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| As the OTA nears completion, I can now begin work on the rocker box. I assemble the rocker with clamps to check the fit. In this case, the fit is just right!! |
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| With Keith's mirror box complete, I should be able to complete the entire OTa by mid-week. In this photo, note the Moonlite truss blocks. Ten 1.25" struts make for a nice rigid assembly. |
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| Once I add the altitude bearings, the OTA will be complete. |
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| The rear of the mirror board. Note the 'feet" which support the OTA when standing alone. The rear of the 6-point mirror cell and larger ventilation hole. |
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| The mirror board with custom mirror cover and UTA. |
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| Here the mirror cover is removed. The 17.5" mirror is a beauty!! |
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| Keith's UTA sports a Moonlite 2-speed 2" focuser with compression ring, Destiny Observatory 4-vane curved-vane spider and Moonlite truss components. The narrower finder board will take any base, including the Telrad. |
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| Detail of the truss blocks and spider/secondary. |
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| The nice ting about the Destiny spider is that it is spring-loaded and easy to collimate. The observatory grade spider is VERY rigid. |
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| Keith's UTA is coming along nicely. Here the focuser and finder boards are in place. The "enclosure" is in place as well. |
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| Beginnings of Keith's Upper Tube Assembly for his 17.5" F4.5 These are the focuser and finder boards. |
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| Destiny Observatory Grade Spider. Nice and solid. |
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| The rocker box sides and altitude bearings are coming along. More to follow..... |
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| Here's John's 7" F15 refractor on the mount head I built for him John lives in Richmond, Virginia.. |
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| The original mount had undersize altitude bearings and made it difficult to manage the telescope. |
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| Regardless of the telescope, it starts out as a 30"x30" piece of Baltic birch. |
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| On the Left are the OTA rings for Keith's 17.5" truss telescope. the truss telescope will sport a full upper tube assembly. on the right are the OTA rings for Bob's 16" string-strut telescope. |
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| Harry's 12.5" F4.8 telescope all packed up and ready to ship. Great fun!! |
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| Harry'2 12.5" string-strut telescope is complete. I only need to make the travel struts. The fit and finish and just great. Easy motions, nice balance. |
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| The 12.5" primary mirror with it's custom cover to the right. Nice! |
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| The primary mirror sits on an all aluminum 6-point flotation mirror cell. These cells are designed and optimized with Plop. |
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| A 12Vdc fan is installed for help in cooling the primary mirror. |
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| Check out the Telrad mounting system. Easy to locate and use. |
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| The focuser is a 2" 2-speed Moonlite, a Destiny 3-vane curved-vane spider and "strings" which, themselves, add rigidity to these strut telescopes. |
The focuser is a Moonlite 2-speed 2" crayford with 2" to 1.25" adapter. 6-point flotation mirror cell, curved-vane 3-vane spider with 3.1" secondary -- with 98% enhanced coatings.
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| The fan assembly is completed and installed on Harry's 12.5" mirror box. with this, the OTA is pretty much complete. |
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| With the OTA pretty much complete, work begins on finishing up Harry's 12.5" F4.8 telescope. Here the rocker box starts taking shape. |
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| John's "mount head" for his 7" refractor is complete. Note the "break" on the alt axis. |
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| The "profile" of John mount head. The black knob is the "break" adjustment and applies friction to the alt bearing. (the color variation is simply the "lighting") |
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| Harry's 12.5" string-strut OTA is pretty much complete. I need to add altitude bearings, and strings. |
