mercedes_sl1970
01-02-2010, 11:29 AM
Hi everyone
After seeing the excellent work of Chris (scopemankit) with his 10 inch travel scope I decided to give an 8 inch version a go, but made out of wood (I don't have the metalwork skills/tools). Mine is an attempted amalgam of Chris' ideas and those of Ross Sacket with his pieces of telescopic artwork (http://stardazed.com/index.html). However, mine just does not have the finesse of both of these terrific scope builders.
Where possible, all materials and the mirror are secondhand and/or have been sitting around the house - wood includes exterior ply, maple, walnut and jarrah, and the arm is from a broken kayak paddle. The only new items are the Kineoptics focuser (the crayford I had was too heavy), some collimation springs from the hardware store, pulley and a lazy susan bearing. I bought the spider from the IIS classifieds (thanks PhilW).
It's nowhere near perfect, but seems to hold collimation reasonably well (for me), even after dismantling and re-building which only takes a few minutes. I did go without the light baffle for a while but eventually added it - and of course it makes a difference in the backyard with stray light from my daughter who stays up too late reading... One day, I intend to make a smaller spider/secondary arrangement like Chris and Ross Sacket have with their scopes.
Total weight is 11kg including 1.5 kg of counterweights in the mirror box.
Anyway, just thought I'd have a go at a scope and also say thanks to our inspiring telescope makers. And, it's been fun to make, tweak and get frustrated with!
Andrew
After seeing the excellent work of Chris (scopemankit) with his 10 inch travel scope I decided to give an 8 inch version a go, but made out of wood (I don't have the metalwork skills/tools). Mine is an attempted amalgam of Chris' ideas and those of Ross Sacket with his pieces of telescopic artwork (http://stardazed.com/index.html). However, mine just does not have the finesse of both of these terrific scope builders.
Where possible, all materials and the mirror are secondhand and/or have been sitting around the house - wood includes exterior ply, maple, walnut and jarrah, and the arm is from a broken kayak paddle. The only new items are the Kineoptics focuser (the crayford I had was too heavy), some collimation springs from the hardware store, pulley and a lazy susan bearing. I bought the spider from the IIS classifieds (thanks PhilW).
It's nowhere near perfect, but seems to hold collimation reasonably well (for me), even after dismantling and re-building which only takes a few minutes. I did go without the light baffle for a while but eventually added it - and of course it makes a difference in the backyard with stray light from my daughter who stays up too late reading... One day, I intend to make a smaller spider/secondary arrangement like Chris and Ross Sacket have with their scopes.
Total weight is 11kg including 1.5 kg of counterweights in the mirror box.
Anyway, just thought I'd have a go at a scope and also say thanks to our inspiring telescope makers. And, it's been fun to make, tweak and get frustrated with!
Andrew