10" Newt on EQ6???

[xelasnave]

I come from an era where one tried to keep weight down so I lean to the eight inch, as I have done.
I may consider ten inch if a permanent set up for a variety of reasons.
I like to baffle my tubes have extended baffled dew tubes, four scope rings in stead of two...plus I will add something to beef up areas of perceived flex in time, add camera and filter wheel, guide scope and a optical 70mm finder viewer with a illuminated reticle...my point is it all adds up.
But these days one seems to get away with the help of guiding and short exposures.
Heck...buy the big one you know you wont be happy unless you do.
Good luck.
Alex

[xelasnave]

Over a decade ago my eq6 carried a 12 inch 1200 mm fl. A steel tube that came on a dob mount ..so heavy.. It worked ok but I kept to objects directly above and moved it manually... it tracked fine.
A great mount.
Alex

[doppler (Rick)]

Go the 10", I have been using one on an HEQ5 for over a year now and haven't had any issues yet. If you want to beef up the load carrying put it on a pier. I put an extension bar on mine and only need 2 counterweights now.

[astronobob (Bob)]

I all for the 10" on any EQ6, been doing it for yrs, mind you out at dark skies with an off-axis-guider 'cutting weight & gaining more guiding accuracy' tho the last year doing in suburbs needing the seperate guide scope for more guide stars, I have also added an extra two tube rings for stability - meaning I also needed to make a custom near 1 meter long Dovetail bar, plus I have two finders, one with camera , other for visual ? ?

So my payload is over 20kg maybe 22-23,, but I believe the most important thing is BALLANCE, meaning, the mount will carry the weight no probs, but if you are Not Ballance well, than the risk of OverLoading is the possibility of damage to the drive motors &/or gear stripping/binding etc !

My motors, gears & bearings run very quietly & smoothly - hence, not overworking due to excessive load !
But in saying this, I have tweaked the worm gears, motor gearings and my bearings are cleaned and well greased.

Tho, this is not quite a beginners task, Paul, but all in all if your confident with ballance , you will be ok, and as mentioned in other's replies, getting out & into a club is very beneficial, and it is there where you can learn about balancing you scope nicely - it is like adjusting the 'camber & pitch' of the wheels of a race car, if it is way off, your tyres are going to scrub, heat up excessively, strip the treads or rip the walls apart, hehaha OK, we are not powering our scope mounts with V8's but the stresses on the moving-parts (where it counts) are similar

My bob's worth

Over

[cometcatcher (Kevin)]

That looks ready for an observatory to cover it up Rick!

[Paullus (Paul)]

Thanks for the feedback folks. I was *almost* sold on the 10" but I've gone against the tide and opted for the 8". My reasoning is below.

Advantages of 10" over 8" (both f/5):
- extra 200mm of focal length
- ~60% more mirror area

Advantages of 8" over 10":
- less weight (for me and the mount)
- short tube/less surface area (less prone to vibrations caused by wind?)
- lower price
- secondary correctly sized (the SW 10" has an undersized 58mm secondary. Upgrading this adds to the cost of a 10")

There might have been a couple of more reasons but I can't think of them right now. It's not to say I won't put a bigger scope on the NEQ6 but the 8" will suit my needs for now.

Cheers

[Startrek (Martin)]

Paul,
Have you looked at the Bintel GSO 8” f5 newt ?

I currently have a Bintel 6” f6 and it’s a great little scope

I use it both for visual and imaging ( see photos )

There is a post in “beginners equipment”comparing the Skywatcher 8” f5 black diamond photo newt with the Bintel GSO f5 newt

I’m buying a second scope ( 8” f5 newt on a NEQ6R mount ) early next year to use at my holiday house (semi dark site ) I will leave the existing 6” in Sydney

I will more than likely choose the Bintel GSO over the Skywatcher at this stage

Good luck with your purchase