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Project Flextube

TractionMan

By TractionMan
in The Astro Lounge

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TractionMan

TractionMan

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So it has begun, the unboxing and assembly of my new shiny toy, a Skywatcher Skyliner 300P Flextube. Got it yesterday, but I was stuck at work until 22.00 (local time, Sweden) and I was too tired to get started once I got home. But now, with the aid of some strong coffee, I've started to unbox and assemble it. Here are the first pics of thispProject and I'll post more later on. Oh by the way, the dog wasn't included in the delivery, he's our family member lending a helping paw... :grin:

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TractionMan

TractionMan

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Another batch of pics. Base and OTA fully assembled. Now I need to align the finder scopes and collimate the mirror(s). This thing is indeed HUGE! But I think it's very much manageable. I'm so looking forward to first light with this beauty. :smiley:

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Naemeth

Naemeth

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After looking through your pics of the base I realised I set mine up wrong (had the panel for the accessory tray on the wrong way). Fortunately, I fixed it now :D.

Did you spot some clouds coming out of the box, or will first light be tonight?

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TractionMan

TractionMan

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Can you lift the tube assembly by yourself or does the dog lend a paw? :laugh:

I can do it by myself. The dog got bored quickly and decided to sleep instead.

And I thought my 250px was big!! Man that's HUGE or you are really small ?

It might be a combination. Big dob, tiny owner (173cm). :grin:

Looking awesome there

Awesome looking scope indeed. Doubt my wife will agree when she get home from work though. :cool:

I was just looking at that thinking "you know, it's not as huge as all that after all..." :D

James

To be honest, it wasn't as big as I had imagined actually. Well it IS huge, but somehow I thought it would be even bigger even if I have seen pics and videos on the web.

After looking through your pics of the base I realised I set mine up wrong (had the panel for the accessory tray on the wrong way). Fortunately, I fixed it now :D.

Did you spot some clouds coming out of the box, or will first light be tonight?

No clouds. It was a special cloudless order. Had to pay extra for that! :grin: Well, tonight's weather forecast looks surprisingly promising. So I'm hoping for first light when I get home from work.

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TractionMan

TractionMan

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You will love it.

Mine is out in the garden cooling down as I write this. Just made a list for my viewing tonight & I'm off out as soon as it's dark.

Enjoy the views :)

I'm sure I will. After all, I've been really amazed by the views from my 6" so I don't think I'll be disappointed. Got my scope out last night but the Clouds just got thicker and thicker so it was no first light. Hope you had a pleasant night out though. :smiley:

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Stargazer_00

Stargazer_00

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The wife's reaction is always a peach.

When I got my 6" reflector she went "wow thats big"

When I got my 10" reflector she said "that's stupidly big!"

When I revealed my 14" she just laughed and smiled at me and said nothing. :)

Congrats on the new scope, you'll love it!

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TractionMan

TractionMan

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Some intial thoughts about the 300P after assembly and so on (still no first light). First collimation, I was glad to discover that the secondary was spot on, I could see the primary mirror clips so no adjustment needed there. When it came to the primary, it was quite a bit more fiddly the collimate than my trusty 6", mostly due to a much longer OTA. Check the cheshire, turn a knob - oops, wrong way/too much, turn knob the other way - a little bit better, turn the knob a bit more, check cheshire, slightly better... Repeat with all three knobs until happy with result. Just a bit of patience sorted that part out. Then, when I tightened the locking screws it altered the collimation slightly. Loosened them, checked the cheshire and it was spot on, tightened the locking screws again and collimation was out once more. Again, patience and slowly tightening one locking screw at a time, checking the cheshire each time solved this issue as well. No biggie really, just a bit more fiddly than a smaller OTA. Just to be silly I collapsed the dob and raised a a couple of times, moved the whole thing (OTA and bease separately) to another room, reapeated the collapsing/raising routine, checking collimation each time. And so far it seems to hold collimation very good.

What about weight? Well it is obviously quite heavy all put together and I'd be stupid if I'd try to move it that way without wheels or something like that. However, when OTA and base was handled separately it wasnt difficult at all. Sure it's not something you carry over long distances, but from house/shed to garden won't be a problem.

Viewfinders, since I like the Telrad on my 6" so much, I got one for my dob as well. No need to say more about that one. The supplied straight through viewfinder then? Well I didn't get along with the one I got with the 6" so I doubt I'll get along with this one. After all, it's only bigger. I'm most likely to bin it and get a RACI at some point instead. I will try it out first just to be sure though.

Have to say something about the alt/az control as well, WOW, it was really smooth! Azimuth movement was really effortless and altitude tension control seems very nice as well. Of course, this is before I've had a chance to get first light. To sum this rambling session up: so far so good, it looks like a very, very nice piece of astro equipment. I'm confident that I made the right choice (my wife however, might not entirely agree).

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TractionMan

TractionMan

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The wife's reaction is always a peach.

When I got my 6" reflector she went "wow thats big"

When I got my 10" reflector she said "that's stupidly big!"

When I revealed my 14" she just laughed and smiled at me and said nothing. :)

Congrats on the new scope, you'll love it!

Pretty much the same reaction from my wife with the 6". Although "stupidly big" is an understatement to her reaction when she saw the 12" yesterday. :cool:

Looks very nice and nice to see the assembly progress. I thought if anything it looked a little small - sure you couldn't send it back and upgrade to the 400mm ;)

Well, actually smaller than I had imagined. Not small, just smaller. Still huge in my opinion. lol. Tempting, but I think I'll stick to the 12" though. :grin:

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