Skywatcher 8" Dob Setting Circle

[sunshine185]

Sry.my maths is terrible, should have said 300 degrees instead of 320

[stevetynant]

Like sunshine said lol

[Carbon]

Check this out:

http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/5446616/page/0/view/collapsed/sb/5/o/all/fpart/1

[stevetynant]

That's the first commercially available setting circle I've seen, looks really nice actually though 160 dollars hmmm. I'll stick to my home made version for the time being but when I move to my 12/16 inch dob might well invest..nice find thanks for sharing

[Demo johnny]

Just set my scope up with the circle and wixey before clouds gathered but its clear later on

[knobby]

Fingers crossed!

[morrmorr]

i am going to make my own halo

[Astralstroll]

They're well worth the effort. Makes tracking down elusive objects a lot simpler.

[morrmorr]

guys, question, how did you make your printed circles waterproof, i would have thought that after cutting the laminate to a circle shape the paper would be exposed on the edge maybe?

[stevetynant]

make sure the laminate is slightly bigger than the setting circle so you can seal it I would guess

[morrmorr]

good old staples, had my circle printed and laminated it today, plan to stick it on the base and cut the top tomorrow

[Avocette]

guys, question, how did you make your printed circles waterproof, i would have thought that after cutting the laminate to a circle shape the paper would be exposed on the edge maybe?

One option I have used twice so far (on an 8" & 10" with my 12" still to do) is to have a vinyl print of the setting circle made on 3mm 'Foamex' backing. This is well known technique for making light, semi rigid advertising for exhibitions and suchlike. The circle printing is protected from moisture by a clear matt cover layer and the foam backing layer which gives it a helpful rigidity without weight. A local print shop (Craven Arms, Shropshire) had all the necessary materials, scaled my setting circle PDF file to suit and charged me £10.