Orion Optics VX10 and home made dob mount

[richarddownunder]

Hi

I thought I'd share a few thoughts on my new OO VX10. I'm fairly new to astronomy so am commenting more on my impressions of its build quality. OO say they have very little trouble with damage in transit. I believe them. The scope was very well packaged and arrived in perfect conditon. As I unwrapped the layers of bubble wrap, my first thoughts were that it was well engineered. I can't comment on the mirror quality but the machining of the mirror cell is very nice. If it is any indication of the stability of the set-up, I had good (if rather low magnification) views of Saturn and stars semed pretty sharp on my first attempt with out any collimation...so I figure it has travelled well!

The focuser is pretty good and works smoothly. However, my Vixen 22 mm eyepiece (the only one I have at present) isn't held as firmly as I'd like. The tube is nicely finished. The seam is functional if not particularly elegant but I suspect adds some rigidity. The spider and secondary mirror, IMHO, are not quite up to the quality of the rest of the scope and I don't like the silicone blobs attaching the mirror (which has fairly roughly ground edges) although I gather that is how most mirrors are anchored in a newt...do they ever come adrift I wonder?

Overall I'm happy with my new scope and I'm sure it will become an old friend as we search the Heavens together. OO have been helpful although communications have been brief. Would I deal with them again. Yes, based on this experience - although it took longer to arrive than I was expecting. Was the scope worth the money? I think so although postage was a killer.

I couldn't afford a suitable equatorial mount so set to work to make a dob mount. See attached photos. Looking at the pictures, it strikes me that the mount is a bit on the big side and I should have cut out handles to lift it as it is fairly heavy. Still, it works OK. At this point I'd really like to thank Ed (who posts regularly on SGL) for all his help and for sending the teflon from the other side of the world. A helpful bloke indeed!

If anyone is interested, I'm happy to expand on things ...this is rather a shorter version of an original post which I cunningly lost by pushing the little red X in the top RH corner!

Cheers

Richard

[Damo636]

Congrats on the new scope Richard and mount looks fab, nice work :-)

[NGC 1502]

Hi Richard, great work. My own efforts with DIY dob mounts work ok, but hide under a layer of filler and paint

so well done.

Regards, Ed.

[John]

Nice work Richard !

I have an Orion Optics 10" F/4.8 that looks very similar to yours. I've been considering making a similar dobsonian mount for it and I may well crib your design

[ibraidwo]

That's a beautiful looking mount Richard, wonderful craftsmanship and finish!

[Carbon]

Fine looking base, looks pretty solid.

As far as your ep not securing well, I would recommend a twist lock type self centering 2" ep adapter. I have the Antares model and my ep's feel nice and solid in it.

[richarddownunder]

Thanks all for your comments. I took a few pictures while making the mount, incase anyone was interested, happy to share. I thought I'd avoid screws so used long home-made plywood 'biscuits' rebated into slots. Seems to have worked OK and is pretty strong. Black paint was a back-up plan incase the router slipped and I had to resort to wood putty - my daughter wanted to paint stars and nebulae on the black paint! Shame to cover up the nice grain though. I discovered ice hockey pucks make good feet (although the hocky puck supplier on the net was a bit bemused at the application). Ed, the teflon work great. The altitude bearing the OO sent is also nice and makes lifting the scope on and off really easy. Only thought is perhaps the teflon on the horizontal bearing could be a bit further in to the centre of the disk to reduce the friction. It is a little stiff.

Cheers

Richard