Dob mount for my Meade 10" SN

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StarBru United States of America
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Dob mount for my Meade 10" SN

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Post by StarBru »


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.
20200111_154506.jpg
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.
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yobbo89 Australia
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Re: Dob mount for my Meade 10" SN

#2

Post by yobbo89 »


very nice, i had to google what a schmidt newt was . it's got me interested , i guess i'll do some reading. how are the views ?
scopes :gso/bintel f4 12"truss tube, bresser messier ar127s /skywatcher 10'' dob,meade 12'' f10 lx200 sct
cameras : asi 1600mm-c/asi1600mm-c,asi120mc,prostar lp guidecam, nikkon d60, sony a7,asi 290 mm
mounts : eq6 pro/eq8/mesu 200 v2
filters : 2'' astronomik lp/badder lrgb h-a,sII,oIII,h-b,Baader Solar Continuum, chroma 3nm ha,sii,oiii,nii,rgb,lowglow,uv/ir,Thousand Oaks Solar Filter,1.25'' #47 violet,pro planet 742 ir,pro planet 807 ir,pro planet 642 bp ir.
extras : skywatcher f4 aplanatic cc, Baader MPCC MKIII Coma Corrector,Orion Field Flattener,zwo 1.25''adc.starlight maxi 2" 9x filter wheel,tele vue 2x barlow .

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StarBru United States of America
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Re: Dob mount for my Meade 10" SN

#3

Post by StarBru »


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.
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StarBru United States of America
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Re: Dob mount for my Meade 10" SN

#4

Post by StarBru »


Here you can see the front corrector plate and it's equatorial mount:
10SN 3.jpg
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.
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Lady Fraktor Slovakia
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Re: Dob mount for my Meade 10" SN

#5

Post by Lady Fraktor »


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.
See Far Sticks: Antares Elita 103/1575, AOM FLT 105/1000, Bresser BV 127/1200, Nočný stopár 152/1200, Vyrobené doma 70/700, Stellarvue NHNG DX 80/552, TAL RS100/1000, Vixen SD115s/885
EQ: TAL MT-1, Vixen SXP, AXJ, AXD
Az/Alt: AYO Digi II/ Argo Navis, Stellarvue M2C/ Argo Navis
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, Takahashi prism, TAL, Vixen flip mirror
Eyepieces: Antares to Zeiss
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