New member of the Dob Mob

[Stu]

Well I have resisted for years, but finally succumbed to the inevitable!

The OD base arrived today, put it together fairly easily and it looks great. I have a problem with the trunnion blocks rubbing against the frame, something is not right but sure I can sort it.

I have Thursday in the diary to have a night observing, forecast looks good, but Dob or Vixen? Decisions, decisions!

Cheers,

Stu

[rory]

Congrats . That looks a long ota . The mount is a lot smaller footprint than the skywatcher/ revelation ones by the look . Very nice .

[John]

Looks lovely Stu 

My 12" F/5.3 looks rather similar as Shane built me a mount along the same lines as the OO design except in 18mm Birch ply. Compact, light but very stable and smoooooth 

It's amazing how the simple concept of a dob mount can hold such a large tube so steady ever at really high power. John Dobson made a great contribution to astronomy with his design 

My 12" has become my most used scope by some distance now. It's quicker to setup than my alt-az mounted refractors, out performs them in almost every way and I'm afraid the 6" F/12 is not getting much use either ATM 

Welcome to the "dob mob" 

[swamp thing]

That's a seriously good looking Dob Stu.

Love to see it one day

[Astralstroll]

You won't regret joining the mob!

[Stu]

Congrats . That looks a long ota . The mount is a lot smaller footprint than the skywatcher/ revelation ones by the look . Very nice .

Thanks Rory. Yes, the OTA is 1.71m long! Nice compact footprint though, as you say.

Stu

[Stu]

Looks lovely Stu

My 12" F/5.3 looks rather similar as Shane built me a mount along the same lines as the OO design except in 18mm Birch ply. Compact, light but very stable and smoooooth

It's amazing how the simple concept of a dob mount can hold such a large tube so steady ever at really high power. John Dobson made a great contribution to astronomy with his design

My 12" has become my most used scope by some distance now. It's quicker to setup than my alt-az mounted refractors, out performs them in almost every way and I'm afraid the 6" F/12 is not getting much use either ATM

Welcome to the "dob mob"

Thanks John. Yes, it does look like it's going to be very easy to put out for quick sessions and the performance should be fabulous.

Will be interesting to see how much I use this vs the Vixen, although in heading towards the latter for Thursday night at the moment.

How do the 12" and 6" compare on tight doubles? Was planning on having a go at a couple in Thursday. From the quick view I had, the Vixen controls the flaring arm round Sirius very well.

Stu

[Stu]

That's a seriously good looking Dob Stu.

Love to see it one day

Thanks swamp thing. You are not a million miles from me so I'm sure that's possible at some stage. Just need a car I can fit it in first!! That's next on the list (might help for the baby too but that's obviously a secondary consideration ;-) )

Stu

[SimonfromSussex]

Welcome to the dob mob Stu, you wont regret it!

Loverly looking scope.

[estwing]

Welcome along...enjoy the ride!

[Stu]

Thanks all.

Is there anything in the Dob Mob T's & C's which prevents you being a member of the 'Frac Pack at the same time? ;-)

Stu

[Mike73]

Very nice Stu!

One thing I have noticed this winter is how many 50/50 nights I have missed because I cant be bothered to risk setting up the EQ, I really like tracking for the planets but I'd rather be observing than watching TV so I'm coming back to the dob mob full time with a 10" f/6.3.

[Stu]

Very true Mike. I had been firmly in the Alt Az camp recently, until getting the Atlux which is actually surprisingly quick to set up. It will track accurately enough for visual without good PA so that helps.

I've now got Alt Az options with the mini giro and dob, plus the EQ so all bases covered.

Glad you've got a 10" coming, you obviously found one somewhere? Is it OO?

Stu

[Mike73]

Glad you've got a 10" coming, you obviously found one somewhere? Is it OO?

Stu

Ordered direct from OO in the end Stu.

I didnt want to compromise on exactly what I wanted and possible travel time and expense from Cornwall to collect a used scope would probably be a pain so I bit the bullet and bought new. It should cover all bases for observing from home for me anyway, gotta wait till the start of next month till its ready though!

[Bart]

Thanks all.

