Dobson flexi auto

[valleyman]

Thinkingabout getting one of these and have a couple of questions.

1, On my old Dob 200 I made a set of circles to fit to the base for finding the RA to within 1 degree. Is it going to be needed on the flexi auto?

2 I used a Wixey for the Dec, will I need one of those?

3 I dont want to fork out lots on a light shield so where is the best place to buy a DIY kit?

Thanks

[valleyman]

No replys , thats never happened before.

[brantuk]

On a dob the setting circle would be for the Azimuth. The Wixey would measure the angle of elevation of the scope (or altitude). RA and Dec apply only to equatorial mounts.

The flextube auto's don't have a finding system - so yes the AZ setting circle and Wixey would be a great addition. If you upgrade the handset to AZ Synscan Goto however you might not need the additional items - all depends on how confident you are at finding stufff

By "light shield" do you mean a "dew shield"? The prime purpose is to help prevent dew forming on the secondary. But the additional benefit is that it also blocks out stray light from the sides so it doesn't bounce around in the tube ruining your contrast. You can make one easilly with a cut off from a thin camping mat

[valleyman]

Thanks Brantuk.

Had a setting circle and a wixey when i had a 200 dob and worked 99% of the time so that will be OK. can soon knock up another circle.

I thought it was a light shield that fit round the flexi struts. to block the light and a dew shield to fit round the top of the secondary to kep out dew.

most brush up on my alt/az.......RA/Dec, have gone to the naughty corner

[garethmob]

theres a light sheild for the meade one on astroboot pat, im not sure how flexable it is but i do remember readin tha u have a bigger one hopefully some one will come nw!

[brantuk]

Ohhh.... you mean a "light Shroud" lol

I don't know of any kit's as such - but you can allways get wifey to run one up on the sewing machine lol.

[valleyman]

was thinking about thin camping mat as suggested Bran with some velco to hold it all together. was wondering what others had done rather than pay £50 plus for a light shroud.

[brantuk]

There's a thread in the Dob Users group about making one of these by Carol - might be worth looking up

[valleyman]

Ok Thanks Brantuk