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Seben Big Boss


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Hello everyone,

I know I am going to get a lot of flak for this, but here goes:

I have just bough a Seben Big Boss, I suppose the only good thing is that I have paid £30 for it. I tried it yesterday and I think it might need adjusting (!), clearly it was stored somewhere for a very long time (judging from the amount of dust on it).

I am total noob, and from my first use I can say that only the 25mm Plossl was half useful with it.

I still need to clean it properly, the main mirror has some spots on it, and it probably needs collimating (good luck with that).

I am treating this as 'proving grounds', it is my first 'telescope', only other optics I have is Aldi's 60x60mm spotting scope, which incidently was £30 as well :-)

Any advice is greatly appreciated (tasteful jokes are welcomed as well).

Kindest regards

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Yep, I did post it in the 'Del Boy' thread. Anyhow, I know how terrible it is, but I got to learn as much as I can about telescopes, so if I break it it's not going to be a big loss.

So fire away if you have any suggestions on how to improve it (if at all possible).

Regards

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30 pounds is not too much money to spend... I have heard some people defend the Sebens, although they are in the distinct minority! Most people, myself included, have never tried one.

I suggest the best approach would be use eyepieces that place the least demands on the optics and the mount, such as lower-power, moderate field eyepieces like a 15mm or 25mm plossl.

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I think there is a typo in Seben's title, it should read Big Loss!.  However, for £30 it's worth having as a starter. I've had hands on experience with one of these  and once collimated, although not in the same league as Skywatcher and other recommended makes, it's better than naked eye and will give reasonable views of the Moon and low power objects such as DSO's.  :smiley:

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Hello, would you be able to elaborate on collimating this 'beauty'? I have found a standard instruction on how to collimate Newtonian type telescopes (http://www.opticalvision.co.uk/documents/203.pdf), however any info on dealing with this one would be highly appreciated.

For me, this is what buying really (really) cheap telescopes is all about. You haven't spent much and you have already learned a lot more than reading books or forums can do. I'm finding my cheap scopes to be a useful guide to what stuff means and does, after all you don't know what you don't know. You get to learn pretty quick with a piece of kit in your hands

My Galaxsee was massively improved by buying a £15 Plossl lens, which lead me on to learning about eyepieces of various types and what is good and bad

Sounds like you are about to learn about collimation - good for you!  I'd be happier knowing I was only going to upset a £30 scope than a £300 one if I was learning

Ratscopes - I love them

Richard

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I think there is a typo in Seben's title, it should read Big Loss!.  However, for £30 it's worth having as a starter. I've had hands on experience with one of these  and once collimated, although not in the same league as Skywatcher and other recommended makes, it's better than naked eye and will give reasonable views of the Moon and low power objects such as DSO's.  :smiley:

And you had to make a plate for the secondary so that it would actually adjust, something it would not do from new.

I must dig it out and see how it works.

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Treat it as a challenge to get it up to a standard which will allow you to see Saturn's rings etc.....There are loads of people who can give you ideas on here....use the astrobaby colimation web page to get that scope collimated...enjoy...Mark

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Thank you very much for the suggestions, as 'mdstuart' said I am treating it as a challenge, trying to learn as much as I can.

Please do post your ideas on how to improve it.

Much appreciated.

Regards

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Thank you very much for the suggestions, as 'mdstuart' said I am treating it as a challenge, trying to learn as much as I can.

Please do post your ideas on how to improve it.

Much appreciated.

Regards

Are you open to suggestions involving explosives?

Richard

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Here is a link to a review of a scope which I believe is the same as the Seben Big Boss but under different branding:

http://www.cloudynights.com/page/articles/cat/user-reviews/telescopes/eq-newtonians-and-dobs/baytronix-150mm-newtonian-r1070

While it's not terribly positive because the owner paid somewhat more for it that you have, there is some useful information in there about the optical design which may help you get something out of it.

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This is the scope that got me started.
Seeing Jupiter & Saturn for the first
time was amazing. I bought 4 more EPs
at the time which helped. It took a bit
of sorting out, but I did get a lot of
use out of it.Live & learn. Gave it away
in the end, to a local teacher. The kids
loved it.After seeing that video I expect
U are all going to order one. :grin: or 2 :rolleyes: 
.
Steve
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Look at Jupiter with your eyes and then through the scope. No comparison!

