I was fourteen when i bought and read this for the first time, and for my age i found it very easy to follow on most of the construction of the parts. Mar 24, 20 skywatcher 8inch collapsible dobsonian telescope manufacturers code. A dobsonian telescope is a newtonian reflector mounted on a simple yet stable altazimuth lazy susan style mount. Lower the telescope tube and carefully place it on the base. The 8inch skywatcher dobsonian synscan is precision engineered telescope that will allow you to easily find and enjoy night sky treasures like saturn, jupiter, and other planets in the solar system, plug a huge array of deepsky objects including galaxies, star clusters, nebulae, and more. Skywatcher 12 goto collapsible dobsonian telescope. Discuss this article in our forums skywatcher 8inch collapsible dobsonian telescope manufacturers code. Grab the telescope tube with both hands at the positions indicated in the diagram below.
Every step of construction is detailed in photographs and diagrams, and the underlying ideas are carefully explained. Flextube 200p collapsible dobsonian telescope was developed to be the perfect tool for any star gazer. You can also make this mount out of 19 mm plywood, or laminated wood. The 12 travel dob made by ulli vedder set a benchmark for this kind of telescopes. The test is to look through the focuser without an eyepiece. Every rockerbox and mirrorbox for our telescopes employs a dadoed groove that a matching dadoed tongue slips into, at right angles to one another. Skywatcher improves on the often unwieldy standard design of dobsonians with their 10 f4. Skywatcher 8 goto collapsible dobsonian telescope opt. The telescope could be pointed to anywhere in the sky by either rotating the box on the lazysuzan base, or by pushing the telescope up or down. The dobsonian telescope, a practical manual for building. Page 30 astronomy formulas for your zhumell dobsonian telescope magnification to determine the magnification of a telescope and eyepiece combination, divide the telescope focal length be the eye piece focal length. Once the telescope is aligned, the goto system allows the user to slew the telescope toward. During assembly of our telescopes outdoor grade wood glue is used to further enhance the strength of this connection.
A dobsonian telescope is an altazimuthmounted newtonian telescope design popularized by john dobson in 1965 and credited with vastly increasing the size of telescopes available to amateur astronomers. Roger had built the scope to provide a home for a beautiful 12. Pm builds one and speaks to john dobson, the man behind the plans, about the joys of diy astronomy. Flextube 300p synscan goto collapsible dobsonian sky. Draw the outline of the upper part of the mount on the azimuth bearing board. The skywatcher 10inch collapsible goto dob is precision engineered instrument that will allow you to easily find and enjoy viewing night sky treasures, such as planets, nebulae, star clusters, galaxies and much more. The telescope frame can be dripping in dew yet the mirror stays dry. It features a patented truss tube system that enables the front corrector plateeyepiece assembly to be moved back and locked against the main rear tube to greatly reduce the size of the ota for storage and transportation. The mount works via friction, just little enough to easily move the telescope, but yet. The standard reference for people wishing to build a trusstube style dobsonian telescope is the dobsonian telescope. Plans for a home made telescope building a telescope. She then followed the stellafane dob plans exactly and crafted a beautiful telescope to house her mirror.
In this section we will show you how to build a complete dobsonian telescope. This oustanding innovation allows the user to keep their scope assembled into two major sections, which allows for quicker assembly in the field as compared with other similar truss dobsonian designs. So here i am, a complete newbie with no idea of what telescope to buy. A basic manual mount which supports the optical tube and can be.
Dobsonian telescopes best for deep space observing. Engineering lightweight dobsonin telescopes pge 1111 part 1 of 4 by lonnie robinson updated 20 introduction john dobson really started something with his dobsonian dob telescope design. Bushnell ares 5 dobsonian telescope opticsplanet edition. Jan 22, 20 the original design galileo galilei came up with in 1609 is commonly called a galilean telescope. San francisco sidewalk astronomers building telescopes. My first real telescope was an odyssey 8inch dobsonian purchased in 1987. Why are dobsonian telescopes a favorite among amateur. Buildascope 14 intelliscope truss dobsonian telescope. Skywatcher 12 goto collapsible dobsonian telescope opt. Comments on the skywatcher 8 collapsible dobsonian. The buildascope xx14i intelliscope dobsonian turns the night sky into an endless playground of deepspace surprises for intermediate and advanced observing enthusiasts. Align the side bearings of the tube to the mounting platforms on the inner side of the side boards. Galileos best telescope magnified objects about 30 times. I have an apo triplet of rogers that is a prized possession.
