Andrew W and his 16" F4.5.

Andrew W. from Escondido elected to stop by today to pick up his 16" telescope. We enjoyed a nice conversation about astronomy and telescopes. It was great meeting him. Andrew says:


"Hi Dennis,  

I finally had a chance to put the scope together today and collimate it.  It went together so easily and the components are much lighter than the old Lightbridge unit.  The main mirror cell is much easier to collimate and when moved around the sky, collimation holds well.  All in all, a beautiful and functional instrument.  Thanks for the fine workmanship,

Andrew"

14" built from Kit by Mark at the
University of Texas.

Here's a 14" telescope completed by Mark C from the University of Texas. The interesting this is that Mark obtained my kit in a "trade". It was a pleasure assisting him during the assembly. I especially like the 2-tone color. Note the Easy Transport Telescope (ETT) option installed.

The scope sports a Hubble Optics 14" F5 sandwich mirror, a GSO focuser and a DobSTUFF mirror cell.

 Great job.

16" F4.5 for Andrew in Escondido California,

More photos of Andrew's (from Escondido) 16" F4.5. The mirror, mirror cell, secondary and spider and focuser are from the original Lightbridge 16". Notice the "tandem" finders mounted near and above the focuser.  This telescope has the "single top" ring design and not the more traditional upper tube assembly. This makes it a much lighter and compact telescope.

The altitude bearings are 24" in diameter.

It is a telescope like this one that illustrates the beauty and functionality of the "truss design". Here the telescope is 99% complete. I just need to add the small counterweight and focuser baffle.

A bit difficult to see, but notice the dual finders
on a "tendem" mount just above the focuser.

I'm making good progress on a 16" F4.5 truss telescope for Andrew in Encino. It's a rebuild of a Meade Lightbridge. I'm using the Meade mirror and mirror cell, secondary and spider and focuser.  One interesting feature of this truss telescope is the "single top ring". It makes for a light but very sturdy assembly. There is no NO flex what-so-ever and the laser collimator "dot" stays right in the middle of the mirror

More to follow