Lukehurst-Nichol classic dobsonian modifications

[Piero]

2 hours ago, Captain Scarlet said:

Very nice and the problem-solving must be satisfying!

To truly earn the name Phoenix of course, the original needs to have been set on fire 🙂.

I will be gratefully drawing on your experience when I, very soon now I hope, start building my own 20” dob. I’ve had the mirrors (Nichol) for a year now, and now my house is sold I have the time and the finances!

Magnus

You are correct about phoenix . Rather than having a fire in the garden, a good chunk of it went in the bin. 

Let me know if you want to have a chat while designing / building your 20" dob. Happy to share my experience.

Piero

Edited June 18, 2022 by Piero

[Piero]

I forgot to add some photos related to the focuser replacement. The reason is that I wanted to use my 2" eyepieces and these reach focus at very different positions. The Antares helical focuser was quite uncomfortable for this and so I decided to replace it with a Kineoptics HC-2 focuser. The UTA no longer fits into the mirror box, but I have never really care of this detail, actually I found it a bit clumsy.

The focuser base is home made by me using a basic aluminium square. As the new focuser is a bit higher, the poles had to be trimmed.

Before trimming the poles:

After trimming the poles:

 

Finally, two stainless steel metal rods wrapped with black shrinking material are now used as a counterweight. These can be added or removed very quickly, but most importantly they keep the mirror box shallow and light.