Finally Dob arrives - quick question

[GazofCorra]

Having ordered my Skywatcher Skyliner 8" dob on March 9th, i finally received it yesterday it is all setup and i checked collimation with my baader laser collimator and the secondary mirror was out by 1 inch so adjusted it so the laser hit the middle of the circle and found that the primary did not need adjusting as the laser point came back on itself, great.

I have a telrad to mount onto the scope, where is the most suitable place to fit it, as i am still going to use the standard finder aswell, so my choices are either to the right of the standard finder or to the left of the focuser.

Now a question about moving the setup dob, is it safe to carry the whole dob by the alt handles either side of the scope?

Also the secondary mirror is held in position by the spider vanes and on the outside of the OTA there are 4 silver adjustment knobs, when do these need adjusting and what is there purpose apart from holding the secondary mirror via the spider.

Now all i need is a fairly clear night for first light with my light bucket.

[Dob]

I guess it is.

Although, if you are carrying him down or up the stairs it may be awkward because it is quite heavy.

Knobs are used for centering secondary mirror.

[xyz]

I mounted my Telrad on the far side of the finder - thus eyepiece, then finder then Telrad. I do have to get off my chair and look through the Telrad from the opposite side of the scope , but I'm not "super flexible" anyway so it's probably the only way I could manage it. I gaffer taped the Telrad to the scope tube before sticking it down permanently to experiment what was best for me.

It's Ok to carry the whole scope by the two handles - I usually tighten them a fraction to hold the tube firmly upright so that it does not take a sudden dive.

You need to make sure the spider vanes are equal length - these help you do that.

I added a lazy susan bearing between the two base boards because my scope was a bit sticky to rotate, with the bearing it was too easy to rotate so I pushed in a small chunk of foam to provide a little resistance.

I also use a small wooden wedge to push between the fixed and the rotating base boards when I want to make sure I don't accidentally move the scope by say catching the handle somehow.

Enjoy your scope, for me it was a significant improvement over the Celestron 90 AZ Astromaster I started with.

Success,

Richard

[Adz]

Having ordered my Skywatcher Skyliner 8" dob on March 9th, i finally received it yesterday it is all setup and i checked collimation with my baader laser collimator and the secondary mirror was out by 1 inch so adjusted it so the laser hit the middle of the circle and found that the primary did not need adjusting as the laser point came back on itself, great.

I have a telrad to mount onto the scope, where is the most suitable place to fit it, as i am still going to use the standard finder aswell, so my choices are either to the right of the standard finder or to the left of the focuser.

Now a question about moving the setup dob, is it safe to carry the whole dob by the alt handles either side of the scope?

Also the secondary mirror is held in position by the spider vanes and on the outside of the OTA there are 4 silver adjustment knobs, when do these need adjusting and what is there purpose apart from holding the secondary mirror via the spider.

Now all i need is a fairly clear night for first light with my light bucket.

Congrats Gaz!

I have to admit I have had mine for a little time now and the views of m13 last night nearly made me weep they were so awesome!!

I also saw the cassini division on saturn with not the best conditions ever, so its only going to get better - you have all this to look forward to

Did you collimated the laser first yeah? Otherwise there is a chance it could be messing up your already okay collimation - just worth a thought...

I mounted my telrad to the side of the optical, like this and it seems to be doing okay for me

It is cool to carry it by the handles, just make sure they are nice and tight. With the weight of the finders and focuser the tube is a little side heavy and can bang against the stand if not done up tightly. I put a bit of neoprene to stop it from smacking if I forget to do it up

Finally the silver knobs are there to keep the secondary perfectly central, before you start to align the secondary for collimation.

I am going to make a big thread/guide on the 200p when I have the time to finish, so be on the look out.

Clear skies,

[mallux]

Nice one Gaz, I just missed out on this shipment, looking forward to getting mine early next month. It'll make the wait all the more bearable if you get some clear skies and post a nice First Light report tomorrow!

Chris

[GazofCorra]

Adz - Cheers mate i have been looking forward to this moment (receiving my scope). I am informed that the Baader Laser collimator MKIII does not need collimating it is only the cheapo versions that are likely to be out of wack, mine is a supposed to be a precision instrument and is calibrated on a lathe for accuracy and there is no means of adjustment, this is what FLO told me.

BTW i like that fancy shroud you have on your Telrad and nice tip about the neoprene on the base to cushion the OTA if it strikes the base.

xyz - I will have to look into that lazy susan bearing as my base seems rather stiff also.

Mallux - The waiting is the hardest part but rest assured that you have chosen a super scope worth waiting for and in the meantime read as much info on the dob, collimation as you can as it will make using the scope easier when it arrives.

Dob - thanks for your reply.