As this telescope was going to have a fan on the mirror cell and a dry eye antidew system, i wanted to try and avoid having cables running up and down the tube. The first step to building a dobsonian telescope is to choose the aperture size and the focal length. As shown at left, the scope can be transported or stored ready for use in this configuration. The mount works via friction, just little enough to easily move the telescope, but yet enough that the telescope remains pointed. Pioneered by john dobson in the 1960s, the instrument combines a newtonian reflector telescope with a unique twoaxis movable base.
If you have a 150 mm f8 mirror, a 200 mm od tube is needed. After having completed my 22 lowrider dobsonian, i wanted to redesign my 14 dob built in 2003 into a compact ultra light travel dobsonian. The resolution boils down to the fine art of adjusting the equilibrium point of the tube and providing just the right amount of friction in the mounting. I have used many of his ideas when building my telescope. Dobsonian telescope plans pdf new pdf download service. This six inch reflector is very close to the perfect telescope in.
Mar 22, 2011 the second part of a dobsonian telescope is the mount. Plans for a dobsonian telescope it is an newtonian optical tube, mounted on a very simple, yet very stable and easy to use alt azimuth mount. Teeters telescopes highquality trussdobsonian components. Consequently i do not bother with a full on shroud.
Skywatcher 10 goto collapsible dobsonian telescope. We have the telescope plans scanned but there are also many sites that have plans and videos. Some time ago my friend bill lofquist bought a dobsonian telescope from roger ceragioli. The design had no intermediary focus, thus resulting in an non inverted and upright image. The dobsonian mount we are building uses rings of pvc pipe traveling on nylon.
On the top side, it supports the teflon pads for the altitude bearings, and on its bottom side, it has laminate and a pivot bolt hole for the azimuth bearing. As a teacher of telescope making, he could be impatient, even rude, so. This manual can be used also as an educational tool to teach students, club. Mostly because their plans were easy to follow, and inexpensive. Collapsible dobsonians feature a onepiece optical tube assembly that is capable of collapsing upon itself to reduce the overall length. These plans are only slightly modified from the plans the sidewalk astronomers have been sending to.
Skywatcher 10 collapsible dobsonian dobsonians 10 40. The mirror is gorgeous, as is typical for roger who is one of the best opticians i. I based my design on the telescope plans provided by ray cash, a member of the san francisco sidewalk astronomers, modifying the plans even further with a few readymade parts. The lower part of the tube with the primary mirror and upper part with the secondary mirror and focuser are permanently connected with metal poles. The mirror is gorgeous, as is typical for roger who is one of the best opticians i know.
It used a convergent planoconvex objective lens and a divergent planoconcave eyepiece lens. A practical manual for building large aperture telescopes by david kriege and richard berry. The bushnell compact ares 5 dobsonian telescope is a simple, easy to use, nontechnical telescopes that is still large enough to provide real performance. Corresponding to the escalating aperture fever that has gripped amateur astronomy for several decades, an 8 diameter is now generally regarded as the minimum entrylevel aperture for serious observing. Unfortunately, the standard sizes are 1 and 2 meters in length. When he had finished the final tweaking, a new altazimuth mount was born. Building a telescope theory a b objective science and mathematics standards materials in a telescope, the lens held next to your eye is called the eyepiece and is usually a short focal length lens or a combination of lenses. Sixinch telescope overview with plywood cut pattern. In separate article, i wrote about correcting the problem of the clubs telescope not holding its position in altitude. Sep 18, 20 from what i see dobsonian moving mechanism allows the eyepiece to stay on the same side all the time and above all theres no need to rotate the tube or use counterweights. The dobsonian telescope, a practical manual for building large aperture telescopes tells how you can build a stateoftheart dobsonian telescope using readily available materials and supplies. The original design galileo galilei came up with in 1609 is commonly called a galilean telescope.
