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New 14" Skywatcher Synscan

Rossco72

By Rossco72
in Members Equipment Gallery

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Rossco72

Rossco72

Posted
Posted

Well it finally arrived, the new 14" Skywatcher Dob. Unfortunately the clouds came with it but I'll post a first light in due course.

For now here's a piccie of this big beast.

The base is huge and weighs a ton, BUT it is collapsable and can be disassembled and reassembled without tools for easier transport, whilst not ideal, it is a nice touch.

post-16557-133877492106_thumb.jpg

More to follow in the coming days.

Cheers

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Rossco72

Rossco72

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For anyone who's interested, here are a few more pics with the base under construction. It comes pre assembled with motor etc already fitted, only the small feet need to be added.

post-16557-133877492184_thumb.jpg

The sides and front are then added using thumbscrews.

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Close up of the thumbscrews

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This method allows the base to be collapsed and assembled fairly quickly by either one or two people.

Cheers

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Rob

Rob

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I like that.. I that a lot. to be fair its not that big for a 14".. I like the flex tube's a lot. I took a long good look at them at Astrofest this year and thought 250PX was a gem of a scope. The 14" should give you super images

Rob

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NGC 1502

NGC 1502

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Hi Stuart, thanks for the pics. They answer two questions I had.

The first was what are the cutouts in the sides of the mount for, I can see

the plastic hand wheels for disassembly.

And the second is related. You said that the base could be flat packed, but I was

thinking that running the wood screws in & out a few times would tear up the base

material. But seeing the hand wheels, I expect they must screw into metal inserts ?

Very nice scope indeed, makes a large aperture much more transportable. Bet you

will love it.

Cheers, Ed

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Rossco72

Rossco72

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OK, a couple of more points,

The instruction manual is woefull, there are numerous pieces where you are left to guess or assume how they piece together as they are simply not mentioned in the manual. Incredibly, this includes the primary mirror installation!!

Collimation was out andd took a while to sort, a thing to watch out for though is to ensure that each of the 3 struts is fully extended and flush with the retaining surface. After collimating the scope and then finding one of the struts was 1.5mm down, extended it and collimation was off again (hardly surprising).

As has been discovered by one or two others, the scope does not come to focus with the equipment supplied, an extension tube (or maybe a coma corrector??) is required to achieve focus. I have found my Naglers certainly need to be around 100-105mm back from the top flange of the focuser to achieve focus. This seems excessive to me and it really annoys me when manufacturers know this but don't supply the needed extension tubes!!

Anyway, still cloudy so still no first light....

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yesyes

yesyes

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I'd be interested how the collimation holds when you disassemble and reassemble the scope. I think I read in the description (for the 10" version and a year ago when I was looking into buying a new scope) that it "holds collimation the whole night". To me that meant I would need to collimate each time I use the scope...

Also, does it come with an eyepiece? If yes, does that EP achieve focus?

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NickH

NickH

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You need to collimate each time if it's more than just widefield casual (32-40mm EP) use, but it's pretty fast with a laser once you've done it the first time

Focus with the Celestron EP's and the Meade 5000 series we had at SSP it was fine every time, so why don't the Naglers, or do you think this is just the 14" version problem?

The manual...well, I didn't get to look at it much as it got drowned first night at SSP, but I agree, having now reviewed three skywatcher products, the manuals could maybe do with "some" work

The base collapse on the 14" is tidy though...the 12" is a PITA with regard to that

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