Wixey... Any good on its own?

[JulianFR]

Is there any point in using a Wixey on its own, without also installing a setting circle to the base? I'm not sure I have the DIY skills to make and add my own setting circles... But is it worth just having a Wixey on its own?

[SimonfromSussex]

I'd say yes Julian, the wixey will give you the correct height and then with a wide field eyepiece you can slew left or right until you hit the target. I did this for a while with my light bridge and it worked fine.

[Avocette]

I agree, and the great thing is that if your Dob base is not quite level it will still read the elevation angle correctly. I calibrate my Wixey on the coffee table, which just happens to be spot on level, before attaching it to the scope. Don't forget to fix it to the metalwork at the centre point of the tube rim i.e. look at the end of the tube with the the elevation handles symmetrically to left and right and make sure the Wixey is in the centre and vertical.

By the way I've just had a setting circle made for my 300p Flextube, after successfully fitting them to 200p and 250px Dobs. I haven't yet cut into the base to make the hole for the cursor bezel, as I've not yet settled the conundrum of whether to remove the lazy Susan bearing altogether and mount the scope on a set of Teflon furniture pads, or something else. Certainly the azimuth friction is presently very low and I'd like to add a bit of a frictional brake effect.

[JulianFR]

Thank you both. They seem quite cheap ... Is there a particular model of Wixey to go for?

I was going to ask HOW and WHERE to fix it to the OTA, so thanks for the advice. To confirm, it would be placed on the OTA equidistant between the SW's handles?

[JulianFR]

By the way, the friction of my azimuth bearing is also very low... Annoyingly so in that any small nudge (ie adjusting the Rigel) also swings the base a fraction. I've tightened the bolt once, but it didn't actually make much difference. I'll do so again but I don't want to over tighten it.

Maybe I need to try something else.

[Avocette]

Sorry for the delay in responding to your further questions, but I decided it would be best to take a photo! The Wixey is the silver-coloured rectangle at the top of the scope tube. I bought the simplest and therefore lightest version but a genuine Wixey brand one with no bubble level. I put a little electrical PVC tape on the lower surfaces so that the scope paintwork doesn't risk getting scratched when I'm making fine adjustments to the Wixey positioning - the magnetic grip is quite strong! 

The scope you see in the picture is a 250px solid tube which doesn't have a lazy Susan bearing but does have a set of six 25mm Teflon furniture sliders and a coating of Turtle wax on the downward facing circular surface of the mount. With my 300p Flextube I'm really hoping to balance both axes to have a similar feel and friction. This will probably require removal of the lazy Susan bearing and replacement with six, perhaps larger 50mm Teflon sliders.