mount change question

[ColHut]

Dear All,

I was thinking of getting a GSO/Bintel 10" dob in a few months, and then maybe putting it on a HEQ5 mount when money permits.

Is this straight forward?

Can I change it back if I want?

cheers

[iceman]

Hi Col.
Yes, there's no problem doing that. When you move to the EQ mount, you keep the altitude hubs on your tube so you can always simply put it back in the dobsonian base.

I'd probably get an EQ6 rather than the HEQ5 though - it's quite a big bigger, and probably more expensive, but it will carry the weight of the 10" much better and if you plan on doing photography, bigger is better.

[ColHut]

Many thanks

[ballaratdragons]

Col,

Here is a pic of my 12" on an EQ mount. See how I left the Dob Altitude bearings on it so I can plop it into the dob base when I want to (which is often).

[iceman]

Ditto as ken.

My Pictures here (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=17575)

[ColHut]

Many thanks - amazing gear... how much does the 12" OTA weigh?

[iceman]

Mine is about 21kg.

[ColHut]

Any idea how much a 10" OTA weighs?

[ballaratdragons]

less than 21kg :lol:



The 12" weighs 19.5kgs from the factory without all the gizmos we stick on them.

The 10" weighs 15.5kgs.

Any stats you want on the GS dobs can be found here: http://www.telescope-service.com/dobsonians/dobsonians/dobsoniansstart.html

[ColHut]

Many thanks for the link!

[ving]

as per the other thread.
http://ozastro.dyndns.org/cshaft.html
so you can move the counterweights further down to help balancing.
I have seen 10 inch newts on the heq5 so it can be done quite easily. the eq6 would be more stable tho.

i have the 8" gso dob on my heq5 and it handles it easily.