Eric's and his Weekend Get-away . . .

Just out for a weekend drive, Eric from Albuquerque, New Mexico came by to
pick up his 6" telescope. We had an enjoyable visit, talked telescopes and enjoyed
dinner at one of my favorite desert bistros.

Thanks for coming by Eric. Let's do it again!!

Jesse's 10" F4.9 Completed . . .

10" F4.9 for Jesse in Claremore, Oklahoma completed today. Note the Telrad,
DSC "stage" and dew shield.

Alt Encoder and Dew Shield.

Detail of the Moonlite focuser, Telrad and DSC "stage" The lower
left is a 1.25# sliding counter-weight.

And more on Jesse's 10" Telescope . . .

The Optical Tube Assembly is complete and the rocker box
almost completed. The motions feel great.

Shown is the sliding counterweight on the lower strut.

More on Jesse's 10" F4.9 . . .

Jesse's 10" OTA virtually complete. The
Easy Transport Telescope (ETT) shortens
each segment of the struts to just 22" long.

Detail of the Intermediate Ring and mirror box.

The top ring sports a Destiny 3-vane curved-vane spider and
Moonlite 2-speed crayford focuser.

A 10" for Jesse Takes Shape . . .

With the completion of the mirror board and top ring, I'm close
to completing the OTA.

The spider is a Destiny and the focuser is a 2-speed Moonlite.

Terry & Sandra and their 12" Lightbridge

Here's what Terry and Sandra have to say about their new Lighbridge Custom Rocker Box:

"Dear Dennis:

Most of us are always looking for ways to improve the performance of our telescopes. We want to make our instruments all they can be and squeeze out all of the potential the scopes have. My Meade Lightbridge 12 had good aperture,  fairly easy assembly and portability, and  I was able to star hop around and see great things. The rocker box, however, was made of laminate covered particle board....heavy and prone to eventual degradation...probably 30 % overweight. Also star-hopping around the sky had me using a lot of observing time searching and not seeing. DobSTUFF.COM and Dennis Steele to the rescue. Dennis’ website was very informative, and Dennis was a hands-on, very available communicator. I wrote many e-mails asking lots of questions and Dennis fielded them all quickly with good detail. My work with Dennis on my new rocker box and Sky Commander XP4 DSC system was so successful. I’ve never done a project where so many things have gone right.

Terry and Sandra"

Terry, from Lacey, Washington, and his 12"
Lightbridge on a Dobstuff Custom Rocker Box.

And his wife Sandra!!

A 10" F4.9 for Jesse in Claremore, Oklahoma . . .

A custom mirror cover -- each telescope I build gets one of these.

The rear of the mirror board. Large ventilication hole allows for quick
cooling of the mirror. Large knobs for easy collimation.
The OTA rests on rubber feet when standing upright.

The mirror board with mirror cell. The mirror cover is in the background.

You've Just Have to Ask . . .

You've just got to ask. And we'll build it for you. Here, Eric asked
for an "observing table" for his telescope. 

The rocker box fits securely on the table top. The
triangular ground board held in place by "guides".

At the zenith, the eyepiece is 64.5" above the ground. Comfortable
for just about everyone.

Eric's 6" F8 is Completed . . .

Eric 6" F8 is complete. Note the Dew Shield, Eyepiece Tray
and Focuser Baffle. The Sky Commander sits on a "stage".

Detail of the Eyepiece Tray. It has slots for one 2"
and three 1.25" eyepieces.

And -- the Dew Shield.

Note the Focuser Baffle and TeleVue Starbeam red-dot finder.
The focuser is a 2" Moonlight dual-speed.

5" Altitude Bearings . . .

Mike, from Palm Harbor, Florida, needed some 5"
altitude bearings for his Meade Schmidt-Newt.

Mike has this to say about the bearings:

"Bottom line is I'm ecstatic. I now have a cope I can handle,
transport and set-up with ease as opposed to the heavy and
awkward German Equatorial system I was using."

Eric's 6" F8 Almost Complete . . .

Eric's 6" with encoders, Sky Commander and TeleVue Starbeam installed.

I especially like Eric's choice of color - Minwax "Jacobian"

Nice!!.

A closer view of the focuser, Starbeam and Sky Commander
The DSC sits on a "stage" and clamp -- which can be moved
along the strut for the best location.

A slightly over-sized Ground Board lends stability to the telescope.
The AZ and Altitude motions are "outstanding"

Eric's 6" F8 -- Still More . . .

The Rocker Box nearing completion. I've put the telescope together
to make sure the balance and motions are as they should be

Result?? Great!!

The Rocker Box still in progress.

A TeleVue Starbeam is in place for Eric's finder.

Wyatt's 10" All Set and Ready to Go . . .

Wyatt, in Dallas, Texas, received and set up his 10"
telescope. The finder adds a "cool look" to his telescope.

Terry and his 12" Lightbridge . . .

Terry, from Lacey, Washington, and his 12" Lightbridge on
one of our Rocker Box Upgrades. Note the encoders and
DSC stalk installed.

Terry built his own DSC stalk. Nice job!!
 (Nice shirt too!!!)

Eric's 6" F8 Continued . . .

The Altitude Bearings affixed to the OTA. This
is a relatively "long" focal length at F8.

And, the rocker box begins to take shape.
There will be a Sky Commander installed as well.

To bring the OTA into balance, the rocker box sides are a "bit taller" 
given the F8 focal length and lightweight mirror.

5" Alt Bearings for Mike.....

Here's a pair of 5" diameter altitude bearings for Mike in
Palm Harbor, Florida. The bearings use Ebonystar and Teflon
as their bearing surfaces.

Eric's 6" F8 OTA . . .

Eric's 6" top ring with Moonlite 2-speed 2" crayford focuser,
Parks spider and secondary..

The Parks 6" F8 mirror and cell.

With the mirror cover in place. The Easy Transport
intermediate ring is just above the mirror box.

The full 6" Optical Tube Assembly. The overall length of the struts
is 44". When broken down, each segment is 22" long.

6" F8 for Eric in Albuquerque . . .

Eric's 6" F8 with Parks mirror coming together.
Here the OTA components are just about completed.

And without the mirror cover. The focuser is a Moonlite
2-speed 2" crayford.

All set for testing under the stars. I use adjustable
struts to make sure the optics are correctly spaced.

Wyatt's 10" F4.7 is Complete . . .

A 10" F4.7 for Wyatt in Dallas, Texas, is complete.

The "mirror box" and rocker box. The cover is in place. You can
see the "strings" in this photo. They minimize the inherent flex in the struts.

The larger ventilation hole in the mirror board
allows for more rapid cooling of the primary mirror

The "upper ring" supports the spider, focuser baffle and focuser.

The "upper ring" again. You can see the finder dovetail on the upper strut.