Will and his 13.1" Telescope.....

Will, from Scotts Valley, California, sent along a photo and some comments about his telescope:

Hi Dennis:

Here it is fully assembled, with an Astroscan for scale.  After playing around with the clamps a bit I decided to try just zip-tying the Tetrad base directly to a strut (I had to drill a few holes in the Tetrad base) - it actually seems to hold pretty well but I may end up going the clamp route after all, maybe with a Rigel Quikfinder instead of the Tetrad if it gets too bulky.

Not shown in this picture, I’ve rigged up a dew shield for the primary, should it prove necessary.  The 15” opening equates to a diameter of 47.1”, so a pair of 24x12” Kydex sheets are enough to completely encircle the mirror.  Rather than trying to form them into a single piece I just cut short slots to accommodate the wingnut for the altitude bearing and form each sheet to one half of the cage, their inherent tendency to try to spring flat again holds them in place nicely.

Take care,
Will