GS 12" Finally Hits the Big Time!

[ballaratdragons]

It has taken a while, but . . .

My 12" Dobbie has finally had a promotion!!!

Here is a pic taken this afternoon of it sitting proudly perched on top of it's new home, the EQ mount.
The bits of foam hanging out is because I am testing for thickness of padding under the rings.

All 'GO' now!

[ving]

:eyepop:

that looks like serious equipment now ken!!! :D

[ballaratdragons]

and you will be pleased to notice, Vingo, I left the Dob Mount Bearings on it for Dobbing :D :thumbsup:

[obga]

:thumbsup: Professional work! :thumbsup:
Congratulations!

[[1ponders]]

Very nice looking setup the Ken. Who's the little guy standing next to it. I didn't know you had a twin brother that is height challenged. :P When I first looked at the thumbnail I thought it was on of your boys, man that is a serious setup now :thumbsup:

Hmmmm Losmandy G11 and 12" dob :confuse3: Just might be possible :confuse3:

[ving]

best of both worlds! :thumbsup:

have you thought about chopping about a foot off the pier so its not so high ken, or would the weights crash into the legs then>?

[Astroman]

WOW Ken thats looking awesome now, cant wait for some images from you now :)

[janoskiss]

The OTA looks smaller all the way up there I reckon. Looks impressive. Should pull some nice images with that setup.

[Vermin]

Nice one Ken, that's an awesome set up.

[Lester]

Very impressive setup Ken.

[Lester]

Ken, did you make the mount? Looks sturdy. The drive on the RA looks massive.

[stringscope]

Hey Ken,

One serious piece of equipment. Looks fantastic.

:thumbsup:

Cheers,

[spudrick]

Good one Ken, You have been busy.
The setup looks impressive and you should be really proud of the work you have done to it.
:)

[dugnsuz]

Nice one Ken,
Have you got a pic of the Cherry-Picker you'll need to get to the eyepiece?!!
:lol: :lol: :lol:
Good luck with it - looks like a serious piece of kit!
You're the pointman for all of us with ambitions to mount our 12" dobs - Thanks...keep us posted re the pros and cons please.
I hope we're not going to lose you to the "imaging" section!
Take Care
Doug:thumbsup:

[h0ughy]

Ken how the hell are you going to view through that!! it is twice your height. Glad to see the project growing to fruition!

[davidpretorius]

you bl**dy beauty. that has come up better than I was immaging it.

Congrats to you, the boys (the real workers) and Bert.

Well, Toucam and some 1500 fl jupiter pics on the way and some long exposure....................woo hoo!!!

A great IIS moment, we have been following this pregnancy with lotsa interest! Thats brilliant!

[slice of heaven]

Great stuff BD :thumbsup:
Very impressive for sure.

[astro_nutt]

Three cheers to you Ken..that is an awesome set-up!!

[Tamtarn]

Hi Ken


We've just got our 12" and can't begin to imagine it on an EQ Mount


WOW THAT'S SCARY :scared: :scared:


Barb & David

[sheeny]

Excellent Ken! It looks the business!:thumbsup:

Should get much bigger image scale from way up there!:poke:

Al.

[ballaratdragons]

As Darren (wombat-in-space) and I found out tonight whilst giving it the run through, the bottom of the scope almost hits the legs!!! We were looking at a very high Moon. So if I cut the pier shorter the OTA will hit.



Yes Al, the image scale is much better being approximately 3 feet closer to the object :lol:



Tonight was the set-ups first run at imaging and would you believe it. . . as soon as Darren and I had everything set up, lined up, imaging program running and doing the final 'fine focus' the Heavens opened up and down came the rain :(

The good points discovered before the rain are:
1. No stepper vibration or resonance thru the OTA
2. Mount and drive easily handle the weight (12" + ED80 + Rings + counterweights)
3. OTA glides around easily on both axis
4. 2.4m aluminium ladder worked well :lol:

Here is a pic of it in action tonight. The scope is waaayyyy down low to grab the high Moon. You can even see where the OTA is almost touching the leg!

[[1ponders]]

Righto Ken, this is really tempting me. How heavy is the GSO tube?

[davidpretorius]

well done again, Ken,

Re the vibrations, whats the biggest magnification you can get to at the moment, ie with a few stacked barlows.

I am imaging at 1600x with the 5x powermate acting at 7.7x with an extension and the usual 6mm fl of the toucam.

If your baby can handle Jupiter filling the screen and no vibration is evident, then you will have an excellent imaging system. I have a feeling Ken is about to touch us planetary guys up in the next few weeks!!!.

Unfortunately we cant stop him as bad weather accompanies purchases, not hard physical work!

[Astroman]

And now he has bought the accufocus of leon there will be no let up in the weather for the next 3 weeks.

[avandonk]

I reckon there is about 150lbs (66Kg)of weight all up on that mount. Ken would be fitter by just getting it all up there. A great effort literally. It makes me feel humble to see the result of all Ken's foresight and hard work.
A great result for a great effort.

Bert

[ballaratdragons]

Davo,

1. 'Magnifications': Dunno yet. As soon as we were set up, the rain came down!

2. "I have a feeling Ken is about to touch us planetary guys up in the next few weeks!!!." Wrong! I think there are enough 'Jupiters' on this site for the next 20 years :lol: I'm a hunting wabbits! Deep sky wabbits. That's my thing.



Yep Bert,

There is 75 pounds in just the counterweights! :eyepop:

Does that still sound tempting, Paul?

[davidpretorius]

from what i saw of it at camp, this should handle the high mags if needed. This new setup is a great all rounder for DSO's or planets.

Awesome!

[Wombat_In_Space]

GSO 12" OTA comes in at 25KG/55lb.

[Wombat_In_Space]

Bad points It gets hit badly buy the wind :P

[ballaratdragons]

Plus 1" solid counterwieght shaft, plus ED80, plus findersope, plus 14" rings and cradle, plus ED80 rings. . .

The weight just keeps adding up!

[[1ponders]]

:confuse3: Ok how about a 10":D

[Chrissyo]

The gso 10" ota is around 16kg

[ballaratdragons]

That's why an Observatory is the next project! :thumbsup:

[netwolf]

Hey Ken

Wow excellent work there, all the dobers are converting to EQ.. whats going on..

Regards
Netwolf