14" flex dob owner views

[acey]

Do Orion Optics still sell dobs? Can't find any on their website though they still sell the dob mounts. Putting a flextube on one might be an attractive option.

[johninderby]

Do Orion Optics still sell dobs? Can't find any on their website though they still sell the dob mounts. Putting a flextube on one might be an attractive option.

They re-arranged things a bit. Now you choose one of the VX OTAs and then select what type of mount, Dob, HEQ5 etc. from the mount options.

http://www.orionoptics.co.uk/VX/vx8.html

John

[spaceboy]

Going slightly off thread topic what are peoples views of the 12" flex dob. I have heard a lot of negative feedback regards balancing the flex dobs but just how bad is it ? A real concern of mine is stray light. How well do the astrozap dob cloaks control this ?

[acey]

I like my 12" flextube a lot, though nothing's perfect. I'm not a big fan of the altitude tension adjustment but don't have problems with it (I don't use grenade-size eyepieces etc). Over time I'm noticing that the azimuth motion is becoming less smooth so I plan on taking the base apart soon and getting rid of muck that has probably worked its way inside.

I got an Astrozap shroud mainly because I felt nervous about the possibility of dropping something down onto the primary while observing. As to stray light, I would say the real issue is the focuser and light-scattering issues in the upper cage assembly, which I addressed with a few bits of Protostar.

A well baffled scope at a dark location can be a completely open design - just look at any observatory telescope. The shroud is for dew prevention. Different matter if you've got a streetlight shining on it - but in that case a shroud still won't make the sky darker.

But if you've already got a 10" then I'd say stick with that until you can upgrade to 14" or more.

[Damo636]

maybe you should consider this: the cure for aperture fever:hiding:

also just thinking maybe a 250 ota on your pillar mount, then its big aperture but permanent set up

Cor blimey!, absolutely beautiful.....scope

[Moonshane]

I agree John they are an amazing dob bases but having seen one at PSP I would hazard a guess and say they would cost a lot more to manufacture over the chipboard efforts of Synta. Melamine-Face Chipboard is readily available anywhere and can be machined cheaply. Good quality aluminum is not so cheap and laser cutting along with powder coat just adds to the overall cost.

Hi mate

As you know I made my dob base for my 16" around the design of the OOUK but could not afford to buy the 10mm ali sheets that they use and made it from sheets of 18mm and 12mm ply sheets bonded together and routered / cut to shape. Their (OOUK) base is about £600 and I agree very good at larger apertures. BUT SW with their buying power could easily buy a load of decent birch /exterior grade ply and then paint/stain this for much much less. They could possibly use the same tooling they have for the chipboard currently and the cost difference would be much less than the OOUK ali base.

It seems a little lazy of them not to make better, smaller bases as this is the only real major let down of their otherwise excellent scopes.