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I was planning to eventually build a Dobson mount for my Meade 10" Schmidt Newtonian. I had already put my design on paper and bought some nice birch plywood for the build but that's as far as I got.
Recently I saw an advertisement in the classifieds on Cloudy Nights for a SkyQuest Dobson mount. It was missing the side bearings and their CorrecTension Friction Optimization System which applies additional friction onto the altitude bearing pads. As I understand it, the system uses a spring coil and helps with insufficient friction and balancing when changing eyepieces, etc.
I decided to buy it and received it a few days later. I bought two 4-inch PVC pipe caps that had a 5 inch outer diameter, drilled holes in the center and connected them to each side of one of the tube rings from my EQ mount. The ring is surrounded on each side by my home-built Wilson Rings so I can rotate the tube if needed for best eyepiece position. The altitude friction is good. The azimuth friction is too stiff but luckily I have some extra Teflon pads I can use for that! If you click on the photo it will show the correct orientation.
Bruce
Refractors: Meade AR-5 127mm f/9.3, Meade ST-80 f/5 and Meade 60mm f/12, Jason 60mm f/15 #313, Jason 60mm f/12 #306 S7, Bushnell Sky Chief III 60mm f/15. Reflectors/Catadioptrics: Meade 10" F/4 Schmidt-Newtonian, Galileo 120mm f/8.3 Newtonian, Meade 2045D 4" f/10 SCT, Meade ETX-90EC f/13.8 & Sarblue 60mm f/12.5 Maksutov-Cassegrains. Mounts: Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro & Meade LXD55 Equatorial mounts, ES Twilight II and Meade 2102 ALT/AZ mounts, a modified 10" SkyQuest Dobsonian mount, various 60mm EQ mounts. Misc: Celestron 20x80mm binoculars, Revolution II Imager/accessories, & lots of optical accessories/eyepieces. Projects: 8" f/2.9 and 65mm f/10 reflectors, Dobson-style binocular mirror mount.
It's a 10 inch f/4 scope but the front corrector does its job so that a coma corrector really isn't needed, although I am sure a coma corrector would help for younger eyes. I really don't notice the difference with a Paracorr 1.
Its a heavy OTA at 30 pounds and the LXD55 EQ mount it came with is only rated at 30 pounds. It worked visually but I noticed that same mount worked a lot better with a 15 pound refractor! So a new $1500+ EQ mount that can handle it's weight is not in the cards at this time. That's why I wanted to start using it with a Dobson mount. I predict I will use it more now.
I really love the wide field views. Its great for deep sky which is what I am mainly interested in. I have yet to take it to a dark sky site and I am looking forward to that!
Last edited by StarBru on Sun Jan 12, 2020 8:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
Bruce
Refractors: Meade AR-5 127mm f/9.3, Meade ST-80 f/5 and Meade 60mm f/12, Jason 60mm f/15 #313, Jason 60mm f/12 #306 S7, Bushnell Sky Chief III 60mm f/15. Reflectors/Catadioptrics: Meade 10" F/4 Schmidt-Newtonian, Galileo 120mm f/8.3 Newtonian, Meade 2045D 4" f/10 SCT, Meade ETX-90EC f/13.8 & Sarblue 60mm f/12.5 Maksutov-Cassegrains. Mounts: Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro & Meade LXD55 Equatorial mounts, ES Twilight II and Meade 2102 ALT/AZ mounts, a modified 10" SkyQuest Dobsonian mount, various 60mm EQ mounts. Misc: Celestron 20x80mm binoculars, Revolution II Imager/accessories, & lots of optical accessories/eyepieces. Projects: 8" f/2.9 and 65mm f/10 reflectors, Dobson-style binocular mirror mount.
A nice telescope Bruce, you do not see a lot of these anymore.
With a 2.7° FOV it should make a nice DSO telescope.
Gabrielle See Far Sticks: Elita 103/1575, AOM FLT 105/1000, Bresser 127/1200 BV, Nočný stopár 152/1200, Vyrobené doma 70/700, Stellarvue NHNG DX 80/552, TAL RS 100/1000, Vixen SD115s/885 EQ: TAL MT-1, Vixen SXP, SXP2, AXJ, AXD Az/Alt: AYO Digi II, Stellarvue M2C, Argo Navis encoders on both Tripods: Berlebach Planet (2), Uni 28 Astro, Report 372, TAL factory maple, Vixen ASG-CB90, Vixen AXD-TR102 Diagonals: Astro-Physics, Baader Amici, Baader Herschel, iStar Blue, Stellarvue DX, Tak prism, TAL, Vixen Eyepieces: Antares to Zeiss (1011110) The only culture I have is from yogurt