THE FAULKS 20" F4 DOB BUILD

[Paz]

Very exciting to hear your first report.

I was checking out m57 a week ago in your old vx14 and to me that was a really in-your-face detailed image compared to what I'm used to, and I would guess what you can see in the 20 is yet another huge step up.

[DRT]

1 hour ago, faulksy said:

quick quick review, got to be up for 4 lol

clear skys, so had to try and set my pole lengths up, had to cut 125mm of them in the end but now it balances beautifully, whilst removing the poles each time a kept putting the lid over the mirror, i was setting up on polaris, try and find it with no finder set up and 2 yellow street lights 30 foot away and eye level lol. any way coming to the last stages with setting the parracor up and i couldn,t find anything, 10-15 mins went buy i knew the colimation was out but whats going on, you guessed it the cover was on the mirror box

any way got it set and stars are super bright polaris was so easy to split with the 21e , checked colimation and the primary centre spot was well out but left it, had to find the ring neb, got it wow colours were great even though i had no shroud and my garden was lit up like daylight, made up cant believe it.

 

quick add on, cant believe the different colour stars never noticed it before , or not to that extent they were well obvious . HAPPY BUNNY INDEED

Of all the posts I have read on any subject on any forum I don't think I have read anything so obviously excited and enthusiastic from a grown man as the above post.

Absolutely brilliant

...and leaving the lens cap on has now been taken to new proportions

 

 

[nightfisher]

Congrats Mike, sounds like your of to a flying start

[niallk]

Sounds amazing 

[brantuk]

Fabulous first light Mike

[swamp thing]

Nice one mate. 

Any pics of the wheelbarrow handles or have I missed them somehow? 

[Timebandit]

13 hours ago, faulksy said:

quick quick review, got to be up for 4 lol

clear skys, so had to try and set my pole lengths up, had to cut 125mm of them in the end but now it balances beautifully, whilst removing the poles each time a kept putting the lid over the mirror, i was setting up on polaris, try and find it with no finder set up and 2 yellow street lights 30 foot away and eye level lol. any way coming to the last stages with setting the parracor up and i couldn,t find anything, 10-15 mins went buy i knew the colimation was out but whats going on, you guessed it the cover was on the mirror box

any way got it set and stars are super bright polaris was so easy to split with the 21e , checked colimation and the primary centre spot was well out but left it, had to find the ring neb, got it wow colours were great even though i had no shroud and my garden was lit up like daylight, made up cant believe it.

 

quick add on, cant believe the different colour stars never noticed it before , or not to that extent they were well obvious . HAPPY BUNNY INDEED

 

Hi Mike well done. I am not envious of your 20incher?. All these positive postings are giving me aperture fever again. I think I will need to go and lay down in a dark room and hope it passes. But when you are making observation like" can't believe the different colour stars never noticed it before " it really does make me think I am missing out on a great experience. And as you have had a OOuk 14" also ,then the 20incher has obviously showing you a new and greatly enhanced experience. I am sure others reading this post will also revaluate there current scope set up and bouts of aperture fever may set in (your a bad man Mike ?). I am really happy though all your hard work has come together to produce a great big dob from your initial session, well worth the effort by the sounds of things.

PS ,keep the posts coming Mike ,as It will be really interesting the full extent of an increase in aperture and quality mirror brings to the overall viewing experience, and  if my aperture fever gets to much, then maybe its time for a 20" dobby as a cure ?    

Edited September 3, 2016 by Timebandit

[Chris]

Sounds utterly utterly amazing, can't wait to hear more!

Edited September 3, 2016 by Chris Lock

[Mark at Beaufort]

Mike it looks fabulous and I thought your 14" scope was pretty good. Look forward to hearing more on your visual observations particularly some of the difficult objects like the HH and Cocoon Neb.

[faulksy]

18 hours ago, DRT said:

Of all the posts I have read on any subject on any forum I don't think I have read anything so obviously excited and enthusiastic from a grown man as the above post.

Absolutely brilliant

...and leaving the lens cap on has now been taken to new proportions

 

 

that made me laugh derek

18 hours ago, DRT said:

Of all the posts I have read on any subject on any forum I don't think I have read anything so obviously excited and enthusiastic from a grown man as the above post.

Absolutely brilliant

...and leaving the lens cap on has now been taken to new proportions

 

 

 

15 hours ago, nightfisher said:

Congrats Mike, sounds like your of to a flying start

i am jules, cant wait to get it finished now

12 hours ago, niallk said:

Sounds amazing 

it was, i was blown away

11 hours ago, brantuk said:

Fabulous first light Mike

thanks kim

7 hours ago, swamp thing said:

Nice one mate. 

Any pics of the wheelbarrow handles or have I missed them somehow? 

not finished yet steve, need a bit more work

6 hours ago, Timebandit said:

 

Hi Mike well done. I am not envious of your 20incher?. All these positive postings are giving me aperture fever again. I think I will need to go and lay down in a dark room and hope it passes. But when you are making observation like" can't believe the different colour stars never noticed it before " it really does make me think I am missing out on a great experience. And as you have had a OOuk 14" also ,then the 20incher has obviously showing you a new and greatly enhanced experience. I am sure others reading this post will also revaluate there current scope set up and bouts of aperture fever may set in (your a bad man Mike ?). I am really happy though all your hard work has come together to produce a great big dob from your initial session, well worth the effort by the sounds of things.