It's a starting point and after all, who doesn't change their kit reasonably frequently anyhow?

I have never used one but hope you get a lot of fun out of it.

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If you manage to get it up to scratch and do any half decent observing out of it then imagine what some decent kit will reveal.

£30 is not the end of the world if it all goes pearshaped and will be good practice when you do upgrade. Many new telescope owners are wary of messing about with their new scope as they've spent hundreds of pounds and naturally don't want to risk breaking it.

With the Seben, the worse that'll happen is the bin men will have to deal with a slightly heavier wheelie bin one week and you're down the cost of a couple of pizzas. Go for it and report back!

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The Big Boss is of the Bird-Jones design and incorporates a built in Barlow lens to give the effective focal ratio. This makes the usual collimation procedure more difficult as the negative Barlow lens reduces the apparent reflected view of the mirrors to such an extent it is difficult to see what is going on. I found collimating on a defocused star image the best method using the secondary mirror adjustment to achieve this. The initial adjustments were difficult as the secondary holder kept moving out of position when tightening, this was overcome by the now accepted dodge of adding a suitable washer between the point of contact of the adjusting screws and the secondary holder.   :smiley: 

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Are you open to suggestions involving explosives?

Richard

Not yet, however this might change relatively rapidly :-)

Here is a link to a review of a scope which I believe is the same as the Seben Big Boss but under different branding:

http://www.cloudynights.com/page/articles/cat/user-reviews/telescopes/eq-newtonians-and-dobs/baytronix-150mm-newtonian-r1070

While it's not terribly positive because the owner paid somewhat more for it that you have, there is some useful information in there about the optical design which may help you get something out of it.

Thank you

This is the scope that got me started...

I am sure I will upgrade eventually, this one will probably be given away then

If you manage to get it up to scratch and do any half decent observing out of it then imagine what some decent kit will reveal.

£30 is not the end of the world if it all goes pearshaped and will be good practice when you do upgrade. Many new telescope owners are wary of messing about with their new scope as they've spent hundreds of pounds and naturally don't want to risk breaking it.

With the Seben, the worse that'll happen is the bin men will have to deal with a slightly heavier wheelie bin one week and you're down the cost of a couple of pizzas. Go for it and report back!

Lol, thankfully I have the bigger 'apartment block' style bins, so it should save me dismembering it

The Big Boss is of the Bird-Jones design and incorporates a built in Barlow lens to give the effective focal ratio. This makes the usual collimation procedure more difficult as the negative Barlow lens reduces the apparent reflected view of the mirrors to such an extent it is difficult to see what is going on. I found collimating on a defocused star image the best method using the secondary mirror adjustment to achieve this. The initial adjustments were difficult as the secondary holder kept moving out of position when tightening, this was overcome by the now accepted dodge of adding a suitable washer between the point of contact of the adjusting screws and the secondary holder.   :smiley:

That is a very good advice, thank you! The whole setup is quite wobbly I have to admit, thankfully I am a patient man

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Not yet, however this might change relatively rapidly :-)

Thank you

I am sure I will upgrade eventually, this one will probably be given away then

Lol, thankfully I have the bigger 'apartment block' style bins, so it should save me dismembering it

That is a very good advice, thank you! The whole setup is quite wobbly I have to admit, thankfully I am a patient man

You are well on the way to getting a lot of pleasure from this often frustrating hobby.

Good luck and have fun.

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Hello all,

Just to say that I have managed to use the scope twice so far, not many clear skies over northern Wiltshire recently. I am yet to see the Moon, this is because my balcony is facing west, and so I would have to wait till late hours for it to come into view.

I have pointed it at, what I think is Venus, and well... it looks like a silvery-blueish-orangey blob...

Good news is that the mirror is not as dirty as I initially thought, so I will not be removing it, for now at least.

I am still hoping to have some nice views of the old Moon.

Kindest regards

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  • 2 weeks later...

I got one of these bird jones as my first scope (admittedly without doing my homework) and when I read the comments about it I regretted it, however that night set up and took my first ever astrophoto of the moon. After seeing the result I no longer regretted paying £80 for the scope

post-44018-0-07103100-1431378757_thumb.j

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