Here at last

[chunkylad]

IT'S FINALLY HERE:lol: I ordered my new gear from Andrews on Monday, and 10 minutes before I went to work yesterday afternoon, two very large packages arrived at my door!

I only had time to undress her (my new 12" GS Dob, that is) before I went, so I had to wait until late last night to get stuck into the fun.

First off, I recieved a right-angled 8x50 finder scope:D instead of the straight-through one I ws expecting, and there were no colour filters included, as there should have been four of these. I'll give Lee a call on Monday. Before I had a chance to do anything else, one of the mirror cell clamps came rattling down the OTA, so I had to remove it (the mirror) and check the tension on all three clamps first. These I just 'nipped-up' snugly, not tight. Is this correct?

Next came the base assemly. There was no 'bearing assembly' as such, as shown in the scanty instructions, instead were three small, hard, white plastic strips strategically placed around the base to provide a bearing surface(???!) Is this also the norm?

After collimating with the Cheshire, it was outside.
WOW a dozen times over.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just love it. After a star test, there appeared to no abnormalities, no seagulls or other wierd shapes to contend with, just concentric rings. This is using the supplied GSO Eps BTW.

I hope to have more time after work tonight to go DSO hunting. I can't wait.

Cheers

PS: Thanks to you guys/gals for steering me to my Dob:thumbsup:

[Starkler]

Great stuff Dave :thumbsup:

Keep quiet about the right angle finder. You got a free upgrade. You normally have to pay extra for this and it will save your neck :) I would keep the upgrade and forgo the filters if it came down to a choice.

Im a bit concerned about the mirror clamp falling out. It may have been rattling around inside the tube and scratched your mirror. Did you check for this ?
As for re-fitting the clamps, you dont want any tension whatsoever on those. They are there purely to stop the mirror from falling out. The rubber blocks are quite squishy so I would suggest doing up the screws to the point where the heads just sit on the aluminium plate and exert no clamping force with the blocks barely touching the mirror.

As for the missing bearings. Again you won ! The lazy susan bearing idea is really crappy and replacing that would normally be on top of the mods list.

Enjoy your new scope :thumbsup:

[ving]

sweet dave! sweet!

[chunkylad]

Thanx Geoff

I did check the mirror for damage, but fortunately I found none. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the right angled fiderscope! What a bargain! You're right, I think I'll forget about that phone call, and let sleeping dogs...........sleep:rofl: .

Cheers

[ving]

right angle finder!!! I want it!!! :D
I have a wrong angle one :(

[ballaratdragons]

Dave,

If the crummy roller bearing had come with your base we would've told you to throw it out anyway and put those little plastic things on. They are actually Teflon Sliders and work heaps better on dobs, especially the heavier 12". That's one mod done for you. Apparently the factory is listening to the buyers and leaving the roller bearing out!!!

That clamp rolling around loose is a scary thought.

Did you get the Deluxe with the Crayford focuser, fan, etc or the standard model?

Happy hunting, fellow 12"er.

[slice of heaven]

:thumbsup:

[elusiver]

i think you'll get every dob owner here saying "i want a right angled finder!"... and the ones that don't already have one.

i want a right angled finder!

congrats on the scope though! it'll serve u well.

el :)

[asimov]

Good one chunks! Shame to hear bout the mirror clip in the OTA. Good score on the right angle finder. I want one of those for my neck-breaking refractor!

[chunkylad]

BD
I got the Deluxe model: Crayford focusser, fan, 4x1.25"+ 1x 2" GS EPs. Plus that beautiful finder gratis:wink2: , and a nice little pair of binos 7x25 I think.

Yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ballaratdragons]

Onya Dave, same as mine. Are they still pre-painting the inside of the OTA with Matt Black paint?

Don't bother trying to view with the small cap off (the one in the dust cap). It turns it into about an f32

[chunkylad]

Cheers Ken

Yep, she's white outside and matt black inside. I'm hoping for a steady, long-term relationship. I think I'm ready to commit..............:love:

Dave W

[gaa_ian]

Dave
I think you are in for a long and passionate relationship :lol:
I would get a 12" too .... but Im waiting for the 16 " :tasdevil:

[netwolf]

When i went o buy my 10" dob, Lee mentioned a new batch of 10" and 12" coming that had the Craford focuser and Right Angle Finderscope. He indicated that he wanted eventually to only sell this model. I think your lucky and got one from the new batch hence the right angle finder.

Good hunting. and Clear skies.
Regards
Netwolf

[Starkler]

Like any good business man he wouldnt want to be stuck with bits that he cant move . I suspect recent Iceinspacers may have something to do with this.... at least about the focusers :)

Now we need to convince him to drop those series 500 eyepieces as well (which is the topic of an existing thread).

