DIY 8" Dob built for college

[Anil]

Telescope had first light last week. This 8" f / 7.5 spherical mirror rendered excellent images of Jupiter, Saturn, Orion nebula & M13. Machined cradle was developed from solid round aluminum block. Mount is made of 12 mm rubber wood sandwiched on a 12 mm plywood. Optical tube is fitted with Telrad, 6 x 30 finder scope & Machined Helical Focuser.

This excellent mirror was ground, polished & figured by my friend Mr Dilip, here in Bangalore. Optical performance is topnotch. This Telescope is built for a college.

More pictures here at my http://anilmn.blogspot.com/

[drmorbius]

Very nice Anil. How long did it take you to build?

[mental4astro]

That is a beautiful looking telescope, Anil. The wood work is just lovely. It is not a colour of timber I've seen before, and it is fantastic.

You are brave to precut the rocker box sides before glueing them. Did you have much adjusting to do afterwards to tidy up the bearing slots?

The telescope is a very nice piece of work. And I see your focuser works very well! What eyepieces are used with it?

Is the timber you used heavy? If the whole rocker box is really heavy, would you consider cutting out some material to reduce weight. With careful planning, it can be decorative and maintain strength.

Kind regards,

Alex.

[mercedes_sl1970]

Hi Anil

That's a nice looking scope - very impressive (I like the rubber wood - haven't seen that before). The f7.5 mirror must be nice to use too. I also like your helical focuser. You obviously have some good machining and woodwork skills (I'm envious)!

Andrew

[Anil]

Took 12 Sundays to build, lot of work.


Anil

[Anil]

Thanks Alex, box sides were glued & cradle rings were added. Cradle sits perfectly in the bearing slot, not much adjustments were made.

9mm, 12mm & 32 mm eyepieces are used with the scope.

Whole mount weighs about 8 kg's, quite stable even on a windy day, it's an advantage. Rubber wood is easy to work with & looks great.


Regards,
Anil