A 16" Truss Kit for Daniel...

For a truss telescope, the 16" 9-point non-flotation mirror
cell is complete and installed.

Daniel lives in Reston, Virginia.

 

Randall's 13.1" F4.5 Kit Completed...

 

Great assembly of our 13.1" kit. This one included optics, focuser
and all the other components and hardware to complete this 
beautiful telescope. Randall lives in Visalia, CA.

An 8" Mirror Cell for Emily...

For an 8" F3.9 primary. Emily lives in Garden Valley, Idaho.

 

Sun Funnel Part 2...

Not the greatest screen, a piece of 20# bond paper
but there are a good number of sunspots visible.

Yeah!! It works pretty darn good!!

 

A Sun Funnel Anyone???

A home-made sun projection using a "funnel" -- it works!!

Large 17.5"x5" funnel and tools.

I couldn't resist -- I had to make one.  This one installed
in my Mead3 2048 4" SCT telescope. Yet untested.

You want to build one? Click HERE..

 

Glenn'ps 12" Kit -- Completed....

 

Good morning Dennis. I completed my kit yesterday. I want to
thank you for helping make this a very enjoyable project.
 Your skill and craftsmanship are beyond awesome.
I did a quick test last night and official first light will be tonight
weather permitting. Best regards, Glenn

Glenn lives in Leeds, Alabama

A Rocker Box for Kidus' 16" Lightbridge Telescope...

Kidus lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota

 

Stars and Telescopes at Sawmill Trail...

Sunset at Sawmill Trail. We thought the clouds "might"
disperse. It didn't get much better.

But, the fun part was the socializing and schmoozing.
We had about 5 telescopes and 30 people show
for the evening. Great fun.

Thanks Jeff for the photos.

 

A 6" F6 Rocker Box for Scott...

Scott and Tanja (her telescope) picks up
their rocker box, and Sky Commander system
on October 7, 2023.

Nice visit you two!! :)

 

Scott's rocker box completed, with Sky Commander V3.0 (9-22-23)

Scott, in Long Beach, wanted to raise the eyepiece
of his 6" F6 telescope to a more comfortable level.

And, so, the rocker box sides will do that!!

A Rocker Box "Kit" w/Altitude Bearings for an 8"...

A rocker box with altitude bearings for Mark
in Webster, New York

 

Randy and his 13.1" Kit...

Randy, from Visalia, CA. and his 13.1" kit with
optics.

Thanks for coming by. A great time talking telescopes
and visit.

 

A 12" and 13" Strut Kit...

Altitude bearings and rocker box sides for Glenn's 12" kit (L) 
and Randall's 13" kit.

Glenn's 12" strut kit underway. Note the pre-mounted hardware
for his spider, focuser and 9-point mirror cell.

Glenn lives in Leeds, Alabama.

 

A 13.1" Kit for Randall...

I've got a good start on Randall's 13.1' kit around a Coulter
mirror. The top ring, pictured here, sports a 3-vane curved-vane
spider by Destiny and a GSO 2-speed crayford focuser.

Randall lives in Visalis, CA.

 

Allen and his Telescopes...

Allen, from Friendswood, Texas and his 13.1" dobstuff strut telescope
and his Zhumell 12" in one of our customer rocker boxes.

GREAT PHOTO ALLEN, thanks.....

 

Allen's 12" Zhumell Rocker Box Competed.

 

Logan's 16" Telescope and a Rocker Box Kit.

Nice job with a custom color stain and assembly of our kit. Logan's
16" telescope fits just right. Note the Nexus. Locan lives in Australia.

 

Paul's 20" Dobstuff Telescope .. A Review

 

Paul's 20" dobstuff and his review of the telescope on Cloudy Nights:

I purchased the telescope in early 2022 as a retirement present to myself. I purchased the mirror from Hubble Optics, and the rest of the scope was custom built by Dennis at Dobstuff. My reason for getting a 20” f/3.3 was because it was the largest telescope that I could reasonably carry in my vehicle while also allowing me to observe without a ladder or step stool. I love the simplicity and ease of assembly of Dennis’ design.

How good is the Hubble Optics mirror?

Very good. My only caveat is that although the manufacturer claims that cooling fans are not needed due to the sandwich mirror design, I found that adding cooling fans significantly improved the views.

How well does a GSO coma corrector work at f/3.3?

Well. I was concerned that it would not work well at this fast focal ratio but I was pleasantly surprised that it does work well.

Is it a big improvement over my previous 14.25” telescope?

Yes! Objects are bigger and much brighter. It is a big improvement. Many more objects are visible as well.

What eyepieces do I use?

I love 100° eyepieces and they are all I use; a combination of Explore Scientific and APM. My lowest power 20mm eyepiece gives me a 5.5mm exit pupil which is perfect for my dark adapted eye and it gives me a 1.1° field of view. Then I go to 14, 9, and 7mm. Rarely do I ever go above that since the 7mm gives me 263X magnification.

Does it fit in my vehicle?