If you are interested in building any kind of telescope, i suggest you take a look at the rest of this page. Plans for a dobsonian telescope 150 mm mount 200 mm mount at this point, you can also buy the tube, and the altitude bearings. The lens at the other end of the telescope is called the objective lens. Oct 09, 2008 you, too, can avoid astronomical costs by watching stars through a trickedout cardboard tube. The mm reflector, 650mm focal length is large enough to take this telescope out of the toy category, and is rapidly. Once the telescope is aligned, the goto system allows the user to slew the telescope toward planets, stars, nebulae, galaxies, clusters and much more. We were just about to give up and buy a smaller scope when i saw this collapsible dobsonian on amazon.
Bushnell ares 5 truss tube dobsonian telescope 785000 is available exclusively from our online store opticsplanet. This oustanding innovation allows the user to keep their scope assembled into two major sections, which allows for quicker assembly in the field as compared with other similar trussdobsonian designs. From what i see dobsonian moving mechanism allows the eyepiece to stay on the same side all the time and above all theres no need to rotate the tube or use counterweights. The second part of a dobsonian telescope is the mount. The base quickly breaks down into four pieces without tools, to easily fit into standard sized automobiles. With the portable orion buildascope 14 intelliscope truss dobsonian telescope, you select the accessories for customized astronomical adventures. Although some information is a little dated, the concept behind all the components makes a lot of sense structurally.
Tom clark, former editor of amateur astronomy magazine, also offers an advanced book on dobsonian telescope building, the modern dobsonian. These telescopes are named for their designer, john dobson, who sought to build a low cost large aperture telescope. Dobsons telescopes featured a simplified mechanical design that was easy to manufacture from readily available components to create a large. As with the optical part the mount is just as simple, if not more so. Take one azimuth bearing board, and put the upper part of the mount on top, aligning the marks on the boards you draw earlier. Ray cashs san francisco sidewalk astronomers dobsonian telescope plans. The same plans can be downloaded in pdf format here. More than half a century later, dobsonian telescopes are still a favorite among experienced stargazers for providing the handsdown best valueperdollar on the telescope.
It provides big lightbucket gathering, good optical quality and unique utility. Yes, it looks like a cannon, but the above is really a teninch measured by the diameter of the objective newtonian telescope that almost anybody can build. In the 1960s, john dobsons simple new telescope design revolutionized the hobby of amateur astronomy and brought sidewalk astronomy to the masses. The 8 dobsonian telescope from skywatcher is a largeaperture, short focallength, newtonian reflector.
Again, john dobsons telescopemaking videolisted in sources shows the construction of a 16. A quick look at the long awaited explore scientific 16 compact dobsonian. Orion 8944 skyquest xt6 classic dobsonian telescope. Dob building adventure with you, hopefully adding some additional fresh ideas. The telescope tube only took a few simple modifications to allow it to ride on the base. It is an newtonian optical tube, mounted on a very simple, yet very stable and easy to use alt azimuth mount. Mar 10, 2016 skywatcher 12 collapsible dobsonian telescope.
The skywatcher collapsible goto dobsonian combines the great light gathering of the dobson telescope with the convenience of the computerised system synscan. The upper end is designed to baffle the field of view from stray light, obviating a shroud. Engineering lightweight dobsonian telescopes 20 update. The synscan az hand control allows you point your telescope. Magnification x telescope focal length mmeyepiece focal length mm ex. The 12inch collapsible dobsonian with synscan goto by skywatcher, is a large aperture, precision engineered telescope that will allow you to easily find and enjoy night sky treasures like saturn, jupiter, and other planets in the solar system, plus a huge array of deepsky objects including galaxies, star clusters, nebulae, and more. Focuser the focuser for this telescope is a simple helical focuser. Dobsons telescopes featured a simplified mechanical design that was easy to manufacture from readily available components to create a large, portable, lowcost telescope. With its patented collapsible tube design, these dobsonians are truly the ultimate in portability and performance. Click here see all details for skywatcher 8 collapsible dobsonian telescope. Tighten the locking screw to secure the tube in place. Having said that, perfect telescopes dont exist and im sure a dob is not an exception.
With its patented collapsible tube design, these dobsonians are truly the ultimate in portability. Dobsonian telescopes are popular with amateur telescope makers for their ease of design and construction, portability, and their use of large optical mirrors. Here you will find plans to build this telescope, or a smaller oneeither a 4. You, too, can avoid astronomical costs by watching stars through a trickedout cardboard tube. Even if you dont build this particular telescope you might find some helpful and moneysaving ideas you can use.
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