Is there anything in the Dob Mob T's & C's which prevents you being a member of the 'Frac Pack at the same time? ;-)

Stu

Gee, I thought they were mutually exclusive.....

You might think you're a Fraccer, but over time you'll convert (covers head and runs).

Barry

[Stu]

Ordered direct from OO in the end Stu.

I didnt want to compromise on exactly what I wanted and possible travel time and expense from Cornwall to collect a used scope would probably be a pain so I bit the bullet and bought new. It should cover all bases for observing from home for me anyway, gotta wait till the start of next month till its ready though!

Nice one. Pricey, but at least you know you are getting exactly what you want. Can be a bit of a scramble if a good used one comes up.

[Stu]

Gee, I thought they were mutually exclusive.....

You might think you're a Fraccer, but over time you'll convert (covers head and runs).

Barry

:-).

Maybe I need two aliases to keep a foot in either camp. High risk though, the penalties for getting caught could be painful ;-)

Stu

[Daniel-K]

Ordered direct from OO in the end Stu.

I didnt want to compromise on exactly what I wanted and possible travel time and expense from Cornwall to collect a used scope would probably be a pain so I bit the bullet and bought new. It should cover all bases for observing from home for me anyway, gotta wait till the start of next month till its ready though!

is this coming with you in may?

[John]

How do the 12" and 6" compare on tight doubles? Was planning on having a go at a couple in Thursday. From the quick view I had, the Vixen controls the flaring arm round Sirius very well.

Stu

The 12" will resolve tighter doubles than the 6" does but the 6" shows tighter star images than the 12" dob does so the split is more pleasing to my eye - text book airey disks and diffraction rings. Both scopes have split sub-arc second pairs.

On Sirius, of all the scopes I've owned, the 12" dob is the only one that has shown me the "B" star. I assume that it's combination of a tight, for a newt, star image AND the aperture to pull the faint "B" star out from the Sirius glare.

You Vixen may well split Sirius though - it's a very classy scope by all accounts.

[John]

I've now got Alt Az options with the mini giro and dob, plus the EQ so all bases covered.

Our tastes must be rather similar Stu - I now have dob, AZ-4 and Giro alt-az mounts plus an EQ6 for the big frac 

[Stu]

The 12" will resolve tighter doubles than the 6" does but the 6" shows tighter star images than the 12" dob does so the split is more pleasing to my eye - text book airey disks and diffraction rings. Both scopes have split sub-arc second pairs.

On Sirius, of all the scopes I've owned, the 12" dob is the only one that has shown me the "B" star. I assume that it's combination of a tight, for a newt, star image AND the aperture to pull the faint "B" star out from the Sirius glare.

You Vixen may well split Sirius though - it's a very classy scope by all accounts.

Thanks John. Think I will get the Vixen out on Thursday night and give it a go. There are a couple of other doubles I'd like to try too. The newt needs collimating after replacing the secondary but I will do that when I have some more time.

Stu

[Stu]

Our tastes must be rather similar Stu - I now have dob, AZ-4 and Giro alt-az mounts plus an EQ6 for the big frac

I had no idea you had an EQ6! I use Tapatalk so don't often see signatures. Do you use it much? Thought you just used the Bray for the big frac?

I must admit, I love the Atlux mount. So solid, very easy to setup and use. The Losmandy plate and clamp are rock solid too.

I'm wondering whether I would get away with piggy backing the TV76 on the Vixen for widefield views with the Vixen for the narrower fields. Might be fun :-). The Atlux is rated at 22kg so should cope with it.

Stu

[Rustysplit]

Very nice looking set up Stu. There is no escaping now, the mob has you!!

[Bart]

:-).

Maybe I need two aliases to keep a foot in either camp. High risk though, the penalties for getting caught could be painful ;-)

Stu

Excommunication, I was told.

I'm saying all this and I only use a cheap Bresser for solar.☺️

[Moonshane]

Fab looking scope Stu! The scuffing of the trunnions is a common issue and sometimes can be adjusted out using the little inset grub screws (I think you need to back off the fixing bolts first though). It's one of those jobs that can drive you mad though so be warned.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy my OOUK scopes. My own 12" f4 is used far more than any of my other scopes - my 16" f4 has not even had a run out since PSP 13 in October!