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Hi, folks!

furrysocks

By furrysocks
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furrysocks

furrysocks

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Hi, folks!

I'm new to star gazing and this forum so here's a quick introduction. I could probably do without the time/money drain of yet another distracting pastime but that said, I'm on the verge of beginning a build of an 8" dobs.

I once saw Halley's Comet when I was younger and knocked the guy's telescope off track. I've got an old 3-draw brass telescope - it's something like a 20x50 but I'm not sure. On the first day I got it, I watched gliders soaring a hill 20 miles away. Through it, I've seen the moon, the disc of Mars, Jupiter and the Galilean moons, the angle of Saturn's rings and the fuzz of M31 and M42. Recently, I've had it mounted in an "altazimuth" bike workstand from Lidl.

Shortly, I hope to take ownership of two preloved 8" mirrors, two flats and one mirror cell (reportedly taken from an old Charles Frank reflector a number of years ago - I'm assuming a working set plus spare). I believe the primaries to be approximately f/7.5. I have been told that the flats will need re-coated and that the primaries would benefit from the same. I expect that I'll start with one of the primaries as-is and get one or both re-coated at a later date, for comparison.

Not sure how much I'll be posting on here but will likely start a build thread in the next month or two. After a quick scope around for designs, I'm taken by Toshimi Taki's 8" dobs design, though my mount may differ.

I'm really looking forward to the first peer down my own scope - I don't really know what to expect. The anticipation itself is quite fun. ;)

Matt.

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furrysocks

furrysocks

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Thanks to all for the warm welcome - a friendly bunch! :D

For those who might be interested, here's a summary of this past week for me to illustrate how I got to where I am now...

About 10 years ago, after looking at Saturn through the brass 3-draw and briefly squinting at Mars through a 6" refractor, I spent a month or so lusting on eBay but never got drunk enough to click "Buy It Now". Having seen the Galilean moons of Jupiter for the first time last week, I started to think again about getting a bigger scope.

I see that Aldi are doing a 76mm NatGeo reflector for £40 starting from tomorrow and I toyed with that idea for a day or two but was certain that I'd want a larger aperture. That said, I may still get one... as a present for my son, of course ;).

I started to look around on eBay and Amazon but I quickly discounted spending good money on a new 4.5" or 6" EQ figuring that I should be able to find one second hand for less, perhaps through a local group, a chance encounter or simply perseverance on eBay.

I then went romantic with the whole idea and spent an evening or two reading up on grinding mirrors but without the leg-up from someone who already had tooling and spare grits/powders, it wasn't looking cost effective and I certainly don't have the time. I'd been toying with the idea of grinding a 10 inch.

Then I stumbled across the ad for this pair of 8" mirrors. That really got me thinking and I started looking a little more into how feasible a ground-up dobs build would be without breaking the bank and relying on off-the-shelf parts to complete. I reckon I'm handy enough and with forums like this and the vast number of ATM resources already on the net, I was confident that I'd be able to see it through.

I looked briefly at the Sky-Watcher 8 inch dobs for a reality check (£300) and considered a build around a GSO 8" f/6 primary (£150 plus the rest). I had to take into account getting at least one of the flats done immediately and also the eventual cost of re-coating the primaries. With the exception of a sheet of ply and a couple of eyepieces, I should already have most of the materials for the rest of the build.

So I phoned the guy and we agreed on a price. I now just have to hope that these mirrors I've bought are not a bad investment or I may find myself grinding and polishing, after all.

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