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6" f5 suitcase dobsonian project

Moonshane

By Moonshane
in DIY Astronomer

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Moonshane

Moonshane

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cheers all

it's a spray job (with cans) and the finish is pretty good considering I've not done this sort of thing before - much quicker than waiting ages for hand paint to dry! a bit more costly though (about £27 in total vs. maybe £10-15 for hand painting) but you don't spend half your life doing it.

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Matthew

Matthew

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would have been a lot easier with lycra I think - might redo it eventually.

Ive got some lycra material left from when i made the shroud for my 16" truss tube shane.Its the stuff they make leotards out of so its very stong and stretchy ( one side is matt one is shiny ),let me know how much you need if my off cuts are big enough your welcome to have some.

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Moonshane

Moonshane

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Ive got some lycra material left from when i made the shroud for my 16" truss tube shane.Its the stuff they make leotards out of so its very stong and stretchy ( one side is matt one is shiny ),let me know how much you need if my off cuts are big enough your welcome to have some.

what a very kind offer Matthew - sent you a PM.

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Moonshane

Moonshane

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Cheers Perry

I am bound by the same rules as everyone of course re sales / purchases on SGL so cannot really discuss this here. Anyone can contact me that would like to do so via email etc.

It's been a great project!

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swamp thing

swamp thing

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I would suggest a 10"

I believe this is the goldilocks size for me. Just big enough to start pulling some real detail out of DSO,s and small enough to be ready to go in a few shakes.

Or obviously a 22" f/3.3 if you can afford the mirror set.:)

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Moonshane

Moonshane

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as it happens it will be a 10". I have a mirror set from a SW 250px that I'll use. :grin: I'll be doing things a little differently with that though as the balance point will be lower and the tubes longer. will probably start a new thread. need to sell the current one first though to give me some funds back for the next project.

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Moonshane

Moonshane

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Had first light with this for a brief session as it started to get dark at about 11pm. Set up (earlier in the evening) was a leisurely 10 minutes only including collimation - the secondary needed a very minor tweak (probably not needed in all honesty) and the primary the same.

The bearings all worked very smoothly indeed and the addition of a small counterweight meant it was balanced with a TV 32mm plossl all the way to the horizon. I think I will drill an additional two holes into the alt bearings below the the current ones to offer a choice of fitting position. This will move the mirror box down by about half an inch or so and therefore remove the need for the counterweight.

Other than that It's pretty excellent and can be easily moved about as one unit by grabbing the rocker box.

I observed Saturn mainly and with my zoom set at 6mm (125x) could easily make out Cassini division and banding on the planet plus the shadows of the rings across the disk.

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michael.h.f.wilkinson

michael.h.f.wilkinson

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Tempting little scope, but I think I might wait to get a 12" mirror set. I have seen a 41x41x19cm suitcase design that looks just great, and can easily be stowed when going camping (if not perhaps in the overhead bins in the plane). I would then have a general purpose scope larger than my current 8", but still very manageable in size. 10" would be too small an increment from 8, I believe.

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Moonshane

Moonshane

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Ive got some lycra material left from when i made the shroud for my 16" truss tube shane.Its the stuff they make leotards out of so its very stong and stretchy ( one side is matt one is shiny ),let me know how much you need if my off cuts are big enough your welcome to have some.

thanks to you Matthew I think the Lycra and the whole scope looks a lot better - I'll be definitely sourcing some more of this material for future projects. here's a pic - it arrived today and half an hour or so later it was a truss tube shroud!

post-5119-0-49257900-1339107408_thumb.jp

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Matthew

Matthew

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thanks to you Matthew I think the Lycra and the whole scope looks a lot better - I'll be definitely sourcing some more of this material for future projects. here's a pic - it arrived today and half an hour or so later it was a truss tube shroud!

Very smart Shane,ive got a massive piece left so if you need anymore let me know.

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Matthew

Matthew

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hi Matthew - I'll be in touch! Might have a swap for you perhaps.

Mmmmmm the piece i have left is 1.5m wide and about 3m long,pity i didnt know about this fabric when i bought my flextube it would have made a cracking shroud for that

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