8" f/4 travel Newt - truss conversion!

[janoskiss]

As some of you know I bought Eric's 8" f/4 Newt yesterday. Today I hacked it to bits and converted it to truss tube. Disassembled it's small enough for airline travel. I still need to make a mount for it. :eek:

Too tired now to post all the details now. Another time perhaps. I'm very pleased with the end result. The truss structure is very solid despite having used flat Al bits for truss rods. Here are some piccies of the finished scope. In the last one it's standing next to the 8" f/6 Dob.

[ballaratdragons]

:eyepop: :eyepop: :eyepop: :eyepop: :eyepop: :eyepop: :eyepop: :eyepop:

A very neat and tidy job Steve! Well done :thumbsup:

Crikey, :scared:

[Astroman]

wow awesome mods. Be interesting to see how you are going to do the mount, doesnt look like you have alot to play with anymore.

[h0ughy]

wow what a result! Look forward to the next installment.

[janoskiss]

Thanks guys. Yes, mounting is going to be tricky. I want to keep it very simple but fully functional. Obviously that means Dob ... been shopping for LPs at the Salvos today ...

[ballaratdragons]

:eyepop: :eyepop: :eyepop: :eyepop: :eyepop: :eyepop: :eyepop: :eyepop:

You mean to tell us that it plays records too!!!!! WOW! you ARE clever Steve!

[EzyStyles]

:scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: my poorrr 8" scope!!!! your gonna change it to a dobby? :eyepop: :eyepop: thought you were joking last night. I guess i can't buy it back now :P

The final result looks really nice Steve. will be soo easy to carry it around now. Keep me updated :)

[stringscope]

Wow! Really nice Steve:thumbsup: .

Must be a record time for a truss conversion. I can't wait to see the mount.

Cheers,

[Miaplacidus]

Geez, that was quick! Very nice, Steve. What part did you need to use the Janome for?

You've got me thinking now. Did you take some pictures as you went? What sort of aluminium struts are they? What did you use to cover the cut edges? How are you going to mount it? Where is the centre of gravity? Details, details, man...

Looks good,

Congrats,

Brian.

[Striker]

Nice Steve....poor Erics scope

Looks like you did a great job.

[Starkler]

:eyepop:

I'm also very interested to see the design of the base and how it ends up.
My guess is that the balance point will be somewhere inside the trussed portion. What will the altitude hubs attach to ?

[janoskiss]

I'm working on the mount today. I'll post all the details once I've finished the whole thing.

[avandonk]

I thought I was keen with the hacksaw. Looks like we have a new title holder.... janoskiss.


Bert

[Lester]

No flies on you Steve, you're moving tooo quick for them to land.

[acropolite]

Excellent Job Steve, I'm interested in hearing the finer details.

[ballaratdragons]

Steve,

Those sections would look great mounted in a solid tube!

That will even give you a terrific mounting spot for it's dob base. :thumbsup:

[janoskiss]

not sure how you mean Ken... :confuse3: I redid the truss rods yesterday (putting the 22.5 degree twist at the ends further away from the mount points) because they were getting squeezed a bit too much for my liking. I also made up altitude bearings. That's as far as I got. Hopefully today I can finish the rest: attach alt bearings balanced for XW and make up a collapsible dob base.

[Miaplacidus]

Stirrer, Ken,

I reckon Steve could put the base into one of those big light defuser thingies and use it like a Mag1 Portaball telescope!

[gaa_ian]

Thats a great conversion Steve.
Forgive my ignorance, but I thought each mirror was figured to be a certain F ratio ?