Home Made Refractor.

[RAJAH235]

Hi all, A while ago I referred to a member of our W.A.A.C.ers club, as a 'GEM'. :D Well today I visited him & I took a few pics of one of his Homebuilds. He bought the 80 mm objective lens for $30.00. The rest he put together himself. Jeff is a Fitter & Turner by trade & has a nack with mechanical things, as you can see. He's also not bad with timber.
Pity my photography is not up to the same good standard. Sorry about the shadows in the tripod shot.
The tube clamp/mount, is 'dovetailed' for easy & accurate alignment + balance, & the alt. bearings have 2 adjustable bearing/clamps. The finder scope is another homebuild & is an erect image unit. It's similar to the ones he makes from 1/2 of broken/old bino's.
You just can't quite make out the detail of the base plate/side plates attachment, but instead of just bolting the 2 together, he milled a matching slot into the side plates for accuracy, & the 2 bolts now simply hold them in that slot.
As I said, he's a wiz with this kind of machining. You should see his 'Crayford' style 2'' focusers, with 1 1/4" reducer. Wow, they're just the 'ants pants'.
We managed to do a bit of sun viewing too. Not much activity at present, save for 1 or 2 small spots.
Thanks all for reading this rant..
Regards, L. :D :thumbsup: for Jeff.

[elusiver]

that's cool.. i wish i was good at making stuff like that.. kinda reminds me of a mini dob sorta thing just by the shape of it.. but yeah.. good stuff.. :D :)

ginger bread man? i'm hungry now..

el :)

[asimov]

Yes...Very nice quality workmanship! I particularly like.....is it teflon? The adjustable tension bearing setup in pic 2. Looks similar to the Alt mount I had for my second 8" scope.

[RAJAH235]

Hi John, Yes it's teflon, mate. He happens to work at a Co. that uses a lot of it in various sizes!
They also use a variety of very thin teflon tapes, which is what I used to O/Haul my R & P focuser with. :D L.

[asimov]

I could do with a bit of that tape myself instead of using masking tape!

[ausastronomer]

Well the woodwork and metalwork look great. Actually the whole thing looks great. My only concerns are that a lot of time and effort has gone into building something that looks great with the potential to be a really good telescope, which unfortunately I think is unlikely to happen with a $30 objective lens. Its a bit like spending 6 months building a brand new speedboat that looks great then sticking a 1960 Ford Prefect motor in it.

If I was going to put that much time and effort into building such a nice scope I would be opening the wallet and putting a better quality objective in it. But then it aint mine and the owner may be very happy with the optics he has.

CS-John B

[asimov]

Very good Laurie, & thanks for posting..You've just given me my latest brain-wave! ;)

[gbeal]

Hey, the 1960 Prefect was pretty cool when I had mine!!

[RAJAH235]

CS-John B, It's just one of about 6 t'scopes that Jeff owns. They all suit different purposes. His H/Made 8" f5? I think,,Dob is also a masterpiece!! :D L.
ps. He bought a very good mirror for it tho! :P L.
pps. You just don't understand the guy! He love's building things Astronomical!
Darn, I forgot the 'Gingerbreadman' watermark!!!

[ving]

wish i could metal worky stuff :(
very good!

those pics are making me hungry! :D

[asimov]

I WAS going to mention mine as well. Gimmee a ford prefect donk with a shaved head, 3/4 race cam, over-size pots 60 thou with triple webbers anyday!

[Orion]

A congratulations to Jeff for a very fine effort in workmanship. I admire someone that is willing to have a go at different styles of mounts or telescopes, even if it was a $30 lens. I have a bit of a passion myself for building telescopes and know that the rewards of looking through something that one makes is very satisfying.
Well Done! :thumbsup:

[Starkler]

For some lucky people with access to materials and machine shop facilities it may have cost little more than his time. Of course if you or I bought such kit it would cost a bomb and we would demand the best optics to go along with it. If it cost $30 for the objective it might be cheap scope overall even if engineered to Rolls Royce standards :D

[ausastronomer]

No matter which way you shave his head, no matter how oversive his pot, or the number of webbers danglin off him, he will never be a blown 8 litre big block Chevy with 600+ horses pushin him. :)

CS-John B

[dhumpie]

Any chance we can get him to machine parts for cheap :)

Darren

[asimov]

:lol: point taken john :D

[slice of heaven]

That big block wouldnt be worth a cracker if its not mounted properly.


They look well crafted thats for sure. I'd take my hat off to him but I never wear one.

[Starkler]

My suggestion would be adapters for DSC encoders to fit various scopes. They just cost too much from astronomy shops and would be dead simple for anyone with a lathe.

[RAJAH235]

Why don't you send me the very 'DETAILED' drawings, & I'll ask. (you've seen his work). As long as they're not tooo big & numerous..... These are all 'Foreign Orders' you know!!!! 'wink' 'wink' ;) ;) :D L.
ps. Of course you do realise that he does accept 'bribes'......err payment.