Posts Made By: Ed York

I hope she went to a good home.

Ed

Julian,

I just finished building a 12.5" scope and I love it! I would shop around though and maybe buy a used one. A few notes:

- Cool down is not as bad as it sounds. You just plan for it. Worst case, add the fan (if it doesn't already have it) to cool down with convection rather then conduction.

- High power is much better with a GEM. If your primary targets are planets and will remain that way, get an 8" reflector or 6-7" Mak on an equatorial mount with tracking. If you want some planets with a bunch of DSO's, get the big dob.

- Setup on a dob is simple and quick, IF you can handle the weight length of the 12"

- Recheck your transportation and storage. An occassional trip to dark skies with a big scope is a wonderful thing. If you can store and drive it out to dark skies with everything else you will put in your vehicle, then do it. If not, figure out the biggest scope you can do for the space.

- On the computer - nice but not a must. A few good charts will start you on your way. Once you find a few good markers, if you can read a map, you can find almost anything. The computer will help you find it faster and help you find it in light pollution (fewer markers, harder to find things).

- Save some money for EP's. Space them out (1.5x to 1.8x jumps) and get something wide. Wide EP's will likely be 2", so check the focuser.

- Get a Crayford focuser. Smooth easy motion helps find the sweet spot in the focus. If you can't quite get the exact focus, the scope underperforms.

- ENJOY ENJOY ENJOY - It's a hobby. You spend time and money to enjoy it!

Ed

Floyd,

Do you want a truss or a tube?

Do you want to do it yourself or have someone else do it for you?

If a planet killer, are you planning on tracking? (a nice gem mount is killer on planets).

Ed

Justin,

The widefields are IMHO a much better experience then the plossls.

There is alot of great advice here. The radians and Meade UWA's are very nice but both addictive and expensive.

The Panoptics and Meade SWA's are probably an excellent middle ground. I have seen some reports that put the SWA's a little sharper then the Pans. I have never stacked them up next to each other, but my 24.5 SWA gives a very nice view for 50-60% the price of the Panoptic.

There are some other lower end widefields that I have seen excellent notes on, but I will have to leave others for these recommendations.

I have bought plenty of EP's here used and have yet to get a bad one. The beauty is, if you don't like it or you change your jumps, you can usually sell it and the experience costs you the price of shipping.

Ed

Tom,

The cut lives inside the rocker box or worst cast pointing at the ground. Cut whatever is easiest and gives you the proper clearance. The difference in look and probably weight will be minimal. Make sure you do not cutaway where your tailgate should be. It looks better totally covered.

Ed

Floyd,

You seem to get very clean cuts on the plastic. What are you cutting with?

Ed

Back in college we had a project to build a methane plant using cow manure as the supply. It was to be located nead a feed lot.

From what I learned, that pile could be burning for quite some time!

Ed

Joe,

I would echo a few of these guys with a few caveats.

If you want to scream on planets, you need tracking, 2 good mirrors, a good 2 speed focuser, and good contrast.

I did what you are proposing. If I had to do it all over, I would build from new. Flock the tube, get a CR2 or Feathertouch focuser, get a Swaze/Spooner/Harry/Woden or similar primary, and Antares top notch secondary (1/25th pv quartz or better) and depending on location, a spider with a dew heater built in. Then put it all on a Eq Mount.

The big mirror gathers the light, the little one turns the concentrated light (small mirror doing a big job), the focuser lets you find the sweet spot and the GEM makes it sit still while you stare in awe.

Ed

Beautiful Scope Alan.

On the scope I recently built two great pieces of advice -

* Anodize the tubes

* Off the shelf tube material (with spandex) for a shroud.

Both help with light pollution (which you may or may not have). If may help you drop the baffle. The other issue the shroud my help with vibration, but may make it a sail and move the scope (too little weight to hold it in place. The vibration comes from the turbulent airflow as it wraps the tubes.

Ed

I just had my poles anodized with a black matte finish. I also had them do some of the drops and then used these for the cage. It looks very nice.

The only down side is that they could not anodize the quik connects because they are cast. I roughed these up, primed and painted flat black. I am letting them cure for a couple of days to be safe.

When I get verything back together, I'll post a photo.

Ed