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.

I down loaded off the net, Google scope type and setting circle. Had it printed on one sheet (A2) and laminated at the local copy shop.

Accessorising my xt8 dob continues: I have added the Lazy Susan bearing which came in the mail and it makes the world of difference to moving the scope easily, I'm enjoying this tweak very much. Another new thing is adding a setting circle for azimuth coordinates. Using the Sky-safari app. for the coordinates, I am finding targets bang on, a much easier than star hopping hunting method that I've used up to now. For altitude its been a guess mostly but having the right azimuth setting I can search up and down on that bearing and find the target with a low power EP. (I have meantime ordered a little digital inclinometer that has a magnetic base I can mount on the OTA). The XT8 is a great midsize starter scope all the little add-ons just make it even more fun to use.

I am quite fascinated by this advert having never seen anything like thos before. Variable vintage turret binoculars.. Very interesting but I wonder what the quality will be.

Hi. So what do you think of my accessories mostly home made for my scope. Some for convenience like a handle on the ota and a crate platform to raise it so I don't strain my back, others to improve viewing from light polluted home base. Made a dust cover that converts to a padded carry bag. Dew shield flocked rubberised outside with cut out finger grip hole, also for the raci finder. RDF mounted on top of RACI. Flocked opposite the focuser and 6" round the primary. Glued the flock fabric to magnetised vinyl so easy to remove. Little fan running on a 9V battery, they last several nights. Next project will be fitting a lazy susan bearing on the base. Velcro fitted handle and sliding weight belt on the bottom end.

Thanks Freddie, Very innovative of you. There is an Afrikaans saying in our country (n' boer maak n' plan) , which means - "a farmer always makes a plan". Maybe we have a little farmer blood in our veins Ray.

Totally trial and error, I have no idea what I'm doing! Tried various configurations of lenses facing each other /facing same way /facing opposite ways. Followed Red Henry's design ideas for the 2", some people call it a di-plossl, I'm really not sure though. The 1.25's are easy as the bino eyepiece is in like a little pod, I just wound few rounds of electrical tape till its thick eough to fit in the 35mm film canister with its bottom cut off... no design required. Bino eyepieces are usually good quality due to short focal length binoculars have, so they work very well in a telescope

I haven't had a 2"eyepiece so decide to try make one. Salvaged objectives from 2 sets of old binos 50mm and 30mm. Just used right size plastic pill containers for barrel. Used all four lenses, the two 50mm close together at the bottom with two 30mm for the eye end with about 20mm gap between the 2 sets. Pretty nice low magniofication about 20x and pinpoint stars, looked at Jupiter very small at 20x but could discern surface lines. This will be great for star hopping wide field and deep sky searches (when there's no moon). Also got a couple of 1.25 eyepieces that work very nicely (16mm - 17mm I think) remounting bino eyepieces in 35mm film canister and pvc tube. Results photo from 2" with Samsung phone 2nd photo with adjusted contrast.

Thanks very much I will check it out.

Hi Geoff. I haven't done anything about fine tuning my focuser yet. I am still wondering about those Chinese helical types that you're using. Could you possibly send a photo of the one you have, it may be the answer I'm looking for on my 8" f5.9. Thanks Ray.

Hi, I have a single speed Crayford on an Orion XT8 f5.9 dob. Would a helical focuser work with this scope? And, would it make fine focusing easier? Any opinions or help appreciated. Ray.