strayring

I have the 8" its a great scope. But it aint gonna work for you (your car), so get the 150P you will have a very good telescope that is easy to transport.

I have made a 2 inch wide field low mag eyepiece based on Red Henry's Double plossl design. This requires 2 pairs of bino objective lenses each with the curved side facing each other. There is a facebook group called "A Second Look: Reusing Old Lenses for Astronomy", you can find all the info there.

Damn, lucky you. That's the one I wanted!

That one is unlikely to work in Cape Town South Africa

I received my BST Starguider 12mm from First Light Optis. The FLO package sticker warns "MAY CONTAIN CLOUDS" and true to form that's exactly what I got! Post by Royal mail took only 3 weeks UK to Cape Town which in our world ain't bad at all. The reviews are all good, many recommend the eyepiece punches above its weight at its price. I'm really looking forward to some clear skies so I can give it a run on the xt8.

So this is how my dust cover turns into a carry bag for the XT8

Hi there, I made this cover myself. The bottom end has a circular piece that attaches with Velcro to turn it into a closed bag for travel. The inside is lined with a 3d foam mesh. Ray.

I made one from a 35mm film canister. My collimation is spot on with it. Everything "appears" centered but with the cheshire the crosshairs are way off centre.

Hi Ric. Good idea... I tried that and found my cross hairs are way off the doughnut but stay on the same spot when the eyepiece is rotated. Does this mean I need to reset the secondary first?

Ho Alan sorry about the slow response but here goes::: one of the crosshairs and what I'm seeing thru the eyehole.

Let me put this another way. OK so I'm seeing the eye hole is centred and the cross hairs are centered, what's not straight is the bored tube.... When I check columation the doughnut is spot on, the crosshairs are right I think..... does the fact that the drilled tube is off make any difference?

Hi Star People I'm not sure if my cheap line cheshire is off. When I measure the crosshairs they appear to be centered. But when I look through the peep hole with the 45* cutaway covered they're off to one side. The larger quadrant being to side of the cutaway. Could the siting tube out of line?

I didn't want to drill holes so I made this double strap handle. Straps close on with Velcro - no buckles that may scratch the tube surface.

This is a strap handle I made with 50mm polyprop webbing, some fabric and a rubber grip. Straps tighten on with Velcro, Very strong and easy to remove. I've also made a weight belt the same way that can easily be moved up or down the tube to balance. Also may I suggest some kind of stool is one of the best things you can have to improve your viewing experience.

That's definitely a future plan, getting fine focus is one of my bug-bears. I had been looking into a Svbony helical focuser I saw on Ali express which is much cheaper, but I'm not sure that it will work the Orion XT8. I couldn't find any confirmed success reported on any of the forums. An added problem here is import duty is charged on items over $100 US which pushes the price up considerably.