A Rocker Box Kit for Alan's 16" Lightbridge Telescope....

All furniture-grade Baltic birch. A nice, solid and sturdy wood.

All packed up and ready to go...

 

A 16" Truss Telescope and a 16" Lightbrridge Rocker Box ....

Mike's 16" Truss telescope coming along. Here's the UTA.

And, a 16" Lightbridge rocker box kit for
Alan in Tucson, Arizona.

 

Mirror Specifications -- A Helpful Tool...

Here's a list of GSO mirror specifications -- a helpful tool when these are needed:

 

Mike's 16" F4.5 Truss Telescope Underway . . .

OTA and full UTA getting started.

Here's the UTA (Upper Tube Assembly) with the spider
installed and focuser board in place. The secondary is 3.5"

 

Jeff and his 10" F5.7 -- The Great Conjunction...

Saturn / Jupiter on the 12/21/20 Conjunction.

Here's a comment and photo from Jeff who lives in Oroville, California. The telescope our "dobstuff" 10" F5.7 -- Jeff's primary. A beautiful optic. Jeff says:

Clouds blocked the view of the conjunction yesterday but tonight was clear and we got a spectacular view of Saturn and Jupiter. These are a couple of poor pictures taken by a handheld iPhone through the telescope eyepiece. They don't do justice to the true view.

Jeff's 10" F5.7 telescope.

A 10" F4 for Siddhesh in Burlington, Vermont Completed...

Here's a nice 10" F4 for Siddhesh. Notable are the
strings, 2-speed Moonlite focuser, primary dew
shield and UTA.

A "break" on the ALT axis to help hold the telescope in place
as Siddhesh changes his eyepieces with and without a Paracorr.

Raising the telescope onto a "table" places the eyepiece in a 
more comfortable position for this "shorty"!!

The Nova primary mirror sits on a traditional mirror cell. Plenty 
support for this "full thickness" mirror. I've put a "ronchigram"
of the primary mirror on the back-side. Kinda neat I think!!

The supper tube assembly (UTA) is home to the 2-speed Moonlite
focuser, a base for Siddhesh Rigel finder, spider and Antares secondary.

 

Some Photos from Dave and his 16" F4.5 Telescope . . .

Dave's 16" F4.5 truss telescope.

These photos were taken with Dave's 16" telescope.

 

Another Note from Chris and his 17.5" Truss Telescope . . .

ANOTHER NOTE FROM CHRIS AND HIS 17" F4.5 TRUSS TELESCOPE:

Hi Dennis,

It is so nice to be able to adjust the primary mirror with out having to kick the bottom of the Sono tube.The mirrors are perfectly aligned at the viewing was good tonight. The scope looks so short now.

I moved the old Odyssey Two out for pictures and the weight difference is unbelievable. The old rocker box weighs more than the new telescope complete.

The paint is Poly Stain Satin. I was looking for something to just finally get this project off the work bench.The kit was fantastic. Everything I needed was there. Every time I needed something it was in that box.

It was pretty easy to put together I only had to back track a couple of times. It moves nicely and I still have to get used to how it works. I had the Odyssey for 35 years and its movement was chunky at best ... Great kit. I really like the way it looks moves and it is so much lighter.  Chris

A Note and Photos from Jeff and his 10" Telescope -- Jeff Lives in Oroville, California

 A note and photos from Jeff in Oroville, California:

Hi Dennis! 

Sorry not to get back to you sooner. Attached are a couple of pictures for your blog.

I've been busy with work and a wife who's been under-the-weather which has limited my time playing with the scope. It's also been too long since I've worked with one so I'm still reorienting myself to everything. 

I've finally gotten everything squared up and properly aligned (don't worry, the OTA is great. It was remounting the focuser and diagonal accurately) (aren't modern quality laser collimators great? Using a HOTECH). With the counterweight in place, the scope truly is buttery smooth and rock steady. I'm loving it. 

I've been limited to hauling it out to the front yard so far; a horrible place to observe these days with street and neighbor's lights. When we first moved here 35 yrs. ago, I could stand in the front yard and easily observe the milky-way. I look forward to taking it up to the top of Table Mountain for some decent viewing.

Thanks again for your quality work, extra care and concern, and outstanding communication.

Be Well !! 

Jeff 

A 17.5" Truss Telescope by Chris in Fairfield, California...

A 17.5" truss "kit" being assembled by Chris. I especially
like the black color with red focuser.

 

A 10" F4 for Siddhesh in Burlington, Vermont...

The 10" F4 "Nova Optics" mirror in its cell on the mirror board.

I make a "custom mirror cover" with all my telescopes.

