darksky1770
28-11-2006, 07:08 PM
Hi everyone ,
I have finally finnished my first scope.It's a 14" Dob
It has taken me about 10 months to build but has been a heap of fun . well except that i had to do two mirror cells cause the first one was the wrong size (my fault can't use a ruler)and had to make two sets of cage rings(my fault cause i cant use a ruler)and the fact that my workshop if you can call it that is under the house on dirt:screwy:
But after a lots of sweat and some tears it is finaly done .
The timber i found is 9ply maple (it's a hardwood liight and fairly easy to work with )but i did need to upgrade my router bits as it eats cheap ones.
The top cage is a little heavy because i made the rings a little too wide and i ended up using some of my ebonystar for the light baffle,it has a Moonlite CR2 focuser a 8x50 right angle finder and a laser pointer on a lumicon mount.The secondary is a Proto star 2.6"ULS Quartz(pv .061/rms0.011)And a Protostar secondary holder and 4 vane spider.I went all out and got the Moonltie ball and socket mounts on the cage for the poles,they are fantastic makes setting up too easy.The main mirror is a 14" DeepSky Optics number and Mark Sutching has outdone himself with it it came out to an F4.6 and is just fantastic . If you ever want a better than good mirror he is the MAN I went down to Sydney to see him when he started on my mirror and he has a fantastic set up and he is a perfectionist when it come to polishing he wont stop till he gets it perfect A Master
first light was Two nights ago and was blown away all six mebers of orions' trapezium were easy in a 15mm plossle just perfect pinpoints of light then hopped over to 47 tucana never saw it like this before resoved to the core beutiful white and yellow stars then to NGC 253 easy to sea structure in dust clouds then 55 and 300 again big and bright M31 filled the eyepiece and easy to see it's companions m33 was just showing some structure then to the pleides simply stunning with hints of the nebulosity finaly to m42
:eyepop:Wow as i said all six stars as pinpoints and with a 20mm plossle you could make out green blue and a hint of pink colour (need better eyepieces ,nagnler/panoptic:D) but now the moon is upon me so will have to wait a while to get more dso's now i can't wait till the planets come into view :eyepop:Will post pics when i can work out how to make them small enough to go on here:help:
I have finally finnished my first scope.It's a 14" Dob
It has taken me about 10 months to build but has been a heap of fun . well except that i had to do two mirror cells cause the first one was the wrong size (my fault can't use a ruler)and had to make two sets of cage rings(my fault cause i cant use a ruler)and the fact that my workshop if you can call it that is under the house on dirt:screwy:
But after a lots of sweat and some tears it is finaly done .
The timber i found is 9ply maple (it's a hardwood liight and fairly easy to work with )but i did need to upgrade my router bits as it eats cheap ones.
The top cage is a little heavy because i made the rings a little too wide and i ended up using some of my ebonystar for the light baffle,it has a Moonlite CR2 focuser a 8x50 right angle finder and a laser pointer on a lumicon mount.The secondary is a Proto star 2.6"ULS Quartz(pv .061/rms0.011)And a Protostar secondary holder and 4 vane spider.I went all out and got the Moonltie ball and socket mounts on the cage for the poles,they are fantastic makes setting up too easy.The main mirror is a 14" DeepSky Optics number and Mark Sutching has outdone himself with it it came out to an F4.6 and is just fantastic . If you ever want a better than good mirror he is the MAN I went down to Sydney to see him when he started on my mirror and he has a fantastic set up and he is a perfectionist when it come to polishing he wont stop till he gets it perfect A Master
first light was Two nights ago and was blown away all six mebers of orions' trapezium were easy in a 15mm plossle just perfect pinpoints of light then hopped over to 47 tucana never saw it like this before resoved to the core beutiful white and yellow stars then to NGC 253 easy to sea structure in dust clouds then 55 and 300 again big and bright M31 filled the eyepiece and easy to see it's companions m33 was just showing some structure then to the pleides simply stunning with hints of the nebulosity finaly to m42
:eyepop:Wow as i said all six stars as pinpoints and with a 20mm plossle you could make out green blue and a hint of pink colour (need better eyepieces ,nagnler/panoptic:D) but now the moon is upon me so will have to wait a while to get more dso's now i can't wait till the planets come into view :eyepop:Will post pics when i can work out how to make them small enough to go on here:help: