Alright! i need to know if anyone has a better suggestion?

[wraithe]

My last scope was a refractor..Cheapy too...
What i have in mind of getting is a reflector..Newtonian...
I was thinking of buying a GSO dobsonian, possibly 12"...
what i want to know is about mounting it on an equatorial mount and how expensive that can be... The other questions are, the dobsonian is quite heavy for me and will be permanently mounted, but (there always is one of them) do they give good results with a ccd.. And purchasing one from the eastern states is another issue i have, as i live in the south west of WA..
I have noticed that i can buy one for around 1,000 dollars, which to me sounds very cheap, but the reflector is the way i wish to go.. I am not interested in building one and i'm in the process of constructing an interferometer so it will be an add on to my present interests..Its not an idea i just decided on, and have been gettin my life in order to purchase a decent scope for sometime.. I wish to have it completely controlled via computer and thats where the expense will lay for me.. I am limited on what applications i will run on it as i use linux 99% of the time, so some off the shelf gear will not be suitable..
Now if anyone has any suggestions on something better, i will greatly appreciate them and any advice that you dont want to post publicly, then plz pm me...

[mickoking]

Buy the 300mm Dob and start from there. Until you descide your plan of attack you will still have a beaut visual 'scope to use in the meantime.

[davidpretorius]

this setup by paul mayo is one of the nicest i have seen for a 12" newt.

http://www.skylab.com.au/pmsa/equip.html

I would go 12" for the aperture and then start saving the pennies for a great mount.

Bird has been doing a lot or work in planetary software for linux. He was in the process of adding a guide for keeping everything on track in march

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Hi Wraithe,

I have the GS 12" dob, and in the next few days (yep, down to a few days now) it is going onto my EQ! Worth the wait to get an EQ for yours if you get the 12", coz it is a great scope!

This is what mine is going on.

[wraithe]

Paul Mayo's scope is a dream peice...It is also along what i would setup..
The garden shed with flat roof can be the easiest way to go..
3.0m x 3.0m is very cheap, and concrete floor is not that expensive..
The bit that i'm worried about is the Guide and the mount...
That mount you have (ballarat dragons) is what i had in mind,(so when can you drop it in the mail...LMAO)..
So far everything i read is the 12" is well worth buying and the difference between that and a 10" is huge.. i cant see myself gettin so serious with optical to justify anything bigger, but at that size i suspect i will be able to get some great ccd shots and with my pc setup i should be able to have it take some nice shots while i'm asleep...love leaving something going and gettin up and finding what went wrong...lol...
So i spose the next question is the best place to buy, and who will ship to me in WA...umm am i allowed to ask that on here, hope so...

Just thinking,(yeh it hurts) I can run my coax along the same cabling for the scope..hmm, one conduit the whole way..Now the question is maximum lengths..well guys i can get that info myself but it works out well...

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

anyone who sells GS scopes I suppose. Dunno if anyone does in WA, you'll have to enquire.

[janoskiss (Steve H)]

A sturdy EQ mount for a 12" Dob OTA will cost you thousands (probably many thousands...). You'd probably be better off with a smaller scope. An 8 or 10" Dob is also more comfortable to use, and would make a better first scope imo.

[wraithe]

Originally Posted by janoskiss

A sturdy EQ mount for a 12" Dob OTA will cost you thousands (probably many thousands...). You'd probably be better off with a smaller scope. An 8 or 10" Dob is also more comfortable to use, and would make a better first scope imo.

if i was to make the stand itself, the workings would cost what?
i can make a stand out of rhs quite easily and then i would only need to purchase the actual base...that is probably the one bit i would buy as i dont have access to a lathe and mill to make it and the one guy that would have made it for me died last year...
also the price isnt a big issue for me, i have enough to play with...

[janoskiss (Steve H)]

I think you'd be amazed at how difficult it is to make a sturdy and stable EQ mount for a scope as large as a 12" Newtonian. When you are imaging you are magnifying any small vibrations 1000 fold. If you have plenty to spend, and you are really ultimately after a setup you can drive from your lounge room sitting at a PC, then get an SCT. I don't know much about them but a Celestron 9.25" I looked through not long ago impressed the hell out of me. And some of the the planetary imaging people are getting some great images with them.

You might consider grabbing an 8" Dob first to get you low-tech observing sooner. The cost will be insignificant compared with the imaging setup, which will take a while to implement. It's really diving into the deep end, but if you're that kind of person there is nothing wrong with that (... it's just that most people are not that kind of person ).

[wraithe]

thank you...yes i am that way, generally take on a project and go full on into it.. As for visual astronomy, well its an interest that i will use to the fullest but not probably as much as a radio telescope..
The base is easy enough to build and 150 x 150 x 10mm rhs with four legs is stable enough for a lot of weight and very little movement..once set into i metre square of concrete..i'm on fairly stable ground here..I'm sure that i have the skill to make the mount.. I have rewelded my motor bike frame and done one for a guy that was happy to have a woman do the work..My bike is a GS1000G and his is a Harley 89' sportster.. So my ability to do the stand is not a problem but have not got the gear to make the mount itself.. I have made precision mechanisms before..
But to purchase that side of the mount would be a bonus..Price is not in question here, and i see no point buying a small scope that will get replaced within 3 months any way...the price of a small scope is not that much cheaper anyway..and my daughter will be using this when she visits, and she is a mad photographer..i'm not allowed to buy a camera unless she picks it and as i prefer digital, i probably will never get a real camera as she calls them...She is mad about stargazing and i would be happy to have the unit available for her as well.. and i have owned a cheap refractor before but was disappointed in looking at very little when the slightly larger scopes i seen did show more...
havng checked out prices for 10" compared to 12", it would not be worth paying nearly as much for a 10" and then realising i could have the larger one for very little more...since i posted here i have found lots of opinions on this subject and really it was to just ensure my own ideas where right.. the mount is another question, but more the mechanism side of things as i would like to save on searching and reading a lot..i dont wish to purchase something that looks good on paper but is not good in practise...
Thank you..Kathy..

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Hi Kathy.

A Losmandy G11 would hold a 12" newt np but it's unlikely to be good enough for what you want to do. You may want to consider a 11" or 12" SCT. It will handle them np. 12" and up in a newt you may want to look at the Losmandy Titan or something similar. MMmmmmmm Titan. You could easily go up to 16" on that. Plus with the new Gemini 4 controller setup you could be sitting in front of the fire inside, knitting a new seat cover for your 1000G and imaging away to your hearts content.

[saturn c (Leo)]

yeah good idea ?

[astro_nutt]

I tried using a couple of stub axles for a heavy duty eq mount, (which I gave away)..plenty of cutting and welding required..but it was caplable of supporting 50+kgs..that combined to a sturdy fork mount easily held my 10 inch dob!!

[wraithe]

hmm, holden stub axles.. got one at the farm but two...nah last time i seen them was when the dozer pushed them into a hole and covered them up...now i'm not digging them up...
they would be strong enough for more than that sort of weight and you can use a ballrace to mount them but wont be the way i will go now...the stand is easy but the base is something else...synta/skywatcher EQ6 is what i was offered by a dealer and am wondering if it will handle the job on a decent rhs stand...There will be a fair bit of weight with the electronics mounted on it...
i will go and check the mounts you have named too...