my new toy.... 11" Compact Dob

[garethmob]

well the seller just turned up and delivered my new dob! it was £30 on delivery and he did it him self which is really nice

so here we go guys!

this is of the scope against a full size door, for size and fully built. a interesting feature which came in useful is focal length. the poles holding the secondary unit are designed to move up and down so different eyepeices can come to focus, realy interesting idea!

the top of the unit showing focusser and the finder scope bracket (which will be replaced with a telrad shortly)

the mirror (with my snazzy iphone case (appoligies for any blury images i rushed to take these as theres alot of moister in the air and i wanted outside pics)

the base of the dob from both sides one side has a setting circle very nice touch

this one really supprised me, and wasnt mentioned in the advert it has a 9v battery fan unable to test it currently though. the collimation screws look fairly bulky but as its not dark not able to check (did try laser but will get to that later)

top part of the dob showing seconardy and shroud (which is attachet by velcro if i want to remove it)

now the take apart section first top of the poles 2 screw wardrobe door knobs are removed. next the secondary is taken off (remembering to reverse it when placing down as above

next a very blury pic of secondary removed.

a cover for mirror next (this seems to consist of filter paper on mirror, then a yellow duster then the cap (again handle from wardrobe and velcrow for the lid to go on the other lid

the secondary fitted into the base next

then a cover is put on top matching 2 arrows (velcro down again) and this is a image of it packed up next to a normal medium maplins case (an astronomers must have accessary)

so thats the scope

first few niggles

the focuser, gonna have to get a newer 2 - 1.25" adapter, as currently it dosent hold eyepeices.... at all their lose

next the 2 poles gonna have to think of a better way to put them in as it was pretty tough pushing them down n back out

i think light scatter might be an issue no idea how i can fix that though.......

it was carryable for short distances but with a 2" thick mirror that wasnt far lol i managed to get it up stairs into the storage unit i have but it will be coming back down on a pallet with the forklift!!

so there we go guys! thoughts, feelings, ideas all welcome!

thanks for reading

gaz

[wookie1965]

I think its brilliant looks great let us know how it performs.

[garethmob]

just noticed all the images are backwards...... stupid iphone

thanks wookie! wish i had it yesterday now

[foundaplanet]

Looking good Gareth..

Would it be possible to make something to fit into the open ended square tubes around the focuser to help attach a shroud?

I'm sure something could be done around this. Looking at the photo (no.7) it appears you have two open ended squares so you do have support there for some kind of angled bracket to go in to on each side maybe with a connecting arm to tie them together.

[garethmob]

That's a good idea:). The square tunes though are the poles that run through the 2 secondary section brackets. Really what I need is either 2 more poles or a 3rd jn the middle but other side and put some black cloth (dark velvet or for plant beds stuff).

see the mods are sort of coming!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk please ignore any spelling typo thingys

[foundaplanet]

I was thinking something along these lines.. Now I see what you are saying is that it would have a stress effect on the secondary. Maybe you could then attach another pair of poles on the opposite side down to the base to hold it all firm.

[garethmob]

i think the poles opersite the secondary is the best option i dont fancy seeing how strong that mount is. the poles are quite light weight as their fishing poles....... quite an engenious design in weight saving! id love to find where the scope came from / made it. i think i know its owner before the last one as a member on here......

[3ggman]

thats an awesome little dob for a very nice price.