my scope has arrived; request accessorising advice

Kamikazer · Post by **Kamikazer** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 11:16 am

hi, everyone

my scope is here...

came in a double cardboard, 24" sides with a 20" sides within. all empty spaces anywhere in the box were taken by more empty boxes. the struts, the focuser, the diagonal, the top-ring, mid-ring and altitude bearings all came in separate boxes. and empty spaces within the smaller boxes themselves were stuff with crumpled brown paper.

when i was told of its final size, i looked at my floor tiles that had 12" sides and i thought 14" werent big. but boy was i wrong...

14" by 14.5" by 16" is very not small at all... and 35lbs is very not light at all... and the mirror is 1.8" thick...

looks like i will only use the scope for overseas, confirmed overnight sessions. and unless i travel by taxi, its looks like the only suitable times to go by train/bus is very off peak hours...

i dont have a box to contain it for transport, so i guess i have to transport it "raw". i believe the wooden structure is quite strong, so i'm not particularly worried about a few light knocks here and there. the only more vulnerable part is the spider and secondary...

overall, its looks very nice and feels very smooth. the struts while functional, its design could be better. they are aluminium poles with special nut and bolt inserts. however, these inserts arent exactly concentric, so the collimation should drift more than other designs every time its set up.

i havent got any accessories yet, so first light wont come soon... there is no proper adapter to accept a finder bracket either, gotta get some fabrication done. anyone who has access to a workshop and some material, can help me out?

btw, can someone lend me a sight tube or cheshire? my secondary and focuser came un-mounted...

eyepieces:

i intend to limit myself to 3 EP, 1 of them will definitely be the widest true field (aka low power) i can afford. what would be 2 other most useful magnification? assume deep sky work only.

for wide field, i was thinking either a 30mm ultima or 21 hyperion. while its better to pick a higher power if i can retain the same true field, i hear that the hyperion dont perform well in fast scopes. anyone has experience?

considering my scope is quite fast, is there any point to having no off axis astigmatism if its gonna be swamped by coma? then again, its only f/6... so how much coma is there?

EDIT: forgot to mention, i going to restrict myself to 1 set of 1.25" midrange EP, because if i were to get a premium set, i dont want to afford another set of "expendable EPs" for public viewing.

pictures are ready... see page 2

thank you

Post by **VinSnr** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 11:46 am

Photos!!!!

Fuzzy · Post by **Fuzzy** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 12:33 pm

congrats on the new baby. Looking forward to a few weeks of cloudy skies now (all your fault!)

It will most likely be easier, and probably cheaper to just buy a mount for your finder bracket, than to fabricate one.

Can try Agena Astro.

You probably don't want to transport your scope naked, ever. The danger is not so much your smacking it by accident, but someone else bumping your scope.
You might want to look into purchasing one of those market trolleys, or travel trolleys for it at least.
But finding a travelling bag you can insert foam padding into shouldn't be too hard.

And yes, photos please!!

P.S. Lucky star is awesome

Post by **acc** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 2:17 pm

Congrats. Yes we need photos! f6 is not fast, so coma shouldn't be an issue at all, and you likely won't need to acquire the top-end eyepieces.

Since the scope is of wooden construction, it should be fairly easy to do a bit of drilling and DIY to install a finder bracket.

Post by **weixing** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 2:24 pm

Hi,
If you want to get an optical finder, you can get the Sky-watcher style finder holder base which can fit most Orion, Sky-Watcher, Vixen & etc finder scope. It's just require two screws and you might not even need to drill... just screw the screws directly in the wood might do the job.

If you want to use those reflect finder, you don't need to drill at all. Most of them use double sided tape to secure the finder base.

Have a nice day.

rlow · Post by **rlow** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 3:42 pm

I can help you with some accessories, and I can also help with some ATM work as I have my own power tools and access to a workshop. Pls see my PM.

Tachyon · Post by **Tachyon** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 9:06 pm

I have a Howie Glatter Blug collimator if you want to borrow...

Canopus Lim · Post by **Canopus Lim** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 12:55 am

Cool. Yup I think probably you can only transport it 'bare'. I transport my truss dob bare anyway. I do cover my UTA with a cover so that the secondary mirror is protected.

I can help you out in the installation and collimation, but now I am very busy.. moving house ah.

Kamikazer · Post by **Kamikazer** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 1:00 am

hi, everyone

thank you very much, i very much appreciate all the help u offered.

the UTA is just a simple ring, so i doubt i will do any drilling on it.

a finder "clamp" is provided, it fits onto 1 of struts. based on its design, at first i thought it was unsuitable to drill it, hence i thought i needed a L-plate of some sort to attach a finder bracket dovetail base (i will be getting an optical finder). upon further evaluation, it looks like i do have enough material on it to hold some screws to directly attach a finder base. i should have some wood tools, havent go check it out yet.

oh, anybody know where i can buy bubble-wrap or foam padding?

as the pictures, i'll try the camera from my father's N95 phone tmrw and see how it turns out.

Post by **VinSnr** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 2:17 am

Kamikazer wrote:hi, everyone

thank you very much, i very much appreciate all the help u offered.

the UTA is just a simple ring, so i doubt i will do any drilling on it.

a finder "clamp" is provided, it fits onto 1 of struts. based on its design, at first i thought it was unsuitable to drill it, hence i thought i needed a L-plate of some sort to attach a finder bracket dovetail base (i will be getting an optical finder). upon further evaluation, it looks like i do have enough material on it to hold some screws to directly attach a finder base. i should have some wood tools, havent go check it out yet.

oh, anybody know where i can buy bubble-wrap or foam padding?

as the pictures, i'll try the camera from my father's N95 phone tmrw and see how it turns out.

Bubble wrap can be bought in stationary section of most bookstores....or the Post Office also have.