 

12/7/20 -- Now that the spider is received and in place,
I've been able to move forward on Siddhesh's 10" F4
strut telescope -- "with" full UTA. Note the 2-speed
Moonlite focuser as well. Now on to testing under the stars...

12/10/20 Siddhesh's 10" F4 OTA is virtually complete.
Note the 2-speed Moonlite focuser, Rigel base and 3-vane
curved-vane spider. The optics are Nova primary and
Antares secondary -- beautiful images!!

12//10/20 The struts are a scant 30" long. A primary dew shield
is included as is a custom made fitted mirror cover.

A 10" F4 for Siddhesh in Burlington, Vermont...

This 10" F4 will sport a beautiful Nova primary with Antares
high-end secondary. It'll include a 3-vane spider and Moonlite
focuser... Note the "full UTA" on this strut  telescope.

 

The "full thickness" Nova 10" primary with Ronchigram
on the rear. One beautiful mirror!!

The "mirror board" with mirror cell installed. This is a 
more "standard" mirror -- all cast aluminum and sturdy.
(11/28/20)

And the mirror cell from the front view. (11/28/20)

A 16" Lightbridge Rocker Box Completed...

Completed and packaged for shipping is Cadby's 16" Lightbridge
rocker box. It's looking great!!

 

A Couple of Projects Underway...

A 10" strut telescope underway for Jeff in 
Oroville, California. Getting close to completion.

Almost completed is a custom rocker box for 
Cadby's 16" Lightbridge telescope.

 

A Photo from Maria and her 12.5" Telescope...

Thanks Maria for the photo. Her "first light" 
reports a cloudy sky. to be expected when
trying a telescope for the first time!!

 

A 12" F5 Complete Kit for Ryan in Bozeman, Montana...

Ryan's kit includes a 12" F5 primary mirror on a 9-point mirror cell,
curved-vane spider, 2-speed Moonlite focuser and wheel 
barrow handles.

A packaged and ready to go!!

 

A 9-point Flotation Mirror Cell for Dave in Galion, Ohio...

The cell is designed to fit Dave's traditional mirror box.

Nice larger knobs will make collimation easy!! All my
mirror cells are designed and optimized with the Plop software.

 

Three Projects Underway . . .

Jeff's 10" telescope is well underway, Next
is to complete the rocker box.

A 12" kit for Ryan is near completion. Here'
the rocker box is tested for width and depth.
Looks good.

And a custom rocker box for Dave's Lightbridfge
16" telescope. The  width and depth and just
right for this beautiful telescope.

 

Brent and his 14" Orion Telescope on our Rocker box...

Great photo. Thanks Brent.....

 

More on Jeff's 10" Strut Telescope...

Jeff's 4-vane spider in place.

And now the focuser and secondary are installed and aligned.

 

A 10" Telescope and 12" Kit Underway...

Jeff's 10" strut-telescope is coming along great. Here, the
spider has been mounted. Next is to mount  the focuser!!

And, a 12" kit for Ryan is getting close to completion.
Note the 3-vane curved-vane spider and 2-speed 2"
Moonlite focuser. The heavy-duty bracket is 1/4" aluminum.

 

A Note a Couple of Photos from Brent and his 14" Telescope...

Brents 14" on our rocker box and compared
to the Orion rocker.

This picture shows the difference in size between the original Orion (Go2) mount and the new Dobstuff (manual) one.  I haven't weighed the Dobstuff yet, but I would guess it's around 25 lbs.  The Orion is closer to 92 lbs.  The Dobstuff uses a square box that takes up less space and allows me to get my chair much closer to the eyepiece.  It also brought the eyepiece height at zenith down about 8".

So far I'm very pleased with how this has turned out.  Hopefully I'll get a chance to take it out this weekend despite the cloudy forecast (maybe catch a planet or two).

(Brent sent an email and I borrowed some of  his comments from his CN post).

In just a couple of days, Brent went from the kit, shown
here, applied the custom color, applied the varnish and 
assembled the rocker box. THAT'S fast work!!

A Note and Photos from Kristian in Lake Placid, Florida...

 A nice note and photos from Kristian in Lake Placid, Florida:

A 13.1 F4.5 strut telescope

Hi Dennis I sent you some pictures of my dob as it's been almost a year with it.  I just wanted to let you know I had a great time with it this season.  Lots of first time views of many DSO.  This past Spring I logged 89 galaxies in a single all night session - just having such a great time with this fine scope you made for me.  The scope is very light for it's size.

Anyway talk to you soon again.  Thanks for making me a nice scope I love it. Cheers, K...