"lubricating" a dobson?

[turboscrew]

Does anyone have good hints what I could do to my dobson?
I has "wheels" attached to the tube and the wheels rest on teflon patches on the mount.
The tube doens'n move very smoothly, but "stutters" (you know, altering static and dynamic friction in almost audible frequency). Is there a good "lubricant" for the teflon patches?

[starfield]

In the past, I've used a silicone car wax. Needs to be reapplied periodically.

[helicon]

I've heard that Armorall works - it's a spray on liquid used for cleaning up plastics, dashboards in cars, tires, etc.

[kt4hx]

As mentioned a silicone based car wax will work for you Juha. Just reapply whenever you feel it starting to "stutter" again.

[turboscrew]

Thanks, I have to look what we have available around here.

[kt4hx]

I have seen mention of using ski wax as well - the glide type of course rather than the grip wax. However, I have not had any experience with it.

[turboscrew]

I have seen mention of using ski wax as well - the glide type of course rather than the grip wax. However, I have not had any experience with it.

I guess ski wax probably needs to be applied much more often.

[kt4hx]

I have seen mention of using ski wax as well - the glide type of course rather than the grip wax. However, I have not had any experience with it.

I guess ski wax probably needs to be applied much more often.

That may well be, but I honestly don't know since I've never used it. If you can find the car wax, that should do what you need however.

[JayTee]

The very first thing I would do is to thoroughly and carefully clean both the surface of the wheel and the Teflon strips with a mild soap and water solution. Don't get any parts wetter than damp. Then see if you still need the wax.

Cheers

[kt4hx]

Good advice JT, I was running under the assumption that Juha had already cleaned the pads.

[Piet Le Roux]

Dave Krige recommended turtle wax car polish and I thought surely there must be better lubes and applied silicone lube to my 15" Obsession but when it was ballanced for big eyepieces and a paracorr it became very sticky after a while, needed more force to move but less to keep it moving, making it very difficult to track an object. I cleaned it with alcohol and applied only Turtle wax.....I never used anything else afterwards!

[turboscrew]

Dave Krige recommended turtle wax car polish and I thought surely there must be better lubes and applied silicone lube to my 15" Obsession but when it was ballanced for big eyepieces and a paracorr it became very sticky after a while, needed more force to move but less to keep it moving, making it very difficult to track an object. I cleaned it with alcohol and applied only Turtle wax.....I never used anything else afterwards!

I was about to ask, so thanks for answering before I even asked.
I guess, Turtle wax original is available. So many car waxes proudly announce "No silicon".

[Piet Le Roux]

I have a update on the Subject: I sold my 15" Obsession because it just got too heavy for my 60+ back, but then I saw a 8" Sky Watcher solid tube Dobson on the net being sold locally for a ridiculous price and I could not resist. I believe it when the seller told me that it was only used twice because it's spotless, but the Az and Alt movement were not smooth at all. I did a lot of work on the rocker box and turntable, fixed the plastic spindle and white plastic washer to the base to prevent horizontal movement and polished the melamine-covered particle turntable with Turtle wax and the result was an acceptable Az movement. The alt movement was a different story, because it has no teflon pads and is plastic on nylon, nothing would remove the initial resistance to movement which resulted in me constantly overshooting the target. The Az has more resistance but is smooth with no extra initial resistance to movement. Then I read about dry PTFT (Teflon) lube thats safe on plastic, there are a couple of sprays available but I could only get Dry bike Lubricant with teflon in liquid form. I applied it to both surfaces of the Alt movement and the result was very good! This Sky Watcher is now smoother than my Obession use to be! I will report back on how long the effect last over time but so far I am very happy with this lube.

[turboscrew]

I have a update on the Subject: I sold my 15" Obsession because it just got too heavy for my 60+ back, but then I saw a 8" Sky Watcher solid tube Dobson on the net being sold locally for a ridiculous price and I could not resist. I believe it when the seller told me that it was only used twice because it's spotless, but the Az and Alt movement were not smooth at all. I did a lot of work on the rocker box and turntable, fixed the plastic spindle and white plastic washer to the base to prevent horizontal movement and polished the melamine-covered particle turntable with Turtle wax and the result was an acceptable Az movement. The alt movement was a different story, because it has no teflon pads and is plastic on nylon, nothing would remove the initial resistance to movement which resulted in me constantly overshooting the target. The Az has more resistance but is smooth with no extra initial resistance to movement. Then I read about dry PTFT (Teflon) lube thats safe on plastic, there are a couple of sprays available but I could only get Dry bike Lubricant with teflon in liquid form. I applied it to both surfaces of the Alt movement and the result was very good! This Sky Watcher is now smoother than my Obession use to be! I will report back on how long the effect last over time but so far I am very happy with this lube.

Pretty good news. For all dobson owners, not just me.

[Piet Le Roux]

This is what I want to get :

[turboscrew]

This is what I want to get :

OMG! It's available here in a local shop.

[Piet Le Roux]

I could not buy any WD40 Dry PTFE locally so I ordered 2 tins online and they arrived today, I removed the old lube from my 8" Sky Watcher Dob with benzine and applied the dry PTFE to both the Az and Alt movements. It is absolutely amazing! Obsession owners used to talk about "butter smooth" but this result is even smoother than that. I had my doubts that this scope would ever be user friendly and now it's the smoothest Dob I have ever viewed with. I think that any Dobson without Teflon pads can now be as smooth as those with them without any mods !

[Richard]

Interesting I have a GSO 8 inch with uses bearings for both alt and Az movements , It must be at least 15 years old and I only once had to clean and re grease the bearings , always a pleasure to use
My Skywatcher uses those pads and needs periodic cleaning otherwise it tends to 'stick' certainly more on the base , after reading some posts on CN where they say that the teflon pads are better than bearings made me wonder .
All these bases are made from chipboard , or particle board for US chaps any form of moisture will distort the turntable so I took a straight edge to see , both scopes the base are out by a few mm , obviously the bearings can handle this but the 3 little pads ,no so yes they work well until one uses it for a long time
Must try this dry PTFE , where did you get it from Piet

[Piet Le Roux]

The Obsession Dobsons are very smooth running on Teflon pads and countertop laminate and should be lubricated with Turtle car wax, they have set the benchmark for smoothness. It appears that Chinese manufacturing don’t want to use Du Pont’s Teflon pads and use a roller bearing system or nylon pads with the Alt movement running on plastic and nylon. I have never used a GSO Dobson with roller bearings so I don't know what they feel like. For me the problem is not just the smoothness but does it require more effort to get in motion than it does to keep in motion, because thats a problem that makes it very difficult to stop on a object. On my Sky Watcher the PTFE have replaced the lack of teflon pads but I dont know if it is needed on a roller bearing system or would make any difference. I orderd some online from BPM Toolcaft in Cape Town, could not find any locally.

[helicon]

The Obsession Dobsons are very smooth running on Teflon pads and countertop laminate and should be lubricated with Turtle car wax, they have set the benchmark for smoothness. It appears that Chinese manufacturing don’t want to use Du Pont’s Teflon pads and use a roller bearing system or nylon pads with the Alt movement running on plastic and nylon. I have never used a GSO Dobson with roller bearings so I don't know what they feel like. For me the problem is not just the smoothness but does it require more effort to get in motion than it does to keep in motion, because thats a problem that makes it very difficult to stop on a object. On my Sky Watcher the PTFE have replaced the lack of teflon pads but I dont know if it is needed on a roller bearing system or would make any difference. I orderd some online from BPM Toolcaft in Cape Town, could not find any locally.

Actually the roller bearings on the Zhumell ten inch Dob work great.