Multi-Tasking . . .

The major components for Chris' 17.5" Truss Telescope.

A couple of projects coming together. A 17.5" for Chris in Ridgefield, Connecticut and some work on a 13.1" for Tom in Angelus Oaks, California.

It keeps me busy!!

Tom is using a sonotube for his telescope tube. Here I've made a
Baltic birch tube ring.

Walt's 16" F4.5 . . .

All the wood components for Walt's 16" telescope are complete.
Now, it's time to "assemble" them! Let the fun begin.

Scott D., from Ft. Collins, Colorado and his Dobstuff rocker box for
his 10" Orion telescope. The rocker was a kit. Nice assembly job, Scott!!

Baltic birch mirror cell for Tom H's 13.1" Newtonian

The OTA, in this case, will be 16" I.D. sonotube.

Another "welcome" visitor . . .

Tom H. from Angelus Oaks, California dropped by to drop off some components 
for his 13.1" telescope. A great visit and discussion about telescopes and more.

Thanks for stopping by Tom!!!

Two Telescopes under construction . . .

Two Telescopes start to take shape.
A 17;.5" for Chris in Ridgefield, Connecticut, (L) and
A 16" for Walt in Federal Way, Washington.
Here, the rocker box sides and altitude bearings are coming together.

The beginnings of a 16" truss telescope for Walt B.
in Federal Way,  Washington.

Walt's telescope will look like this one
including the Sky Commander and stalk.

A visitor stops by . . .

Chris S., from Ontario, California, stopped by to pick up his new
Dobstuff 6-point flotation mirror cell for his 17.5" F4.5 Coulter telescope.
We had a great visit -- thanks for stopping by, Chris.

A 6-point flotation cell for Chris S and his 17.5" Coulter Primary.
Chris lives in Ontario, California.

The all aluminum face-plate sits on a Baltic Birch back-plate.

Young Scientists at work . . .

Shishir and Shahank at "work". The Dobstuff 16-inch telescope to the left.

Shishir and Shashank, budding astrophotographers at work with their telescopes. The video is a shining example of young people with a passion and a mission!!

Watch the video here ==> here.

14" F4.5 for Tom in St. Charles, Missouri . . .

14" F4.5 for Tom S. in St. Charles, Missouri.
Note the Easy Transport Telescope (ETT) option,
a DSC "stage" and dew shield.
The focuser is a Moonlite.

Detail of the ETT option and Primary Mirror
(with "donut" center mark).

A Destiny Observatory Grade Spider.

The Primary Mirror sits on a 6-point aluminum
flotation mirror cell. A "custom" color has been applied, as well.

Rocker sides for Tim's 16" Lightbridge.

Tim's rocker box taking shape.

Tom's 14" F4.5 rocker box under construction.
I clamp everything together to check the fit.

Tom's Optical Tube Assembly with ETT installed.
The 14" F4.5 mirror was refigured by Swayze.
Nice!!

Baltic birch rocker box is complete and ready for
packing and shipping to Scott in Fort Collins, Colorado.

A custom rocker box for an Orion XT-10
for Scott D., in Fort Collins, Colorado.
This will be in "kit form" for Scott.

A 14" for Tom. S. in St. Charles, Missouri.
Yet to be added is the ETT option.

14" F4.5 for Tom S.

A 14" F4.5 for Tom S., in Chesterfield, Missouri, is coming
together. Here the mirror board w/mirror and top ring are complete.

Tom asked for a "custom color" and matte finish. It looks nice.

Some Astronomy in Ireland and England . . .

Having just return from a trip to Ireland, England and Scotland, I thought I'd share some photos of the "astronomy and telescopes" we visited. We traveled from 8/5-9/3. I hope you find these interesting.

The 28" refractor at the Greenwich Royal Observatory in London.

72" Mirror from the Rosse Telescope in Birr, Ireland.
The speculum mirror resides in the London Science Museum.

At the Blockrock Castle Observatory with
Alan Giltinan.

Linda and Me on the 0-Meridian in Greenwich, England.

The 14" Meade SCT at Trinity College in Cork, Ireland.

The sundial in William Herschel's garden Bath, England.

william Herschel's 6.25" Newtonian reflector at his home
and workshop in Bath, England.

Lord Rosse's 72" Newtonian telescope, Birr Castle, Birr, Ireland.

72" at Birr. The "Leviathan"!!

A note from Stephen and his 16" Telescope . . .

"Eighteen years ago, at the age of 16, I was very big into astronomy.  I had used various scopes and decided I wanted to use the first money I earned at my first job to buy a 16" Meade Starfinder.  Unfortunately, I hadn't taken into account the problems with transporting such a large scope (I live deep in the city of Houston and need to get my scopes out to dark skies in a vehicle).  As I grew up, life brought me away from astronomy.  After my wife passed away last year, I decided to reconnect with some things I used to enjoy, including astronomy.  Which brings me to, "what do I do with that old 16" scope sitting in my dad's garage?"  First I thought about selling it, but then the idea came into my head about possibly finding a way to remake it as a truss dob.  Then I heard about the fine work done by Dennis Steele at Dobstuff.com.  After lengthy discussion with Dennis about my needs, he assured me he would be able to convert my scope into a version of it that would be able to be transported to my club's dark site in my sedan.  I shipped Dennis my mirrors and ordered a truss conversion, along with all the great mods - Moonlite focuser, Destiny curved spider, the works.  Less than 2 months later, my scope arrived.  Last night I took it out to the dark site for the first time.  Assembly was easy.  First-time collimation was not (nothing Dennis could do about that unavoidable aspect of reflector design), but the collimation knobs and screws were very easy to manipulate, and we got the job done.  The views were amazing.  Motion was extremely smooth, more so than some smaller scopes I've owned.  Dennis' work was worth every penny.   I would recommend Dennis to anyone looking to give their old scope an extreme makeover."

Stephen,
Houston, Texas