Even Astronomy Clubs Need a Telescope . . .K

Katie, a teacher in Arkansas and her astronomy club will
assemble a 10". Here the OTA rings are close to completion.
This complete kit will include everything they'll need to
assemble a working telescope.

Jim's 12.5" F4 OTA Taking Shape....

Black anodized and powder coated
struts make for a beautiful telescope.

Note the 2-speed Moonlite focuser and 3-vane
curved-vane spider

The conical mirror has been "center marked"
for easy collimation.

A Beautiful Sight this Morning. . .

Jim's Conical Primary Mirror...

Conical mirrors are not at all usual. Here's a 12.5" version. They are mounted
on the mirror cell with a simple 1/2" center bolt. Very nice.

Note the conical mirror is thinner at its edge and gets
thicker and heavier at the center. The flat spot, in
the center, is how it settles onto the mirror cell.

Mounting hardware and instructions. Easy!!

The primary mirror in place on the mirror board.

The rear of the mirror board. Rubber feet for putting the
OTA on the ground 

An interesting view of the conical mirror installed on its cell.

The mirror cell on the mirror board. The collimation bolts
are 5/16" with large knobs for easy adjustment.

Jim's 12.5" Telescope ...

The altitude bearings and rocker box sides for Jim's 12.5" string-strut
telescope. The alt bearings are 20" in diameter. Just right!!

A Neat Find . . .

While at a "ham fest" in Quartzsite, Arizona, I found this Meade 2045
SCT Telescope. It's in excellent condition and ready to use. For those of you
who may want to know, that a National NC-125 receiver on the right.

A Note from Eric in Fairview, North Carolina....

Hi Dennis, 

what a blast it's been getting this together, your workmanship is spot on, the material and hardware is high quality, and it's been great family fun with my wife and son lending extra pairs of hands when needed.  What I've observed telescopically looks great in my amateur opinion. I mostly took your recommendations as to eyepieces, and sprang for a paracorr too. I might make one more length adjustment after experimenting as I did with different lengths of PVC pipe but I think we're pretty close.  Have a good week.

Eric

And More on Jim's 12.5" Telescope . . .

Jim's top ring just needs some finishing touches. Here the Destiny
3-vane curved-vane spider and Moonlite focuser are in place.

The focuser sits on a thick heavy-duty powder coated bracket.

A 12.5" "String-Strut" Telescope for Jim....

Here's the OTA components for Jim's string-strut telescope. The
primary for this telescope is a "conical mirror" -- Nice!!

Jim sent along his spider, focuser. The other components, in
boxes, are his Rigel and Sky Commander.

Jim lives in Boligee, Alabama.

A 12.5" Mirror Cell for Zane...

A 6-point flotation mirror cell for Zane in Stamford, CT.

My cells are designed, and optimized, with Plop.

Rancho Mirage Observatory ....

Inside the dome at the Rancho Mirage Library and
Observatory -- "A Journey into Space". A demo
of a projection system that rivals a planetarium.

Nice!!

That's the 27" telescope in the fore-ground.

Hello There Joe...

Joe's truss telescope. Nice!!

Joe G, from Palos Verdes, California, stopped by and picked up his
16" F4 truss telescope. It's always great to see him.

16" Truss for Joe . . .

While working on Joe's 16" telescope I made
some end-tube rings for his 6" reflector. They're
made with Baltic birch and stained Ebony.

The 16" mirror and cell. No clamps, just a bit of silicone at 120-degree
intervals on the mirror cell. Note the eyepiece tray.

A beautiful F4 primary mirror make up this extra nice telescope.

The focuser is a Starlight Instruments "Feathertouch" with integrated
Paracorr.

Here the "truss section" has been removed for ease of transport,
storage and assembly. Note the encoders for Joe DSC system.

16" Kit for Eric -- Complete...

Here's a completed kit for Eric's 16" truss telescope -- including a beautiful set of optics
, Moonlite 2-speed focuser, Destiny "observatory grade" spider and 3.5" secondary. 
The 6-point flotation mirror cell is affixed and was designed and optimized
 with Plop. All Baltic birch construction.

This is an "example" of the completed telescope.

Tim and his 14" Telescope on New Year's Eve...

Dennis,

I finally got some clear skies with little wind to get the telescope out for first light. My wife Tammy says The Orion Nebula was the best she has ever seen. The Trapezium was clearly resolved with my 32 mm Optiluxe (~52x) and with the O3 filter, we couldn’t get all the nebulosity in, and it was bright with lots of detail. We got M81 and M82 in the same field of view as well as the Andromeda complex. Tammy had me take off the coat because it was reflecting. I didn’t last long. It is 23 here in Prosser.  Thanks for the great telescope!!!!!
Tim