A Note from Matt and his 12" Lightbridge...

We built a Lightbridge rocker box kit for Matt in Chattenooga, Tennessee -- the assembly and result are outstanding. Here's a note and a few pictures from Matt:

UPGRADES! I’d been wanting to make some upgrades to the rocker box after seeing all the nice custom dobs at my local society’s star party and when I heard about Dobstuff, I made the jump. I should say- a well placed step on my existing rocker boxes eyepiece holder by a rambunctious little 8 year old might have rushed me along. Here’s a photo of the pieces I ordered. I went with a minwax Sedona Red stain and finished it off with four coats of clear satin polyurethane.

The finished product resembles an old Chris Craft boat and I love it! I’m sure everyone has a preference to wood tone, but this was mine. I sanded between coats with 600 grit paper and gave it ample time to dry. One nice thing is that Dennis provides all new hardware. I did however opt to use my existing plastic feet and the lazy susan bearing from my old dob as they worked perfectly well.

I am very happy with the finsished product and can’t wait to take it to our annual “SHOW AND TELL” astronomical society meeting next month! On top of it being one of my favorite meetings of the year, it’s also our FIRST in-person gathering since the pandemic started. Here’s hoping the numbers stay low and we can enjoy some astronomical socializing!

Daves' 10" F6 ...

Dave's rocker box is in its early stages of
construction. The fit is "just right" <5/29/21>

5/31/21 Getting close to completion.

Near complete is Daves' 10" F6
OTA. I notice it's a bit "front heavy"
so I'll need to add some weight to 
the rear of the telescope -- counter
to the "ultra-lite" philosophy. but
it's gotta balance!!!!

 

A Beautiful 13.1" F4.5 -- "KIT"....

Jim's 13.1" F4.5 from one of our kits by Jim in 
Branford CT. Beautiful color and varnish. 

Great job Jim....

 

A 10" F6 with Premium Optics...

Underway is a 10" F6 with Swayze Optical primary 
for Charles in Huntersville, North Carolina. This 
telescope will feature a full UTA, Sky Commander
system and strings.

 

A Note From Jim in Branford, Connecticut:

The color is "Cognac"

 Hi Dennis, 

After many days of cool, wet weather, we finally had some drier days.  I finally managed to get all of the parts stained. One thing that I discovered is that the stain somewhat obliterates the pencil marks that tell me right from left pieces and other defining orientations. I ended up using a set of numbered punches that I had to mark the wood in non visible places in order to maintain the correct orientation of the parts. I did manage to get the ground board stained and sealed. You can see the Teflon in one corner. 

We’re going into another wet spell, so I’ll be waiting a bit to polyurethane the parts. Just need some more good days to get this all finished up. 

Regards,  Jim

A Note from Larry in N. Salt Lake City, Utah . . .

 A note and photo from Larry in N. Salt Lake, Utah:

Hi Dennis: Finally some warmer (non-snow, rain, wind) weather. After hand sanding quite a bit, my son told me he had a sander.  Larry