Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Carl's 16" F4.5 Complete . . .

Stained Early American, Carl's 16" F4.5 looks great...



During staining, rocker box and OTA/Alt bearings in background.

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

More on Marc's 16"

Marc's 16" F4.5 mirror board and top ring are virtually complete. Once
the optics are received and installed I can complete the optical tube assembly.

Note the focuser is mounted 90-degrees to the optical. This horizontal location
will make observing through this relatively large telescope easier.

Monday, May 23, 2016

10" Conical Mirror Cell for Dave . . .

Dave's 10" uses a Royce Optical "Conical" mirror. A single
1/2" bolt holds the mirror onto the cell. A simple but effective
way to mount these unique mirrors.

The rear.

Royce Optical's schematic. Since I use a "mirror board" a
back-plate isn't needed. 

Sunday, May 22, 2016

A 10" and 16" -- Getting Closer to Assembly . . .

A 10" for Dave and a 16" for Marc. Here the altitude bearings and
all the clamps are completed. Once I have the optics in the shop,
I can  start assembling the optical tube assembly.

Saturday, May 21, 2016

Wyatt and his 10" Telescope . . .

I finally got my (10") primary mirror back from Steve Swayze and Spectrum and was able to get everything reassembled and working again. The Sky Commander works great, and I am really enjoying it! I now have a shroud installed from Shrouds by Heather, and I also got the two-fan cooling system that I originally mentioned to you rigged up. One fan is pointed at the rear of the primary/under the mirror cell and the second one is a boundary layer fan that is suspended between two of the struts and points through a large square port on the inbound side and is vented by three smaller ports on the outbound side. Between that and the Swayze primary mirror refigure, I have gotten a substantial improvement in useful magnification and have been getting some very nice high-power solar system images on the moon, Jupiter, and Mars – fun!

Anyway, I have my scope just about where originally envisioned it when I sent it off to you for conversion and am very pleased with the movement and stability of the structure, the images, and the portability of the overall system.

Wyatt lives in Dallas, Texas.

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

A 16" and 10" Telescope -- Continued . . .

Marc's 16" Altitude Bearings and Rocker Box sides.
The alt bearings are 25" in diameter.
The altitude Bearings and Rocker Box sides for Dave's 10"




Monday, May 16, 2016

Two Telescopes . . .

A couple of telescopes underway. A 16" for Marc in Catonsville, Maryland and
a 10" for  Dave in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Marc's 16" is a refigured mirror by Swayze Optical while Dave's 10" is a Royce Conical.

Outstanding optics makes for outstanding telescopes!!



Marc's mirror cell is affixed to the mirror board. Now to replace the fan..

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Gary's 12.5" Strut Kit . . .

Gary sent me his mirror cell to modify and mount on the mirror board.

The rear with the final ventilation hole.,

Sunday, May 8, 2016

More on Gary's 12.5" Kit . . .

The rocker box sides and alt bearings for Gary's 12.5" telescope kit.

Assembled with clamps to check the fit and finish. Lookin' good!!

Thursday, May 5, 2016

A 12.5" Kit for Gary in Burbank, California . . .

The OTA rings for Gary's 12.5" strut telescope kit. This will have
the Easy Transport Telescope Option (ETT)