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| Maria's strut telescope is a bit different in that it sports a full upper tube assembly. Now on to finishing the OTA and the construction of the rocker box. |
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| A single fan assembly for Maria's 12.5" telescope. |
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| The rocker box is lookin' good!! Fit is just right. |
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| With the rocker box partially assembled (I need to make the bottom and ground board), I like to assemble the telescope to check balance, fit and movement. This beauty is "right on"..... |
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| The rocker box and altitude bearings for Brent's 14" Orion Skyquest. |
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| The 12" altitude bearings and radius blocks for Brent's 14" telescope with a 16.5" O.D. tube. |
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| And, the rocker box kit, with altitude bearings is completed for Brent's 14" truss Orion Skyquest telescope. |
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| "Hi Dennis, just want to you know that after 6 years, my 17.5" is going strong! Thanks!" |
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| The mirror board, with 12.5" primary and cover. Note the finder Maria sent along for mounting. |
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| The focuser is a 2-speed Moonlite crayford with 2" to 1.25" adapter. The spider is a Destiny 3-vane curved-vane. |
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| And, the altitude bearings and rocker box sides are coming together... |
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| The upper tube assembly (UTA) for Maria's 12.5" F4.8 strut telescope The focuser is a 2" Moonlite 2-speed focuser with adapter. |
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| A beautiful 12.5" full-thickness mirror, and heavy-duty mirror cell will be on display in this strut telescope with a FULL upper tube assembly. I make these every now and then -- they're a great solution while using the simplicity of the strut-telescope itself. This one will have "strings" as well. |
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| John's rocker box is complete along with the installation of an encoder installation kit -- He'll just need encoders, a cable and digital setting circles -- when he's ready |
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| A 22" oversize bottom and ground board and side stabilizers for added rigidity and stability -- they look good too!! |
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| John's tube-rings make for a perfect fit. The motions are just right. I like to use Lemon Oil Pledge to clean and lubricate the laminate/Teflon surfaces. |
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| Broken down into 'travel configuration', my 12" DobSTUFF fits in my Honda Accord, rocker box on the rear seat and collapsed OTA on the passenger front seat (held in by the seat belt): |
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| It's always a pleasure when one of my customers comes by to pick up their telescope. Here's Joe with his 6" F5 that'll be mounted on an EQ mount with A CG5 dovetail. The optics are great..... |
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| John sent me his tube rings and a rocker box for his 10" tube-telescope is underway. |
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| Side braces and an oversize rocker bottom and ground board are great for stability. |
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| Joe's 6" F5 with Kinoptics helical focuser. That's Joe's big TeleVue 31mm Nagler Type 5 in the focuser -- with an extra heavy-duty focuser bracket to handle the weight. |
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| A CG5 dovetail mounts the telescope on a myriad of mounts. Note the standard 4-vane straight-vane spider. |
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| The primary mirror sits on an all Baltic birch mirror cell with large knobs for easy collimation. Also included is a custom mirror cover and primary dew shield. Not shown is the focuser baffle to minimize ambient light. |
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| Detail of the top ring. The spider has been modified to collimate with easy to manage springs for adjustment. |
