Shannonside's 12 Dob, a nice project, now finished.

Hi all,
As some of you might know, the club here built a 12" dob back in 1986, it was a big scope for its time, but in the early 2000's it was very worse for wear and in 2006-7 the club had a decision to make, either scrap it or refurb it to a standard that makes it easy to use.
It wasn't one of the best "user friendy" scopes out there. So Frank Ryan and I took on the task of refurbishing it to a standard that made it worth the effort to carry it around. Afterwards, it did the rounds with several club members with positive feedback, and was used in public observing nights. It still had a few naggling problems with smooth movement and balance.
So I've spent the last month putting a few finishing touches to it, making it ready for Global Astronomy Month (GAM). To me, this is as good as any 12" F5 dob out there now, easy to use and hassle free.
If you're interested in reading the trials and tribulations of the last 5 years of the scopes updates/mods and improvements, have a look at.
shannonsideastronomyclub.com/phpBB2/view...storder=asc&start=75
This is what it looks like now.