Just rescued a baby Lightbridge

[bugwubber]

Just saved this little cutie from a life of dust collecting.

She's only been out of the house 5 times according to the prev owner.

What should I feed her?

Mirror is definitely going to need a bath.

Also, found these springs on the collimation screws. What should the correct springs look like?

I'm inclined to think the struts, white tube rings, and strut hardware should be painted black. Thoughts?

[John]

Interesting scope. The "dustbin lid" dust cover should be over the primary mirror rather than at the top of the tube. The collimation springs should be on the collimation screws but those 3 look uneven in terms of robustness. I suspect the larger of the 3 is the correct one.

I used a light shroud around the trusses of the LB 12" that I owned and I did blacken the truss poles and the white painted tube ends.

[faulksy]

thats well nice, great find and great first post. welcome to sgl

[russ.will]

Y'know, the LBs have their detractors and fans, but you can't help but think they're one very pretty little scope.

Russell

[bugwubber]

Looking much better!

I

Downloaded the manual and figured out proper placement of that plastic lid. That may explain the slight scratches on the inside of the tube. Think I'll figure out something to go on top of the lower tube.

Went to Bob's Knobs and his "factory" springs pictures match up with the dark spring in my pic. Meade support was useless- "not an available replacement part". So aftermarket it is! Prev owner must have goofed around in here at some point to have installed those springs after losing the orig.

What's a good shroud material? I've only had an 8" SCT and a few solid tube newts uptill now so really new to the truss tube.

Howdy by the way!

[bugwubber]

She came with a few equally unused accessories as well...

[swamp thing]

Kinda cute looking little thing isn't it

Welcome to the stargazers lounge BTW 

[John]

Decent set of eyepieces to get you up and running although the 26mm wide angle is not as good as it looks in all honesty. The "dustbin lid" has those 3 prongs around it's sides to allow it to sit on the 3 mirror clips that hold the primary mirror in place. The scopes were not supplied with an upper tube assembly cover from my recollection. Some folks make tubes / holders to cover the secondary mirror to keep the dust off that. I used to use an old eyepiece poly bottle for that with my 12" Lightbridge. I had a commercially made Astrozap light shroud which was made of a breathable black fabric and incorporated stiffening hoops to keep it out of the light path.

[bugwubber]

Scope isn't fully collimated yet, it's a hazy night with high thin clouds but dangit this scope has spent too many nights inside already. First light- Moon and Venus. Picture from my phone through the 26mm wide angle. The phone kills a fair amount of detail. Impressed so far. I put it on a table because it is so small.

[bugwubber]

So a really awesome thing happened last night. I put this scope on the ground and called out my kids to look at the moon. They then took over the scope and pointed it at Venus, then Jupiter, then Polaris, then "the stars in the Big Dipper" then the Moon again...even my youngest was able to find stars with it. Something they haven't done before. By the end of the night, it was clear this was no longer "my" scope.

[damnut]

Welcome to SGL and that looks like a great find.

[VikkiFord]

I would feed her a small handful of stars for a starter followed by a planet or two for main and then top off with a small slice of moon and crackers. If there's room then a small open cluster could be consumed for the road.

She is a little corker 

[bugwubber]

So far we mainly had clouds which she does NOT like :-) Going to have to order more stars and clear nights!

[Chris]

Glad you (well your kids) are enjoying the scope,

Welcome to SGL

[bugwubber]

First clear night and she wanted the ISS! So we tracked THE ISS across the entire sky! We could clearly see the rectangular solar panels. That was awesome! "She" being Mrs Bugwubber

[fondofchips]

Hi & welcome to SGL.  Nice scope you have there and nice to hear that your kids are enjoying it too.

Clear skies,

Fondofchips.