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SW 200 Dobson - Eyepieces - My mods


daiwelly

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After changing my mind in July and going for the SW200 dob, I love it I have come up with a list of 2" eyepieces these include:

  1. 32mm panaview which will give me 38X mag, Purchased
  2. SW SWA 22mm which will give me 55X mag on wish list
  3. SW SWA 8mm which will give me 150X mag on wish list
  4. SW SWA 3.5mm which will give me 343X mag on wish list. Well within the 406 mag limit of this dob.

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They are great posts thanks for the links I am in the process of reading and digesting, although my limited budget will determine what I can get.

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daiwelly.....hi, have you considered any BST's on your wish list, only 60° afov but almost half the price, 'Alan' will let you try them out,  and if you're completely  satisfied, he will refund you. It will cost a couple of quid to return them. If the BST's don't satisfy, at least you  tried them and you get your money back,  then move on? The BSTs have good eye relief ( i see your glasses in your avatar) but I don't wear my prescriptions at the eyepiece) all my EP's work well for me on the 200P.

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I will have a look at the BST's at SW camp at the end of the month. I know a few in the SW group have them anyway we shall see what i am comfortable with. and go from there.

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Cloud forecast is looking good for Saturday night in Brecon so may take the Dob up the van Fri when I go back up there keep fingers crossed.

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This is how I put my setting circle on the base, I had it printed at a printers in Brecon on vinyl and then lacquered this cost me £15. I did not want to cut the base about. the pointer is held in place by 2 tracks of magnetic tape around the underside of the base plate. the pointer was made out of a flattened tent peg and suitably bent, this then can be placed anywhere and then held by the magnetic tape (19mm) £5.50 of ebay
I then purchased a digital angle finder from wixey this has a magnetic base so sits on the tube.
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I have included the pdf file for the setting circle it is both clockwise and anti clockwise and it fits the 200 nicely as can be seen in the images

 

Alignment is simple as Valleyman wrote:

There is no need to put the Base facing North.
You can use Stellerium to get the RA.
First center a bright known star in the EP.
Check its RA in Stelllerium.  IE : Vega RA 110 degrees
Then put your pointer at 110 degrees mark
 
Job done.

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When I first got the dob I found the finder scope fell of a couple of times slipped out of the shoe on the tube, it was easily put right with a dremel I ground out a hollow on the mounting shoe.

 

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Despite the weather the SW star party I am sure was a success, I met a lot of member's who I had not met before which was a pleasure, I had loads of advice from other members. 25/10/2014 the evening started off miserable with clouds and drizzle about 7.45pm the clouds started to tease us all  with momentary glimpses and then by 8.45 the covers were off. with just a hint of cloud a good hour of observing. by 10.30pm I had to leave to get back to my good lady and the site I run on the other side of Brecon but will be back this afternoon.

Mike thanks for the Strap, and lennylovit thanks for the bolts.

 
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I have done another mod this weekend waiting now FL to try it out, I have a Samsung Galaxy android phone I have downloaded Astotools and one of the tools on it is telescope alignment so got to thinking, I have roughed up a bracket that fits in findesrcope shoe on the scope which holds the galaxy in position, once I have done 2 star aligment , you then you do a search, say m11 then just follow the direction arrows till the scope is aligned, In theory thats how it should work cant wait to give it FL to see if it works.

I have made the bracket out of aluminum, if it works i will get a tidy one made

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A couple of photo's showing the bracket and android in position, if it works I will get it redone properly in a small engineering company.

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After reading http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/43171-eyepieces-the-very-least-you-need/ and listening to other members I have revised my eyepiece list

I am going to give the BST's a try

32mm Panaview (purchased) and I am impressed with this low mag eyepiece.

20mm BST  mag x43

15mm BST  mag x80

7mm BST mag x171

and the wild card 3.2mm BST  mag x375 for rare occasions.

comments would be appreciated !

Shopping list for the first week in  Feb revised list of eyepieces 25mm BST starguider, 15mm BST starguider, 8mm BST starguider, Crayford dual speed focuser, Rigel quickfinder, Cheshire site tube + a brand  new car.

 

The downside I  have to take the wife for a long weekend in London shopping and shows PS i hate the Smoke after working in the Smoke for the BBC and Thames tv OB units for nearly 3 years in mid 80s.

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Well I finally have my new lenses they consist of 25mm BST, 15mm BST, 8mm BST and 3.2mm BST. + 32mm Panaview and the standard lenses I have also modded the skywatcher focuser with the lacerta fine focuser mod kit and it works beautifully. I have also added a rigel quickfinder i dont think i will be doing or getting anything else for a while, or doing any more mods just going to enjoy it now weather permitting. 

 

PS I got out of taking the other half to the smoke for a long weekend Phew! Instead I paid for her to go to Walsingham Abbey in July.

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Hey I have done topside setting circle like your one on my heritage 130p. Your pointer is smarter than mine but same design re magnetic tape underneath.

I need to make a levelling base now really as I have found if the ground is out I get bad altitude readings as the base turns to a new position.

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