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A day of Modding a 350P

Daniel-K

By Daniel-K
in DIY Astronomer

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Daniel-K

Daniel-K

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today i finished work at 6am had a few hours sleep and then off to maplins to get some  supplies. the mods i have done today are:

  1. blackened the focuser draw tube
  2. blackened the sides of the secondary
  3. made up a dew shield from 8mm Foam
  4. flocked the upper truss
  5. Added a red neon L.E.D strip for side walk/ star party events.

i have a friend whos making me a shroud he done the one for the 16" LB and it was top class, so that should be done over the next week.

 it may have taken me all day but living on 2 Hr sleep  im happy with what i have got done today  looking forward to getting my shroud and very happy with the battery powered red strip i managed to rig up. the dew shield is Massive the one on the 16" was made from the same stuff and never had any dew issues.

Dan

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crashtestdummy

crashtestdummy

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A dew shield won't really work unless you fit a lightshroud round the truss assembly.

I have a 16" lightbridge and Iconsider it tall enough already without adding an extra metre on top with a dew shield .I do have big problems with dew due to aperture size but I think a shield will add problems as well as solve them.

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SnakeyJ

SnakeyJ

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A very productive evening's work Daniel and looking very good - I also think a shroud would be a useful add, for keeping straylight, dew and foriegn objects out.   Though suspect this is already on your list.    Does the 350P come equipped with a cooling fan?

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Daniel-K

Daniel-K

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A dew shield won't really work unless you fit a lightshroud round the truss assembly.

I have a 16" lightbridge and Iconsider it tall enough already without adding an extra metre on top with a dew shield .I do have big problems with dew due to aperture size but I think a shield will add problems as well as solve them.

Yeah my shroud will be ready next week sometime as i said above the same guy who done the one for the 16" is doing this one. funny you should say you have dew issues when i had my 16"LB i very rarely had any issues with dew in. the whole time i had the scope i had one night were i had to use a hairdryer on the secondary, other than that it was clear all night

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Daniel-K

Daniel-K

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A very productive evening's work Daniel and looking very good - I also think a shroud would be a useful add, for keeping straylight, dew and foriegn objects out.   Though suspect this is already on your list.    Does the 350P come equipped with a cooling fan?

no they dont, and theres not much to attach them to either on the back on the cell as its a strange design. i will post a pick later of the mirror cell

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Daniel-K

Daniel-K

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Nice days tinkering there ...  :laugh:

Can't help thinking that the pale dewshield interior will possibly be a concern though , made one for my Mak180 from similar stuff but it performed much better after I'd lined it with Black DC-Fix.

 He steve ive used this before on all my scopes i think it works ok never had much issues with it

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Daniel-K

Daniel-K

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Never have problems with the secondary,it's the primary I have problems with.due to the aperture size when viewing above 45° dew literally falls down the tube onto the primary.a dew shield would help but I don't fancy a 9 foot tall scope

i think i remember you saying something bout that in a thread, i cant recall that ever happening to me. have you tried anything yet to solve it?

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swamp thing

swamp thing

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Never have problems with the secondary,it's the primary I have problems with.due to the aperture size when viewing above 45° dew literally falls down the tube onto the primary.a dew shield would help but I don't fancy a 9 foot tall scope

I thought dew formed on surfaces not fell down the tube. :confused:

Looking good Dan :)

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Daniel-K

Daniel-K

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looking good dan, cant believe how big a 16" is. the red neons are good but they might be to bright at a dark sky location like snowdonia lol.

The picture makes them look very bright they are actually quite subdued .

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kirkster501

kirkster501

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Absolutely fantastic Dan!  Tinkering with Dobs is compulsory! 

Blast! You have inspired me to do a little bit more tinkering now!!  I will take some photos of mine and show what I have done.  I have drilled, sawed, blackened, cut, you name it with my Dob :)  I completely rebuilt the base from wood using the original chipboard as a template.

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Mike73

Mike73

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Nice work Dan.

Personally I wouldn't worry too much about fitting fans anyway, I have them on mine but rarely use them because I'm too lazy to carry jump starter! 

You often see people on here (usually the frac pack :)) mention long cool down times for larger apertures but this is far from the truth IMO. It takes 10 minutes to set my dob up, quick coffee and look at the sky atlas then its straight into using low power for some OC's for 15 minutes and by the end of that its all but ready for high powers. My primary takes 45 minutes max until I can use high power and I think your 14" has the same 2" thickness GSO as mine so yours should be similar really.

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