Atm

[Mick]

Anyone on the forum built a Telescope? I've been thinking about building a 6" f/8 Newtonian dob grab and go, not grinding the mirrors but all the rest (Design and assembly).

[seeker372011]

Only a 70 mm refractor so far.

I am some way towards building a 3 inch reflector-only built the mirror cell so far

For both of these I used surplus shed parts so I dont break the bank

http://www.surplusshed.com/faq.html

[Starkler]

Are you sure you want to bother considering a good 6'' f8 dob can be had from Andrews for $299 ?

[Mick]

I have seen those scopes that is a good deal, considering a cheaper 6" primary mirror a loan might cost $150 to $250

[mch62]

Hi Mick , Most important , what's your budget?
I have built my own scope (see below), and found it very rewarding.
I went the quality route as that was what i wanted and didn't spare the $$$$ . It was still cheaper than buying a commercial scope of comparible accuracy at that size , that is if you can find such a commercial scope.

If you on a budget and as it is a grab and go scope than yes the GSO's are a good deal. It would most probably cost more to make even a modest quality scope at that size , not to mention the time involved .

At f8 the tolerances are very forgiving and if the diagonal and spider vanes are keept to a miniumum it should be a great planetry scope. From the larger GSO's I have seen the spider vanes and diagonals are a bit largish so how the 6" is I can only guess.
Mark

[rumples riot]

Yeah built a 8" many years ago, not hard to do. Most of the parts like tube and mount can be made from locally obtained materials. I used a formatube for the telescope tube and steel bars and bearings for the GEq mount. You just need to be careful when assembling to get everything square. Best of luck, and I am sure that you will enjoy the experience.

[Orion]

Hi Mick,
Two years ago I started building my telescope. Now I have an 18inch f4.5 telescope. I really enjoyed building the telescope and it gives you a lot of satisfaction knowing that you built it yourself. A terrific book that you should think about getting is a book written by David Kriege and Richard Berry, this book describes how to build large and small aperture telescopes.
Ed.

[Mick]

Thanks for the replies.