[glend (Glen)]

Made some good progress today. All the frames are cut and routed. I have set them up on the old ladder jig that I used for my long refractor build. I received the carbon fibre tubes from Carbon Fibre Australia. I checked the telescoping of the tubes (so that I can create joints).

Some photos are attached of where I am up to at this point. The carbon tubes are shown in their notches on the frames, there are six parallel carbon tubes. I will put the plastic sleeves back on the tubes when I epoxy the tubes to the frames, to keep the nice carbon fabric finish clean.

The back plate has been cut for the fan, but futher lightening holes will probably be added once I get the mirror cell base complete and installed on the back plate.

When I glue it all up I will setup my laser on the back and fire through to a target on each frame (to insure everything is centred). I have increased the diametre opening on each frame going forward to allow for a 1 degree increase in aperture going forward.

First photo is a side shot of the ladder jig with the frames setup (at least the last three), and the last shot is the look down the 'tube' front.

Still deciding whether to make the front section removable, which is why the front frame is not setup in the photo. I also want the front to be able to slide so that I can set up the focuser and secondary properly before I fix it in place.