10" dob on eq mount?

[Hzadbhat (Brandon)]

Question...
Has anyone here swapped from dob to eq?
I've got a 10" (see my signature) and love it, but I much prefer the smoothness of some worm gears.
There's no way I would even try to use the mount from my 8" as it is way too flimsy.
Has anyone here done this? and would you have any advice or suggestions.
One member, who I know personally, says this is a bad idea as you will have to turn the ota to be able to access the ep. I usually focus on less than 5 degrees of sky per session, so this is not a problem either.
I'll br going up to 2" ep's quite soon and these will add some serious weight to the front end.
My main area of no knowledge is the counterweights.
I know they will be necessary, but this is the extent of my knowledge.

[raymo]

Hi Brandon, If you are talking about mounting your collapsible OTA
on an EQ mount, that would be quite an undertaking, and indeed might not work, unless you were happy to not be able to collapse it once it was mounted.
Firstly, the collapsible OTA is heavier than normal OTAs due to the castings that support the mechanism, so you would need a hefty mount.
It would be at the limit of an NEQ6 for instance, by the time you add
2" eyepieces, tube rings, and anything else you hang off of it.
Secondly, balancing the OTA might be a challenge. You'd need to see
where the centre of gravity falls. The lower casting would severely
limit the range of movement of the scope within the tube rings.
Thirdly, the tube rings would probably preclude collapsibility.
It all sounds like a heck of a lot of work.
Lastly, a 10" EQ newt is a big beast, unless you plan on having
it permanently erected somewhere.
The alternative is to sell the scope and buy a 10" Newt rig ready
to go. They are quite reasonably priced these days.
Hope this helps
P.S. you would probably need about 18kg of counterweights with
your OTA.
Hope this helped
raymo

[2stroke (Jay)]

If its a collapsible don't even bother unless going atm in building a new scope with the parts and buying a tube.

Had a meade star finder eq mount with a 10" dob newt on it vai saddle straps and it worked sweet for visaul. If it pure visual work then try and get your self and oldschool meade starfinder as you can pack a 12" on them with ease and theirs even a 16" model that came out with it.

You could run one on a eq5 with ease for visual provided you have it balanced, its going to be a pig in the wind but near any mount will be with a wind sock like a 10" Try and use a counter weight extension bar to keep weight off the bearings though and also save on counter weights. Also remove the dob brackets and use rings, this is because there right near the center of balance. I would also use 3 sets of rings with an F5 and a custom or long dovetail as theirs a lot of flex in the tube. Will have forgey post the pic of the 10" on the star finder it was a beast XD

[Rod]

Hi Brandon

Have you thought about an equatorial platform? You can buy them commercially or make one yourself quite cheaply.

Just place the dob on top and you get about an hour's tracking. There is a good yahoo group here:

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/eqplatforms/

Rod

[peter_4059 (Peter)]

I've got my GSO 10" f5 dob on an eq mount - started with an EQ6 and moved to Losmandy G11 a year ago - no problem.

[raymo]

Yes Peter, you have a tube you just add tube rings to, nice and straight
forward, but picture a Skywatcher Flex Dob, where would the front tube
ring sit, all you've got is three struts; very awkward to say the least.
The Poncet platform is a good compromise though.
raymo