Sunday, October 27, 2013





Complete is a 12" F5 for Matt L. in Florence Massachusetts. If you look closely, you can see the "string telescope" option affixed to the two lower struts. Visible, also, is a filter slide under the focuser. The two clamps on the upper strut are for the Telrad.

A dew shield is also included.









Rear view shows the Baltic birch 6-point mirror cell.
The Upper Ring, Destiny curved-vane spider and Moonlite focuser.
Another view of the upper ring with detail of the filter slide.

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Michael asked for a hole in the front spacer
to reduce weight.


Here's a couple of pictures from Michael S. from Jupiter Florida of a Lightbridge 16" rocker box. Michael built the rocker from one of our kits. The beautiful custom color is "Pecan"

Beautiful job.



Friday, October 25, 2013


Matt's 12" F5 Telescope. In this picture the rocker box
is 95% complete. The focuser needs to be mounted.

Thursday, October 24, 2013


Matt's 12" F5 Mirror Box with Altitude Bearings attached.

The Rocker Box for the 12" F5 Coming Together.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013






The OTA for Matt L's 12" F5 telescope is complete. Next, the altitude bearings will be attached and the rocker box will start to take shape.














Altitude Bearings and Rocker Box Sides
for Matt's 12" Telescope

Tuesday, October 22, 2013










All set up for an "under the stars" test, the 12" F5 for Mark L. in Florence, MA. I use adjustable struts to confirm the length of the struts. From this point on, the telescope is about 10-14 days from completion.

10 p.m. Tested. The mirror is great with nice, sharp pin-point images. The struts are 53 1/4" long with plenty of in/out focus on my eyepieces. I use TeleVue 27mm Panoptic, 17mm Nagler, 12mm Nagler and 8.8mm Meade UWA for testing.


Monday, October 21, 2013

12" Mirror Board with Mirror Cover.




The mirror board with mirror and cell have been complete for Matt's 12" F5 telescope.
Top Ring and Spider for Matt's 12" F5.

Sunday, October 20, 2013







Matt L., from Florence MA., and his Moonlite focuser with filter slide. Nice!!

The Focuser and Filter Slide in Place on the Top Ring
of Matt's 12" Telescope.

Friday, October 18, 2013







12" F5 Optical Tube Assembly (OTA) rings and mirror cell for Matt L. in Florence MA.

All of these components -- the entire telescope for that matter -- is made of furniture grade Baltic Birch 12 layer plywood. 

Tuesday, October 15, 2013



The altitude bearings and rocker box sides come together for Clay C's 17.5" F4.5 telescope.

With the OTA rings and rocker/alt bearings completed, the scope starts to take shape fairly quickly. I still need Clay's optics!! They're on the way...

The rocker box sides will be "shorter" -- these are still in the early stages of completion.

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Clay C. lives in Horseshow Bend, Idaho.







Mirror board and 6-point flotation mirror cell for Clay C's 17.5" F4.5 telescope.

OTA Rings for Clay's 17.5" F4.5 Telescope.
This will be a truss telescope with single top ring.

Saturday, October 12, 2013









Packaged and ready to go to Hendersonville, N.C.  is Clay T's 15" F4 telescope.

Bon Voyage!!

Thursday, October 10, 2013





Here's a 15" F4 for Clay T. in Hendersonville, N.C. The telescope is 99% complete. I need only the sliding counterweight and focuser baffle. The custom color is a Miniwax Sedona red with 5 coats of lacquer. Each coat is find sanded.

The Easy Transport Telescope option is included. The struts have been powder coated black.

You can CLICK on each photo for a larger version.




Clay's 15" F4. The mirror is mounted on a 9-point
flotation mirror cell. The unique feature of the
cell is that the 9-points are on the same radius.

A Feathertouch focuser, Telrad and Observatory
grade Destiny spider. The custom mirror cover is standard.




Tuesday, October 8, 2013

17.5" F4.5 for Clay C. in Horsehoe Bend, Idaho.







Optical Tube Assembly rings for Clay C's 17.5" F4.5 truss telescope. The single upper ring is complete with focuser and spider installed.






This is an example of a 17.5" F4.5 telescope
of the kind being made for Clay C.
His will include a Sky Commander system.

Friday, October 4, 2013

Thursday, October 3, 2013

The Rocker Box for Clay T's
15" F4 is coming together.

Clay T's Rocker Box from the Rear.

Wednesday, October 2, 2013


15" F4 for Clay T. is Complete.
The Struts and Focuser Bracket need Powder Coating.



Atltude Bearings Attached.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013








The "mirror box" for Clay T's 15" F4 telescope is complete. This is the "bottom half" of the Easy transport Telescope (ETT) configuration. The rest of the OTA will be completed tomorrow -- after one more "test under the stars" this evening.









Here the Dew Shield and Mirror Cover
Have Been Removed.















The larger struts, silver aluminum right now, will be powder coated black. Along with the Sedona Red custom color, it'll make a beautiful combination.