The Tales of Two Ten's . . .

The OTA components for two 10" strut telescopes. One for in Brandon,
Mississippi. The other I'm building "on spec"!!

10" Strut Kit for Paul W. in Ann Arbor, Michigan . .

Completed is a 10" strut kit for Paul. Included is an all aluminum 6-point flotation mirror cell, Moonlite 2-speed
focuser, Destiny spider, dew shield and a Sky Commander installation kit.

10" Kit Almost Complete ..

Paul,'s 10" strut telescope  kit is just about complete. Here,
the 6-point aluminum mirror cell is mounted on the mirror board. 
The mirror cell has been  optimized with Plop -- 

The mirror cell and mirror board are vented for quick "cooling".

More on Paul's 10" kit . . .

Altitude bearings for Paul's 10" kit. The diameter 16"
-- just right for a 10" telescope.

Here, the rocker box is clamped together to make sure everything fits
correctly -- without the bottom or ground board, the rocker box is
16 1/4" x 16 7/8" D and 10" H (to the bottom of the curve)/.

Jay and his 17.5" F4.5 Truss Telescope . . .

Jay, in Harriman Utah, set up for an evening of observing
in the west desert of Utah.

NGC 4038 and NGC 4039, the Ringtail Galaxies.

A beautiful sunset.

10" Kit for Paul W . . .

The OTA rings for a 10" strut kit being built
for Paul W. in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Kelly S. from Canada Visits . . .

Kelly S. from London, Ontario, stopped by for a pleasant visit.
We enjoyed a cup of coffee while discussing his 12" telescope project.
GREAT FUN!!

12.5" Transport and Store . .

During transportation and/or storage, one can "nest"
the mirror box and upper ring inside the rocker box.
The overall dimensions is 20"x19.5"x32" high.

An alternative is to leave the altitude bearings
attached.. Here, the storage is about 36" in height.

Remove the alt bearings and struts for a fully
nested transport/storage package. The
height is less than 18".

12.5" for Dave is Complete . . .

Dave's 12.5" Strut with ETT is complete. Note
the DSC "stage" for his Sky Commander..

I include a custom made mirror cover with all my telescopes.

Altitude encoder and dew shield..

Dual fans will help cool the mirror. 

Moonlite dual-seed focuser, Telrad and Destiny
spider make up the top ring.

Dave's 12.5" Continues . . .

The rocker box for Dave's 12.5" is coming together.
Here it's assembled with clamps to assure fit and function.

An 8" Mirror Cell . . .

Every now and then I get an interesting "quick" project for an ATM..
Here's an 8" mirror cell for Stephen in Signal Hill, California.

The O.D. is for a 10" telescope tube. Even though it's a 
"basic" Baltic birch cell, the contact points are still optimized with Plop.

12" for Dave -- OTA with ETT . . .

Dave's 12.5" with Easy Transport Telescope
The struts will be power coated black..

The lower half of the struts with Intermediate Ring in place.

The OTA assembled. The length of the struts are 54 3/4"

12.5" Strut Telescope for Dave . . .

Dave's 12.5" F4.8 taking shape. Here the Mirror Board
and Top Ring are complete.

And, with the Mirror Cover removed. This is a nice
Steve Swayze refigured primary. Beautiful...

12.5" for Dave begins......

Dave B., from Streamwood, Illinois, sent along his components for
a 12.5" strut telescope with ETT. The focuser is a Moonlite and
the spider a Destiny. A 6-point flotation mirror cell is included.

When completed, Dave's telescope will look like this.

Carl's 12" in the Field . . .

Here's a nice photo of Carl T's 12" F4.9 in the field. I imagine these are
nice dark skies!! Carl lives in Ledyard, Connecticut.

Carl says that his scope is cooling down in a North Stonington, CT corn field.
Not many of us can say that -- I'll bet!!