[ausastronomer]

A couple of years ago he used to supply the GS Plossls as the standard eyepiece supplied with these scopes. They were reasonable, not great but a lot better than what comes supplied with the scopes now I believe. Prior to Synta import going through an Australian Distributor (Tasco and Splendour Trading) Lee was able to offer a cheap upgrade (about $15 per eyepiece) to the Synta Super Plossls. These are sold in the USA as Orion Sirius Plossls and are an exceptionally good eyepiece considering they are a budget line eyepiece, their performance is only marginally below that of the top grade plossls and orthoscopics. The Synta Super Plossls are far superior to the GS Plossls and the Andrews 500 Plossls. If the option is still available to upgrade the standard supplied eyepieces to Synta Super Plossls I would suggest it worth considering.

CS-John B

[asimov]

Do you have first hand knowledge on the Synta super plossls John B? Your making me wonder why I ordered a TV plossl if their that good. :confuse3:

[asimov]

Yep. Just read numerous reviews on the Orion Sirius Plossls...They sound pretty good!

[ballaratdragons]

Well, that's another new change. They have all been Silver-Grey on the outside till yours.

It must be a totally new model you got! :thumbsup:

[chunkylad]

I just bought some castors for my hand trolley, to transport my OTA in my van, and there were some interesting looking devices sitting on the counter. They were aluminium table swivels (lazy susan bearings). They look and feel very precise, with no detctable backlash.
Made of cast(?) aluminium, and set with roller bearings, there were 3 sizes: 230mm Diam, 325 & 442mm. They are rated to carry: 30-60kg, 50-80kg & 100-125kg respectively. prices ranged from $34-$80 +GST.

I thought the largest unit would suit my 12 incher like a glove, and make a wonderfully smooth azimuth bearing.

I know I haven't described them very well. I went to the car to get my digi camera, and I'd left it at home. Doh!!! They kind of look like slimline doughnuts. They are only around 10-15mm high. If there is any interest, I'll go back to the store and snap some piccies.

Any thoughts? Have these type of things been used before?

[rmcpb]

Dave,

Stay with the teflon bearings instead of a lazy susan setup. If you find them a bit hard to move install Magic Sliders instead and you will have a simple and long term solution.

BTW congrats on the scope, you should be a happy little camper now :)

[ballaratdragons]

Dave, can you post a pic of the new 12"er. I want to see what the new model looks like.

Thanks.

[chunkylad]

Here are some pics of my new 12" OTA, and my patented copy of Icemans' hand trolley.

Cheers


Oooooooooops. Sorry guys, try again later.....:doh:

[ausastronomer]

John,

Yes I owned 4 of these for a couple of years. Infinitely better than the standard GS Plossls and a nice eyepiece considering the price. Possibly 85% to 90% as good as the TV Plossls/Celestron Ultimas/UO HD orthos/Orion Ultrascopic at 50% of the price.

CS-John B

[janoskiss]

Here where? I wanna see! :tasdevil:

[chunkylad]

I'll try again to get a piccie posted. Having trouble compressing them......:poke:

[asimov]

Very nice looking scope Chunks! :thumbsup: Nice mod to the trolley too! :D

Thanks John B

[iceman]

Very nice chunky! Did you get a rigel as well?

The new model looks really nice, makes it look like a Meade! :)

And the trolley will serve you well, wouldn't live without mine!

[janoskiss]

I am so filled with envy! :D

How long is the tube? I can take all but the driver's seat out of the 'rolla and I might have enough room for it.

What's the thing on the OTA between the finder and the focuser?

[iceman]

I wondered the same thing, it kinda looks like a Rigel QuickFinder.

[chunkylad]

It is a Rigel Quickfinder. The tube is 1500mm - F5

[janoskiss]

Thanks Dave W. I was hoping the tube would be a little shorter than the focal length. :(

[chunkylad]

Hi Steve

I lie!!!:scared: I just took a tape measure to my scope....just to be sure, to be sure (I'm of Irish descent, you see). The tube is actually 1450mm long, and when resting at Zenith, the whole assembly, including the base, is 1685mm tall.

Hope this helps

I intend mounting castors to the back of my hand trolley, in order to lay it down and roll it into the rear of my Mitsubishi van. If you look at the photos, you'll see I've mounted some high density foam to my Dob base to absorb some shock from transporting in this position: ie, in situ on its base, while laying in the cradle I made on my trolley.

How do you guys transport your Dobs, when you go to remote observing sites???:campfire:

Cheers

[elusiver]

i soooo want a right angle finder! i quite like the white colour with the black trimming. looks schmik to me. u've also got the rigel chunky.. which i also envy.. all in all.. i wish i had ur scope. ;) :P :D

el :)

[ving]

I want your finder!!!!!

:D

looks sweet!
:poke:

[gaa_ian]

I Transport my dob, in a padded bag from Orion.
Makes it easy to carry the base & OTA at the same time !
I also have castor wheels under the Base!

[iceman]

I'm assuming your car is big enough to fit the tube in, in the first place?

I just use two of the foam cutouts that the scope came with when it was laying in the box, put them across the boot of my station wagon and lay the OTA in them. They don't move around at all, the scope doesn't move around at all. The base, my EQ platform, cases for EP's etc all just fit around it.

[chunkylad]

:lol2: :rofl: LMAO:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :lol: