Telescope Reviews: 16" LightBridge...what did you do to yours???

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Lucita
member

Reged: 11/05/06

Re: 16" LightBridge...what did you do to yours??? new

new

[Re: chefdrew]
#2592971 - 08/20/08 01:00 PM

The green goblin had it's secondary replaced, and it's primary refigured - that is pretty extensive modding!

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Hal Pollner

Reged: 08/30/05

Loc: Southern California Desert

Re: 16" LightBridge...what did you do to yours??? new

new

[Re: chefdrew]
#2592980 - 08/20/08 01:05 PM

HEY ANDREW:

Before embarking on my 10-week modification program, I gave Beowulf a 1-hour "First Light" test in my back yard, which turned out to give me excellent images on DSO's and planets.

Since then, I spent the 10 weeks modifying the telescope, and have never taken it out of the house since First Light.

Cheers...
HAL

Edited by Don W (08/20/08 03:14 PM)

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chefdrew
professor emeritus

Reged: 03/02/08

Loc: Marietta, GA

Re: 16" LightBridge...what did you do to yours??? new

new

[Re: Hal Pollner]
#2593054 - 08/20/08 01:44 PM

Quote:

HEY ANDREW:

Before embarking on my 10-week modification program, I gave Beowulf a 1-hour "First Light" test in my back yard, which turned out to give me excellent images on DSO's and planets.

Since then, I spent the 10 weeks modifying the telescope, and have never taken it out of the house since First Light.

Cheers...
HAL

Yes I have seen it on there and if I lived by you it might have been bought already

Edited by Don W (08/20/08 03:15 PM)

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jayscheuerle
Post Laureate

Reged: 01/16/06

Loc: S. Philadelphia, PA

Re: 16" LightBridge...what did you do to yours??? new

new

[Re: Lucita]
#2593156 - 08/20/08 02:39 PM

Quote:

The green goblin had it's secondary replaced, and it's primary refigured - that is pretty extensive modding!

The primary didn't need refiguring. It was actually quite good with a P-V wavefront error a solid 1/7 waves and a Strehl ratio of .950.

I had it refigured to bring it up to premium specs, even though I may never notice them in my skies.

If I had caught the secondary problem before I did all the mods, I could have simply exchanged the OTA for a new one. - j

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Illinois
Pooh-Bah

Reged: 12/18/06

Loc: near Chicago, Illinois USA

Re: 16" LightBridge...what did you do to yours??? new

new

[Re: jayscheuerle]
#2593711 - 08/20/08 06:19 PM Attachment (49 downloads)

I like my 16" LB very much and no trouble at all! I added 5 lbs weight on the bottom plus black shroud for protect any dusts and light into my telescope. I added 5" ball bearing wheels and homemade base. Very easy to move around from garage to outside!

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chefdrew
professor emeritus

Reged: 03/02/08

Loc: Marietta, GA

Re: 16" LightBridge...what did you do to yours??? new

new

[Re: Illinois]
#2594055 - 08/20/08 09:08 PM

How wide is the base? Will it fit through a standard sliding glass door?

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lymorkiew45
Pooh-Bah

Reged: 12/30/07

Loc: Surfing the galaxy...

Re: 16" LightBridge...what did you do to yours??? new

new

[Re: chefdrew]
#2594105 - 08/20/08 09:36 PM

The base will not fit through a standard glass door, I can't even get my Starfinder 16 base through my doors, much less move it around, this could be a major problem, especially if I want to move it to my viewing sight, so I use my 12", and not my 16", the weight of the base is 53lbs, and the optical tube of the Lightbridge 16 weighs 75lbs. I'm not sure about the dimensions, but they are similiar to my Starfinder's base, except more stout ...clear skies...

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markleewebb
sage

Reged: 11/04/06

Re: 16" LightBridge...what did you do to yours??? new

new

[Re: lymorkiew45]
#2594155 - 08/20/08 10:04 PM

Actually, these look like nice scopes and a value in the smaller size for entering into the hobby. I have a friend who just had a new 10" delivered. I am interested to see how it goes together and what issues they find when doing assembly or using it. I recommended CN to them for finding info on the scope that they made need.

Edited by markleewebb (08/21/08 11:51 AM)

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cambert
sage

Reged: 07/21/04

Loc: Chartres, France

Re: 16" LightBridge...what did you do to yours??? new

new

[Re: chefdrew]
#2594614 - 08/21/08 05:12 AM

I was a complete newbie for Dobsons.
I made a shroud, painted the truss tubes and trim rings black, painted the side of the secondary black, added counterweight, made a front cap and a homemade system to use my Lumicon skyvector digital circles.

