Construction begins on a 16" truss telescope F4.5 with a
Starfinder mirror for Stephen in Houston, Texas.

Stephen's 16" mirror. He asked that I center-mark the mirror as an
aide to collimation. The mirror sits on a  Meade mirror cell.

Completed is  Dons 12.5" truss  kit. Here the rocker box sides are
completed, clamps and focuser and spider brackets are finished.

Don't 12.5" rocker box will be done today or tomorrow (5/28/14).

Alt bearings and rocker box sides for Don's 12.5" Kit.
Don lives in Pembina, North Dakota.

The beginnings of a 12.5" Kit for Don in Pembino, North Dakota
The mirror cell is a Novak custom fitted to the mirror board.

Mirror board from the rear.

Pat's 12.5" truss telescope.
All packed up and ready to go!

99.9% Complete!! Pat's 12.5" F5 truss telescope.

Mirror Box, DSC stalk and Alt Bearings/Rocker Box.

The Upper Tube Assembly with Finder Board. Mounted
is a base for a Rigel Quickfinder.

Detail of Pat's 12.5" telescope fan and DSC stalk.

Pat's 12.5" telescope sports a single 66mm fan to facilitate
the cooling of the primary mirror.

The Powered Groundboard and rocker box. Here, the assembly
is complete. it allows a higher capacity batter to be set 12 feet
away -- yet power up to 6 devices.

A feature of Pat's 12.5" F5 telescope is a Powered Groundboard.
Each ring will deliver 1/2 of the 12Vdc.

The "feed thru" contacts for the power. The "controller" is
in the center of the rocker box for easy access.

Pat's 12.5" F5 telescope is a couple of days from completion.
Here, the DSC stalk is in place. The rocker box is virtually completed.
(Pat's mirror and mirror cover are in the background.)

Pat's 12.5" F5 telescope is getting closer to completion.
Here, the alt bearings have been installed. Except for
a few little items, the OTA is now complete.

Pat's 12.5" rocker box coming together.

All packaged up and ready to go..

Complete is a Lightbridge rocker box upgrade kit
for Ivo in Gainesville, Florida

The assembly of the kit is pretty easy. All the hardware is included
and all of the holes are pre-drilled.

The "mirror box" for Pat's 12.5" F5 is completed.

Here, the removable dew shield is in place.

Pat's "mirror box" with mirror installed. The mirror
is supported by a 6-point flotation cell
optimized with Plop.

Pat's OTA

The upper tube assembly for Pat's 12.5" telescope is complete.
His Feathertouch focuser is a great touch to, what will be, an excellent telescope.
The primary mirror is a Zambuto!!

Another day or so and the Upper Tube Assembly for
Pat's 12.5" telescope will be complete. Here the
spider has been installed. The focuser board taking shape too.

Pat's upper tube assembly with focuser, spider and secondary in place.
The only thing remaining is to install the UTA baffle and truss blocks.

The Upper Tube Assembly is coming together for
Pat's 12.5" truss telescope.

12.5" tube components for Pat in Bronson, Florida.

Construction began on a 12.5" truss telescope for Pat in Bronson, Florida. Here you see the mirror box on the right and full two-ring upper tube assembly (UTA) rings on the left.. Pat asked for a full UTA and an 8-truss telescope. So far, it's coming along nicely..

The rocker box components and alt bearings for Pat's 12.5" telescope
are taking shape. The alt bearings are 20" in diameter.

The mirror board with cell. 

The 6-point flotation mirror cell for Pat's 12.5" telescope mirror.

John, in Pomona, California, starting to assemble his 16" kit.

Hi Dennis.  Here I am taking a "close" look at the second coat of clear urethane.  You can see the can in the can in the background (Minwax "Helmsman" indoor/outdoor clear.  By the way your woodworking skills are excellent! John G.

Dave, in Port Orchard, WA. finished his
16" Lightbridge rocker-box upgrade.

Dennis:

I finished assembling my Meade Lightbridge 16" Rocker box today.  It looks and works great, and I am very happy with it.  It'll be great to get the scope out on a clear night, once one arrives.  Pictures are attached - feel free to use them as you wish.

Cheers,
Dave

I like the eyepiece tray addition. Nice job!!

Completed is a Lightbridge Rocker Box Upgrade for
Alex in Waterloo, SC -- the DSC stalk and platform are installed.

The Azimuth encoder in place. Not the "break" just below the altitude bearing.

Alex, in Waterloo, S.C., asked for a DSC stalk.
on his Lightbridge Rocker Box upgrade.

This is the "platform" that'll hold his Sky Commander.