GSO 10-inch Dob arrived

[fwm891]

Update.

Well been using this scope now whenever the skies have co-operated (even dodging from gap to gap between clouds). I thought the azimuth bearing was going to be a problem and it was. I tried first calming it down with a strip of draught excluder but that proved too resistant to motion, even cut it into smaller and smaller pieces didn't work particularly well. Finally I've used some PTFE sheet 4mm thick (*bay) to match the bearing thickness and placed three rectangular pieces (40 x 20 mm) one above each of the baseboard feet - it now turns with enough resistance to stop when required and smoothly nudge to keep objects in the fov.

Next job will be the EQ platform - I'll start another thread for that in the DIY section.

Otherwise the optics are very nice and hold collimation well. I took some time initially to set the secondary mirror up, now it just seems to need a minor tweak to the primary after transporting to a local darker site.

The 30 mm supplied eyepiece is good for general views and the couple of ES 68° eyepieces I bought recently (24 & 20 mm+ a 2x barlow) really deliver with this 10-inch scope. The metal tube is quite weighty but handles easily enough, the base also handles well and the two pieces sit easily in the car. The AstroZap stray light shield is very useful keeping unwanted lights out of the eyepiece.

Like most scopes in the lower/mid budget range there are little niggly bits (for me the az bearing) but it delivers where it matters in the optics.