150PL f/8 Super Planetary Newt / OO 1/12PV miror etc.

[FLO]

The mirror set came with an American made CNC 6 point mirror cell. I wouldn't have ordered the mirror cell myself as while it's a work of art, it's also nearly £200.00 imported.

I was able to fit the CNC mirror cell to the Skywatcher tube end ring. There were three mounting points that projected out from the new cell that had to be trimmed off so that he cell would fit down into the SkyWatcher end ring. Then fortunately three large screw holes in the end ring lined up perfectly with three mounting holes in the new cell so it was a simple matter of fitting the screws with some spacers between the end ring and the new cell. The mirror is held in place by there blobs of silicone around the edge of the mirror. I fitted a cooling fan as there was a mounting place for it but just how useful it will be on a 6" low expansion mirror is another matter. The CNC mirror cell came from Optical Supports.

Optical Supports VMC mirror cells are now available here in the UK and thanks to bulk buying they are more affordable

Steve

[John]

Those mirror cells look very nice Steve

If you have one of the Orion Optics newtonains (as I have ) with the more basic mirror cell (eg: the 10" and smaller Europas) you will also need a lower tube band to fit one as the basic OO mirror cell also doubles up as a lower tube stiffener. I guess you would have go to OO to get one of those ?.

Without this band, the OO tube, which is very thin walled in the Europa range, would not be rigid I feel.