Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Jay's 13.1" F4.5 OTA . . .



13.1" F4.5 for Jay. The OTA is virtually complete.
The struts are 51.75" long. 



The mirror box. Note the "hooks". These are for the "string"
telescope variant.


Sunday, September 27, 2015

13.1" F4.5 for Jay . . .

Jay's 13.1" F4.5 is coming together nicely. Here, the mirror boare with mirror
and top ring. The focuser is a Moonlite 2-speed 2" Crayford.

With the mirror cover in place.

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

A Mirror Cell for Jay's 13.1" F4.5 . . .

6-point flotation mirror cell for Jay's 13.1" F4.5
It has been optimized with Plop.

A ventilation hole in the mirror board. Easy and fast cooling.

Monday, September 21, 2015

More on Jay's 13.1" telescope . . .The

The Altitude Bearings for Jay's 13.1" telescope are pretty much complete.
Under are the sides to the rocker box for  his telescope.

Saturday, September 19, 2015

My Personal C8 . . .

I had a chance to pick up a complete Celestron C8 fork mount.
(I already owned the C8 OTA). The result is nice -- although 
I'll paint the fork "black"!!



I was able to use standard Sky Commander encoder hardware
to mount the right-ascension and declination encoders.
A "home made" center adapter and the RA encode works great.
The "tangent arm just "sits" against the fork.
And the Sky Commander sits on the tripod comfortably.

Friday, September 11, 2015

Black Forrest Star Party . . .

Aviad and his 10" Dobstuff telescope at the
Black Forrest Star Party, Cherry Springs State Park, Pennsylvania.

Monday, September 7, 2015

Wyatt and his Scope in the Field ....

Hi Dennis,

Your scope gets a lot of onlookers. I have people stopping by to get a closer look, and they are really impressed - especially the home builders who know for sure how refined the design and build are. The ultralight strut design (sans shroud) with the end-weighted pole really works well in windy conditions. I am very pleased - thank you!

- Wyatt
Wyatt and his 10" at the Texas Astronomical Society's
40-acre site near Dallas.

Relaxin'