Yes, barely. I have a Honda CR-V and it barely fits in the rear. I use some rubber straps to hold the altitude bearings down during transport. Since the telescope is too heavy for me to lift by myself, the included wheelbarrow handles are a must and I use 7ft wheel chair ramps to load it.

Best Feature:

Digital Setting Circles (Nexus-II with Sky Safari Plus). These have really transformed my observing sessions as I can find and observe so many more objects in one night. I find that I don’t need a finder anymore. I just use my laser to find the alignment stars and calibrate the setting circles at the beginning of each observing session. I find objects that I want to look at using Sky Safari running on my iPad and then slew the telescope until the bullseye is on the target. The objects are almost always in the view on the first try!

Disadvantages:

With an f/3.3 scope, collimation is critical. As I move the telescope around the sky it does not keep perfect collimation. Usually I collimate at a 45° angle which is good enough for most deep sky objects from low to medium power. But when I want to use high power on a planet or the moon, I collimate right before at the location of the object in the sky. With my barlowed laser collimator, this only takes me about a minute to do.

In summary I am extremely happy with this telescope and wouldn’t have done anything differently if I had to do it all over again.

Allen's 13" F4.5 Completed...

It's time to start packaging up this 13" F4.5 for Allen
in Friendswood, Texas. The Coulter primary is one
of the better ones with a great start-test.

 

Allen's 13" F4.5 Coulter Makeover...

Allen lives in Friendswood, Texas.

 

Michael and his 8" F6 Telescope...

Michael in VanCouver B.C. and his 8" dobstuff telescope.

 

It's Time to Package Them Up...

A "custom kit" for Logan in Australia and a completed
rocker box for Ryan in Cape Girardeau, MO.  

Now, let's see -- where did I put those boxes!! 

 

A Visit from Darrell and his 12.5" Telescope Kit..

Darrell drove down from Bakersfield to pickup
his 12.5" telescope kit.

All packed up and ready to roll!!

 

A 16" Lightbridge Rocker Box...

Coming along is a rocker box for Ryan in 
Cape Girardeau, Missouri

Lookin' good!!

 

Completed 12.5" Kit...

Here's a completed 12.5" for Darrell in
Bakersfield, CA. -- The OTA partially
completed.

 

Sure -- We Can Multi-Task!!

A 12.5" is underway for Darrell in Bakersfield, CA

A 16" Lightbridge rocker box for
Bob in Fort Pierce, Florida.

Stay tuned.....

A 14.7" Kit, beautifully constructed, by Craig in Oregon:

Good morning Dennis,

I thought you'd like to see a photo of another of your scopes (maybe very close to your last one?) in the wild.  Well, my driveway in the suburbs of Portland anyway.  This photograph is from last night, awaiting first light.

I had a few minor teething setup issues as I think I'm a little top-heavy, I had to remove the counterweight.  I also had to loosen the mirror board collimation bolts to push the primary mirror forward a bit so I could get to focus.  I might have to shave the struts by an eighth of an inch later on, but no big deal.

It was a beautiful clear evening and once I saw the crescent moon in focus for the first time I laughed out loud the view was so crisp.  Venus was a lovely half-moon, I split Castor easily with a 12mm eyepiece, and Mars -- well Mars was Mars.

Alt-az movements are buttery smooth.  Maybe a bit too slick in the alt direction but I second-guessed your advice -- you said to put the slide bearings an inch from the top, I put them two inches down but I think I need a bit more stiction, I'll probably relocate them to your recommended position.

The little bronze plaque you included was a nice bonus, I affixed it proudly on my scope on the top left corner of the rocker box.  Your kit was well-made and well-designed, you can tell from all the little touches you have had time to hone.the design to perfection.  I'll be proud to show it off during upcoming star parties!

For the future I might spring for an equatorial platform but for now I plan to really enjoy this scope. 

Thanks again for the great product and it was a pleasure working with you.

Best regards

Craig.

A Nice Visit from Darrell

 

Darrell stopped by to drop of his 12.5" optics for a new kit. We had a great visit.

An 8" F6 for Michael in Vancouver, B.C.

Coming along is an 8" F6 for Michael in Vancouver BC.  Michael's requirement is that no subassembly can be more than 15 pounds!!  We ought to be able to do that!! 

More to come....

From Ron and his 16" Dobstuff -- "GOTO"

A nice note and photos from Ron and his 16" dobstuff telescope. This one is "driven":

Hi Dennis

I hope you are well. 

I am still having a lot of fun and use out of my DobStuff scope. Recently I added goto and tracking and I thought I would show you. The telescope can now go to and track using planetarium software either on computer or smart phone.  I attach some pictures of the azimuth and altitude motors. Its a simple gear and rack system with two servomotors controlled by a SiTech controller. The SiTech system works by simply pointing the scope to the celestial pole and turning on the controller - tracking then starts automatically. I have ordered a Bluetooth adapter with the aim to use my phone to control the telescope. The SkySafari app for example will even given you a verbal account of what you are looking at while you observe. Pretty neat :)

All the best

Ron. 

A good bit of progress on Tom's 8" F5.7.