[Markoz (Mark)]

I'm new to this forum and astronomy but my interest was sparked by taking my daughter to a local observatory. As a result of her enthusiasm, I thought i'd have a look at whats on the second hand market, and being handy, thought i'd see what options there were an a diy telescope. Having then looked at the possibilities of carving my own glass mirror, i thought the learning curve might have been a bit steep....so fortunately i found a 10 inch dob for sale.....hand carved....F5 ... Made out of 9mm thick pvc tubing....so i knew it would also be solid!
As you can see by the first pic....its a big sucker....the glass was filthy, but even on the first night with no cleaning or collimation, we saw the rings of saturn....so i was hooked! And so was my wife! The base was solid steel, but very stiff and didnt spin. More like an engine hoist than a dob base!

Anyway, after filling a couple of holes, giving the tube a clean and sand, i gave it a few coats of cadbury purple (left over house paint!) and a couple of clear coats, and repainted the inside matt black. The tube is heavy but now nice and tidy. I cleaned the mirrors and put some feet on the base of the tube so i can stand it upright when not in its base. You can see how thick the glass and ply mounting plate is,that fits inside the tube!

Ive just started on a new base so will post more pics soon once i figure out how to load multiple images.

Mark oz


Cheers,
mark