Clive and Brendan,
Interesting points. I presume if there is sufficient clearance, a 3 sided design is possible? it would benefit portability and ease of assembing in remote sites, but I'll have to see just how much clearance I'd need.
clive, good point about the dec joining the ota at the nodes. will keep that in mind, though may not work for the 3 sided design.
as for the spider wire vs solid vane, I want to try the wire, but brendan's point of strength when being lugged around is valid.
aren't curved vane spiders more effective in nullifying artefacts than using thinner vanes or strings?
there's a whole complex explanation of how this works with some actual images.
I've been looking at alternatives for aluminium, came across an engineering plastic PEEK, (Young's modulus is 3.6 GPa and its tensile strength 90 to 100 MPa), might prove useful for parts of my fork if its cost effective, or other engineering plastics.
came across this fork mounted truss ota.
http://www.astroworks.com/c28/info.html
are there any advantages to this truss arrangement as opposed to the RC truss designs?