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[erikruud]

I am now the happy owner of Rich Wagner's Zhumell Z10 dob.



I got the base, complete OTA, a solar filter and the cart that Rich made for it.

What I don't have at this point are 2" eyepieces or any sort of finder for it. I have determined that I can't get my smart phone any closer than two feet before the metal tube affects the compass, so using SkEye as a finder is probably not practical. I might be able to use my home made finder from my Mak on it, at least temporarily. I think a Rigel is in my very near future.

I do have the 1.25" adapter so I can use my existing eyepieces.

Rich had done a nice job of adding red LED's to the base.



However, I think I am going to rearrange them a bit. I plan on mounting them so they face down, evn though they are red, they seem too bright to have in direct view.

[-=CROMAN=-]

Have fun, she's fast at f/5 and gives great views. The leds positioned that way come in handy in the dark. No need for forehead lights. Telrad is a necessity although Joe would argue for the Rigel. There are telrad maps on the front page of iskywatch.com.

[erikruud]

I don't even own any forehead lights.

I did finally get a chance to look through it at the stars last night. The sky was clear when I got home and the Z10 was sitting on the cart, so I pulled it out on the drive way. I used a garage light down the street to align the finder and then went looking for some of easier targets that I could find before my fingers got to cold. I can't wait to get to some darker skies with this thing.

[Paulie pchris00]

That's a nice scope. I'm not a fan of zero mag finders, so if you can use your homemade finder scope on it, do it.

[-=CROMAN=-]

You need to bring it to Paulies Messier Marathon......

Speaking of which... Paulie will the coulter be available that night?

[Paulie pchris00]

Erik, you got an invite for the Messier Marathon, right?

Rich, the what?

[-=CROMAN=-]

Paulie... The big red light bucket

[Paulie pchris00]

You mean the 13" Oddessy Dobsonian?

Yeah, I have a feeling it will be employed during the Messier Marathon.

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[erikruud]

Paulie, I did get the invite, but I won't be able to make it. It was really nice of you to plan an event for my birthday.

[erikruud]

The homemade finder does fit on it and seems to work just fine in limited testing.

I kind of like the idea of having both types of finders on a scope.

I'll have to make another finder though, so that my Mak and the Z10 will be well equipped.