My conclusions are : shroud is useless under a dark night and become a problem with the faintest wind.
Frontcap is useless under a dark moonless night.
So I dont use those anymore, saving time.
By the way, it takes about 8-10 mn to set up the scope and 3 mn to break it down for a single person.
Painting black probably doesn't change a thing. Counterweights are indispensable.
Adapting my skyvector digital circles is the best thing I've done. If you have to do just one modification, save money and buy some !
And I'll probably buy or make a secondary dew heather.
No problem with collimation springs, my collimation standed for 3 night in a row (without breaking down the scope).
Finder is good enough for me (allow me to center Jupiter in the fov at 200x).
I'm not disapointed by the mirror (great view of DSOs) but never looked through another 16", so I can't compare. Same thing for bearings: I found that moving the scope was easy but could be smoother.

Edited by cambert (08/21/08 05:18 AM)

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John rombi
scholastic sledgehammer

Reged: 08/14/05

Loc: Sydney, Australia

Re: 16" LightBridge...what did you do to yours??? new

new

[Re: cambert]
#2595793 - 08/21/08 06:01 PM

I purchased my 12"LB in March 06, yes I did have to make the mods necessary to bring it up to speck.
Yes.........Meade should have had it work better out of the box BUT, 1.I enjoyed modifying the scope to MY needs, and it didn't add much to the original purchase price.
2. Until the LB's came out, the cheapest 12" truss I could purchase was $4000AUD. My LB cost (then)$1499AUD + $300 of mods.
I've still come out on top with a scope that gives killer views.

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chefdrew
professor emeritus

Reged: 03/02/08

Loc: Marietta, GA

Re: 16" LightBridge...what did you do to yours??? new

new

[Re: cambert]
#2595814 - 08/21/08 06:14 PM

Quote:

I was a complete newbie for Dobsons.
I made a shroud, painted the truss tubes and trim rings black, painted the side of the secondary black, added counterweight, made a front cap and a homemade system to use my Lumicon skyvector digital circles.

My conclusions are : shroud is useless under a dark night and become a problem with the faintest wind.
Frontcap is useless under a dark moonless night.
So I dont use those anymore, saving time.
By the way, it takes about 8-10 mn to set up the scope and 3 mn to break it down for a single person.
Painting black probably doesn't change a thing. Counterweights are indispensable.
Adapting my skyvector digital circles is the best thing I've done. If you have to do just one modification, save money and buy some !
And I'll probably buy or make a secondary dew heather.
No problem with collimation springs, my collimation standed for 3 night in a row (without breaking down the scope).
Finder is good enough for me (allow me to center Jupiter in the fov at 200x).
I'm not disapointed by the mirror (great view of DSOs) but never looked through another 16", so I can't compare. Same thing for bearings: I found that moving the scope was easy but could be smoother.

OK newbie question what are skyvector digital circles ?

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cambert
sage

Reged: 07/21/04

Loc: Chartres, France

Re: 16" LightBridge...what did you do to yours??? new

new

[Re: chefdrew]
#2596861 - 08/22/08 03:13 PM

it's just the digital setting circles system from Lumicon.
http://www.lumicon.com/telescope-accessories-list.php?cid=75&cn=Sky+Vector+1

I had an old unit on my 10" SCT, working perfectly, and I build a cheap (<10$) adaptation for my new 16" Lightbridge.

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Dr Benway
professor emeritus

Reged: 03/27/08

Loc: Abilene, TX

Re: 16" LightBridge...what did you do to yours??? new

new

[Re: chefdrew]
#2614853 - 08/31/08 10:41 AM

I bought my LB16 in early June at TSP. I have used it each month under dark skies since. Mods done so far:

Powdercoated cage rims and truss rods flat black
Astrozap shroud
Telrad on 2" riser
4 JMI deluxe clip-on counterweights
JMI Wheeley Bars
EbonyStar laminated ALT bearings
Teflon ALT pads
Argo Navis
ServoCat Jr.
Wireless RS-232 PC to Telescope
TV 35 Panoptic, 22 Nagler Type 4, 12 Nagler Type 4, 7 Nagler, Visual Paracorr with tuneable top

I am extremely happy with it. Yes, it cost as much or more than other big Dobs, but it was a work in progress, not a bank loan on the front end. I think the 16 is great bang for the buck.

DeanS was there for first light at TSP BTW

John

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