PS ,keep the posts coming Mike ,as It will be really interesting the full extent of an increase in aperture and quality mirror brings to the overall viewing experience, and  if my aperture fever gets to much, then maybe its time for a 20" dobby as a cure ?    

its strange simon, never noticed the different colour stars before i have when i have looked but i was only looking for the ring and the colours were striking

6 hours ago, Chris Lock said:

Sounds utterly utterly amazing, can't wait to hear more!

hi chris cant imagine what it will be like when its colimated and a shroud and in the dark part of my garden. i realy have no idea what it will be like at a dark site with the dob mob

6 hours ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

Mike it looks fabulous and I thought your 14" scope was pretty good. Look forward to hearing more on your visual observations particularly some of the difficult objects like the HH and Cocoon Neb.

hi mark, as you say the 14 punched well above its weight, so imagine 6" more. cant wait for so many objects but the HH has to be one of the favourites

[DRT]

29 minutes ago, faulksy said:

that made me laugh derek

Not as much as it made the rest of us laugh picturing you standing there scratching your head looking for a star with that huge lump of glass covered with plywood

 

[faulksy]

4 minutes ago, DRT said:

Not as much as it made the rest of us laugh picturing you standing there scratching your head looking for a star with that huge lump of glass covered with plywood

 

derek, i knew my colimation was out a mile so i thought it was something to do with that. i honestly spent a good 10 mins trying to find polaris and thinking i found it before but everything was yellow, then the penny droped, i looked down and there it was

[DRT]

1 minute ago, faulksy said:

derek, i knew my colimation was out a mile so i thought it was something to do with that. i honestly spent a good 10 mins trying to find polaris and thinking i found it before but everything was yellow, then the penny droped, i looked down and there it was

Sorry mate - no excuses are allowed. It's just too funny

 

[faulksy]

1 minute ago, DRT said:

Sorry mate - no excuses are allowed. It's just too funny

 

good job you wasnt watching me then

[mert]

Nice one mate. Wait until you see the flame nebulathrough a big scope   

[faulksy]

1 hour ago, mert said:

Nice one mate. Wait until you see the flame nebulathrough a big scope   

forgot about that. hope to do a few more things tomorrow night and then have another look around

[Timebandit]

24 minutes ago, faulksy said:

forgot about that. hope to do a few more things tomorrow night and then have another look around

 

Don't forget to take the mirror cover off first? . Overwise you will have found a really dark site again. 

[Stu]

12 hours ago, faulksy said:

that made me laugh derek

 

i am jules, cant wait to get it finished now

it was, i was blown away

thanks kim

not finished yet steve, need a bit more work

its strange simon, never noticed the different colour stars before i have when i have looked but i was only looking for the ring and the colours were striking

hi chris cant imagine what it will be like when its colimated and a shroud and in the dark part of my garden. i realy have no idea what it will be like at a dark site with the dob mob

hi mark, as you say the 14 punched well above its weight, so imagine 6" more. cant wait for so many objects but the HH has to be one of the favourites

Mike, I think this post broke the SGL record for use of the multi quote function

Just worked out, and couldn't quite believe that the 20" has just over twice the surface area of a 14"! Amazing!

[Timebandit]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

Mike, I think this post broke the SGL record for use of the multi quote function

Just worked out, and couldn't quite believe that the 20" has just over twice the surface area of a 14"! Amazing!

 

 

 

Thank you stu for those stats on Mike's 20incher , us who only have a wee 14incher in comparison really wanted to know how much more surface area Mike mirror has(over twice as much?) , how much more light gathering ability, therefore how much more magnification he can use to get into those DSO and to produce a much better image than us with 14 inches get ?.  

 

 

 

 

i wonder which view Mike will be getting through the Faulksy big dob build with a  20" Orion Optics UK 1/10 high grade mirror? ?

 

 

Edited September 4, 2016 by Timebandit

[faulksy]

a few little updates and some good progress tonight.

cut all truss tubes to correct length and thought of a good way of stopping them at the correct focal distance.

squared up my spider as it was 2mm in one direction off centre, strange one

squared my focuser up as over the width of the uta it run out by 2mm in 1 direction the other axis was spot on, gutted

1 of the uta clamps was very slightly of 90* compared to the adjacent ones, all the fixing bolts are 6mm so all holes are 6mm so there is no slop but the one that was out i had to drill the clearance hole 6.5mm. it is now correct. so well happy with all that

also finished of my wheel barrow system which colapses down to nothing, i have used 2 wheels but both in the centre, this gives a bit more stability at speed but still allows me to use 1 ramp to go in the back of the discovery .

things left to do are

shrink wrap my truss poles

finish of shroud and my matching dress

finish off dew kit . so not much left

 

ep height at zenith is 6-3"

Edited September 4, 2016 by faulksy

[Ibbo!]

I am glad its all coming together.

The views will be wonderful.

[faulksy]

7 minutes ago, Ibbo! said:

I am glad its all coming together.

The views will be wonderful.

slowly but surely. cheers steve

[Ibbo!]

I am sure a revisit of all the showpeice objects will be an absolute delight for you and all those faint bits that were not visible befor ewill be yours.

[Telescope40]

Mike.  Sounds absolutely immense.  I'm not that far from you in the Sandbach area.  Bet you could see me without the use of a Barlow.

 

LOL   Enjoy.    John  

[faulksy]

36 minutes ago, Telescope40 said:

Mike.  Sounds absolutely immense.  I'm not that far from you in the Sandbach area.  Bet you could see me without the use of a Barlow.

 

LOL   Enjoy.    John  

i can see you now john