info on tweaking a 10" Dob

I'm a new member. I just built a Dob with a 10" mirror.

I was wondering if there is some kind of FAQ for people like me.

I know so little about telescopes in practice -- though I've read several books on the theory -- that I was hoping to gain from the experiences of others.

Unfortunately there is no astronomy club where I live.

Congratulations! That is an excellent size for a starter scope.

Good question too, although it would help if you could be more specific. Is it the mechanics that you feel need tweaking? What about your scope would you like to improve?

Joseph, as everybody here already mentioned, if you could give us a bit more information about yourself, your scope, and what you feel needs tweaking, it would be very helpful...

Any pictures of your setup? 8)

Wow, three guys willing to help. I'm amazed. Thanks.

I'll send a picture. But I feel a bit embarrassed by the whole thing. Except for the mirrors, it's made out of junk. I had to make it up as I was going along, depending on what kind of junk was available.

(I'll send the pix tomorrow.)

My main question is about the mechanics.

I'm not entirely sure what should come first--aligning the secondary with the primary or aligning the secondary with the focuser.

I assume it should be aligning the secondary with the primary, so that the center of the secondary is exactly positioned above the center of the primary.

The few websites I saw on the net describing dob construction assume it's easy to align primary and secondary. But I can't get a tube for the OTA, so it's hard to make this alignment exact. I just don't know how exact it has to be.

Using the scope as currently assembled, I can see the moon with fairly good resolution. But Venus has this glare around it which makes it hard to see the phase.

I bought the mirrors (prim & sec) in the US. The 10" primary FL = 44 inches. Both mirrors are in excellent condition.

In case this is of any use, I'm an American living in Kenya. I get back the US only once every couple of years. I am a Catholic priest. But I did engineering before becoming a priest (B.S.E.Chem).

And BTW, I am amazed to have three people answer so quickly to my initial post. Many thanks. I was wondering how you would take this, since I see most people in Astromart are in a different league. I can't afford an expensive scope. I got my two mirrors for $109 in DC from some lady whose was getting rid of junk in the attic.

As you can imagine, I'm mostly interested in just looking up at the sky. Building this scope was the way I thought I might be able to do that.

I am grateful for the advice about wires--and all the other advice. I'll have to experiment a little to see what I can do.

As far as anyone sending me anything, I have no idea what I would need. I bought a starter set of eyepieces for $50 from somebody at Astromart and I'll wait till they come. Perhaps that is best for now.

But I am sincerely grateful for all your offers and comments.

To be honest, the most precious commodity is always time. Hard to get enough of that, isn't it?

Cheers,
Joe