TS-Optics 8" f/12 Cassegrain telescope 203/2436 mm OTA

[johninderby]

Forecast is for partly cloudy Sunday night.........with a 100% full moon. 🤔

[johninderby]

Finder bracket arrived this aft. Now just need the clouds to give me a break. 😁

Edited October 11, 2019 by johninderby

[johninderby]

Now some pics of the complete scope outside in the daylight. . 

 

Edited October 11, 2019 by johninderby

[Tyson M]

Nice scope! Looking forward to hearing how it performs! 

[johninderby]

Minor jobs. 🙂

Got the finder aligned and found I needed the two inch spacer added to focus on something a mile away. 

Found the front cover was a bit awkward to remove as there was nothing to grab and it is a snug fit. So off to the spare parts box for a black stainless steel knob to attach to the cover. Much better. 👍🏻

[johninderby]

Minor job #2

Decided to replace the brass thumbscrews with some black stainless steel ones. Partly because I thought they would look better with this scope but also the larger heads are easier to grip.

[johninderby]

Rings 🙂

Bought some 230mm tube rings from Telescope Express. Nice solid pair of rings. I wanted to make some chages to make it better for Alt-Az mounting with the handle on the top when fitting the scope to the mount. Makes it easier to be able to hold the scope in position with one hand while tightening the saddle  clamp. 

Removed the dovetails and radius blocks from the OTA. Fitting the Losmandy radius blocks to the rings required drilling a couple of new angled holes in each block and tapping the holes to M6. Countersunk bolts were used to fasten on the blocks from the inside of the rings. The Vixen radius blocks on the top were easier as  existing holes in the blocks could be used to bolt them in place. It’s so much easier fitting the scope to the mount now. Oh and the new knobs on the saddle worked a treat. So easy to get a good grip and get them good and tight. 👍🏻

Had the scope out the other night. Left it to cool for an hour. Dew was dripping off the scope and had to wipe off the finder and eyepiece but zero dew on the scope primary or secondary. Had read that this scope just doesn’t dew up. 

Took a tour of the moons terminator and was impressed by the sharpness, contrast and detail showing. Then tried the Morpheus 4.5 which would give 541 mag. All I can say is wow.  Unbeliveabe detail !!! The sensation of just floating above the moons surface was remarakable. I had thought the Skymax 180 was a good lunar scope but this is in a different league. I could see more detail than I ever did in the 180. And this was with mist and not great seeing. Can’t wait for a clear night with great seeing And also the collimation needs some fine tuning. 

 

Edited October 18, 2019 by johninderby

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Looks very nice indeed

[johninderby]

You can tell it’s cloudy.😁

Sorted out the finder mounting. Took a standard mounting shoe and cut the “legs” off and filed the base flat. Then drilled and tapped the flat part of the ring and bolted the finder shoe on. The rings got in the way of the finder shoe mounted on theb scope.  

Also added some flocking material to the inside of the rings as the rings weren’t quite tight enough.

Edited October 18, 2019 by johninderby

[johninderby]

Decided to replace the carry handle with a full length one from where else but WDS Ltd. 🙂

[Guest]

This looks like a really nice scope, I was looking at getting a Skywatcher Skymax 180 Pro, but having read this and other comments, guess I will be looking at getting one of these instead.

What is the Stock Crayford Focuser like?

Nice modifications/upgrades by the way

[johninderby]

Hi

The stock focuser is actualy not bad at all. Solid and will do the job. I made the fatal mistake of test fitting the Baader Steeltrack though. Nice as the stock focuser is it’s not as nice as a Steeltrack. Next best thing to a FeatherTouch.🙂

I always liked the Skymax180 but this new scope is a real step up in performance. And no dew problems. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Edited November 25, 2019 by johninderby

[sputniksteve]

Hi John,

I saw your link to this thread in the other thread recently. This is a nice scope. What do you think of it now? 

Also, how did you reposition the other dovetail bar?

[johninderby]

Love the views the scope gives. Quick cooldown and and no dewing problems as well. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Used a pair of tube rings so the Losmandy bar was bolted to the rings using the stock mounting blocks and the top vixen bar wasfitted to the rings again using the stock mounting blocks. Countersunk screws were used from the inside of the rings.

Edited June 23, 2020 by johninderby

[sputniksteve]

Ah .. I see!   

 

I think.

[johninderby]

Time to take some new photos of the setup I think. 🙂

[johninderby]

A bit too sunny for good photos.🙄

[HollyHound]

On 23/06/2020 at 13:33, johninderby said:

A bit too sunny for good photos.🙄

Lovely looking scope and sounds like it performs brilliantly too 😊

Do I spy the 2” to 1.25” adapter from the StellaMira 🤔

[johninderby]

2 minutes ago, HollyHound said:

 

Do I spy the 2” to 1.25” adapter from the StellaMira 🤔

WO diag borrowed from the StellaMira.

[LoloCoAstro]

Hi everybody.

@johninderby
I would like some help please.

I just buy this telescope (GSO 8" F/D12). But it was very difficult to use it to watch something. I explain my problem:

I can't ajuste the focus to have a good image. I use an eyepiece (7, 10 and 25mm). But I can't adjust a good focus. I use 2x spacer M90 1" + 1x spacer M90 2" and focuser. But I need to move the eyepiece back. And with the 7mm eyepiece it's almost impossible.

I d'ont have a star diagonal.

What do you mean about this problem. I'm crazy or not ? How to do adjust focus ?  

[johninderby]

That’s your problem. You should be using it with a diagonal otherwise you won’t have enough back focus.

Buy a decent dolectric 2” diagonal. There are a lot for around £100.00 or so. 

[nfotis]

I wondered, were you able to do a side-by-side comparison with the Skymax 180?

What would be the pros and cons of each? Would this be suitable for imaging?

N.F.

 

[LoloCoAstro]

Ok. Thank so much. 
 But if I want put a CCD camera, have I a good enough track focus with 3 spacer (25+25+50) ?

i think that I will try it the next night. 

[johninderby]

I did a brief comparison. The old Skymax 180 was good but the CC just does everything better. Having a proper refractor style focuser and the fixed primary has advanages for imaging plus the CC has large  illuminated image field with 45 mm diameter which is a big advantage if you have a suitable camera. Quicker cooldown and no problems with dewing unlike a mak. Found the CC had a sharper more contrasty image and would take higher magnification.

Don’t get me wrong I really liked the Skymax180 but since upgrading to the CC don’t miss it at all.

I changed the focuser for a Baader Steeltrack that has almost twice the drawtube travel so don’t use the spacers any more. 

 

 

Edited July 11, 2020 by johninderby

[LoloCoAstro]

I just received my diagonal and an other spacer.

Now I wait à Night without cloud !!! And I will try to adjust a good focus and a good picture on eyepiece. 
 

thanks again