|
As indicated previously Julian, I have the string bracing equipment ready to go onto the frame. I will be giving it a good workout at Bretti this coming new moon period. It will be riding on my new NEQ6. BTW final weight of the OTA is 8.4kg, less than 2/3rds of the weight of the production tube based scope made by iStar.
In your calculations I hope you have allowed for the bracing effect of the epoxy fillets at each joint, which effectively extend a 90 degree brace over twice the distance of each joint. These are non-flex joints, only the oak batten can possibly flex in between the frame stations, and they work in a combination of three spaced 120 degrees around the circle frame (which cannot compress). The oak batten flex over the short distances between frames could not be induced when I stood on them. I am not saying there would not be some flex if say it was used as a see-saw over a small fulcrum however there is a 300mm dovetail bar mounted on an oak mounting board (with a lamination strip) which spans three of the frames separately to the oak struts. The objective weighs 3kg and sits only 350mm from the mounting board/frame combo. The string brace will run from the bottom of the objective ring to the top of the middle frame, paired with a similiar string brace from the rear focuser plate to the same middle frame
|