a shroud.

If you want go to you could look at an LX90 or LX200 but you would be down to 8" of aperture to get in under your budget. Half the aperture and I would think something like 75% less light gathering ability of the 16".

Of course you will be posting your 12" dob for sale on here so don't forget to add the proceeds from that to your spending budget :lol:. Should get you some very nice eyepieces or even an Argo Navis for your 16", or even get you closer to a 10" LX90.

I have been contemplating this question with a similar budget in mind for a few months now, but have held off as the weather in Sydney has been garbage unless you want to photograph cloud.

Good luck with your decision.

Wayne

[astronut]

A solid 12" tube can be a pain!!
I have a 12" lightbridge, since it breaks up into 3 smaller parts, the weight and physical size are not a problem.:thumbsup:

[mental4astro]

Hi Iwagland,

Would you consider remodelling the scope into something more portable? You can use its existing hardware like primary & its cell, secondary its holder and spider, as well as its focuser and finder.

It will be a whole lot cheaper than buying a new scope, and you don't need to go down in apeture.

I'm now in the process of doing this with my big 17.5" dob. It too is a solid tude. You reckon you've got hassels moving your 12"er now!. This baby as it was I think would push 80 to 90 kg all up.

I'm keeping the above mentioned components too. I've got the plywood & tubing for trusses (I'm employing 3 poles here), now all that is left is some teflon sheet a bunch of screws and varnish, :thumbsup::thumbsup:. All up I'm budgeting around $600.

See what you think?

[casstony]

1. A 10" dob is significantly shorter/lighter than the 12" - you could offer yours as a straight trade for a 10".

2. Celestron Nexstar 8SE - the detachable OTA makes this scope very portable, but it's a big drop in light gathering from the 12".

[mental4astro]

This thread spurred me onto ordering the Teflon.

After the timber, Al tubing and now the Teflon, I have $150 left in the kitty for varnish and screws. Should make it within my $600 budget! :D

[Vartigy]

alex, got any progressive photos?
sorry for the thread hijack ian.

[mental4astro]

I'll be starting a new thread under the 'DIY' forum when I start the cutting. Need to get through the last of my work, :), before I begin with the fun stuff, :D.

The Odyssey will do one last trek to Katoomba this Saturday.

The Queen is dead!

Long live the Queen!

[AdrianF]

Hmmmm my 10" GSO might be for sale soon;)

Adrian

[Louwai]

Do what Eric did. give your 12" solid tube to Peter at SDM & he'll turn it into a 12" Truss Dob.
http://www.sdmtelescopes.com.au/

[Paddy]

Like Alexander and Bryan, I'd recommend putting your current optics into a truss dob. Have a look at Tim Nott's 10" project using GSO optics - this scope is sooo portable and easy and could be easily adapted to 12". I think Tim just drew up the plans and got a business to cut the timber and then he glued it together.

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=38956

Of course there are heaps of designs and Bryan's suggestion of getting Peter Read to do it is also great. There should be no need to sacrifice aperture to get portability. My 16" tridob is far more portable than my 12" GSO was.

[erick]

What Bryan said! ;)

[netwolf]

And if your not into DIY there was one company i saw on Astromart who provide you with all the bits and bobs to convert your dob into a trus desing.
Here is a link

http://dobstuff.com/

Also if your set on a not-dob option then perhap the best bet is to for a LX90 8" or Nexstar 8SE. Alternatively the Skywatcher 8" SCT EQ5pro from Andrews is a good combo at a good price relatively speaking. Look in the clasfied some good Lx200's are turning up there recently. But for portability 8" is great, the 10" SCT fork mounted start to get a bit heavy, but still fairly portable.

I went from a 10" dob to a Lx90 and it was the scope i used most. Even my G-11/C8 setup now does not get as much use as the LX90 did. It was just so portable.

[tnott]

I agree with the people suggesting making it into a truss setup. A solid tube 12" is cumbersome, but a truss version is very portable.

Dobstuff for an ultralight kit or a more traditional, beautifully finished SDM are good options here.

Better still, have a go at building your own to suit your specific needs.This is the standard reference:
http://www.willbell.com/tm/dobtel.htm
And this is where you can find the most ATM scopes at the one place:
http://stellafane.org/misc/links.html

[iwagland]

Thanks for your very helpfull suggestions I will you you know what I will do.

Tim