Eq platform recommendation

When did you get your Type V? I got mine a few months ago, and it has worked
flawlessly with my 11" f/5.4 Starmaster. No vibration problem at all.

-Astrosetz

In article , David
wrote:

Any recommendation for a suitable platform for a light 8" f7.5 Dob ?

Thank you,

David



With my 10" f/5 I'm using a Osypowski Compact platform which I reviewed
on CloudyNights.com. Absolutely zero vibration problems, even at a silly
high magnification of 1000x (with my cooling fans on no less!).

The wood construction is both solid and asthetically pleasing. Well
worth the price.

--
Jeff Morgan
email: substitute mindspring for nospam

"Astrosetz" wrote in
:

When did you get your Type V? I got mine a few months ago, and it has
worked flawlessly with my 11" f/5.4 Starmaster. No vibration problem
at all.

-Astrosetz



I got it in March.
Jon

Jeff Morgan wrote in message ]...
In article , David
wrote:

Any recommendation for a suitable platform for a light 8" f7.5 Dob ?

Thank you,

David



With my 10" f/5 I'm using a Osypowski Compact platform which I reviewed
on CloudyNights.com. Absolutely zero vibration problems, even at a silly
high magnification of 1000x (with my cooling fans on no less!).

The wood construction is both solid and asthetically pleasing. Well
worth the price.

I'm going to re-post my original Equatorial Platform post from
September 1998:
"Friday night I picked up my new Compact Equatorial Platform at Tom
Osypowski's home in Nevada City, Ca. I must say it looks like a work
of art,
beautifully finished...Saturday, I took it to Blue Canyon with my 18"
dob -
everything still fits in my Mazda 323 hatchback - and set it up. I set
it up
at sunset, so I could collimate, but of course, before Polaris was
visible.
It adds about four inches to the height of my telescope (seven inches,
minus
the three inches the prior base has), but that caused no problems.
Shortly
after dusk, I turned the motor on, found M57 and inserted a
Speers-Waler 5-8
mm zoom eyepiece, providing about 250x at 8 mm. It was a delight to
see how
the ring remained in the field. Tracking was not perfect until I
realigned
the platform toward Polaris...then I zoomed to 400X, and when I saw
that the
tracking was working well, I added a 2x barlow...got to see the
central star
intermittently over a period of 10 minutes or so at 800x. Did not have
to
adjust the scope once during that time... That's the first time I saw
the
central star in M57 in my telescope. Without the platform, it's
unlikely I
would ever have seen it in my dob - another observer also saw the
central
star, more easily than I. I can't say enouggh about the platform -
tracking
is incredibly smooth. It's easy to set up. I need to adjust it every
hour or
so, so I just start it over with a pull on the edge when I move to
another
object. (My tracking time, before I need to reset, is shorter than
most,
because I asked Tom to make my platform as low as possible so that I
could
fit it in my car.) This is something everyone who owns a dob ought to
have, a
real equatorial mount. For "big dobs" I think this is a necessity, not
a
luxury. It lets you use your dob's capabilities - you can effectively
use
high power very easily. Thank you, Tom! Shneor Sherman"

I still have the platform, which performs like a charm every time. I
do carry a spare 9-volt battery, though. And I'm now using it with my
22" aluminum dob. IMO there's nothing better for a dob, barring a
Bartels drive.
Clear skies,
Shneor Sherman