I was watching a long youtube video showing John Dobson building telescopes and though for a moment how much different things are now for amateur astronomers. Back then the telescopes did look amateur compared to what's available with the resources we have today. Lots of emphasis on grinding your own mirror, carpentry for making the tubes out of plywood etc Simple slide the eyepiece into a tube ie no focusers as we know it now.
I can't help but feel that we are spoilt nowadays with all that's available and that the hobby may have been more rewarding back then.
I'd like to know what people's experiences are and whether they've ever built a scope themselves?
Yes I built a 200mm Reflector, and to make a long story short had to manufacture everything including the mirror grinding.
The spider vanes were made out of strips of Galvanized tin strips.
The main mirror holding mechanism was two pieces of thick round ply with three Value springs from a car with adjustable bolts.
And so it went on, even the counter weights were made from round cake tins filled with cement with a hole through the middle.
It worked quite well actually and as the years went on many upgrades.
Here it is as it was a few years ago, it even has bearings and hand made tube rings and clutches Plus a solid lead counter weight..
One couldn't buy one of these in any Astro shop today
Wow Leon that is superb a very nice piece of engineering do you still have this ? and yes you would not find anything like this anymore kind of reminds me of the Samson Mount Astro Optical used to make very impressed
cheers Pete
I was watching a long youtube video showing John Dobson building telescopes and though for a moment how much different things are now for amateur astronomers. Back then the telescopes did look amateur compared to what's available with the resources we have today. Lots of emphasis on grinding your own mirror, carpentry for making the tubes out of plywood etc Simple slide the eyepiece into a tube ie no focusers as we know it now.
I can't help but feel that we are spoilt nowadays with all that's available and that the hobby may have been more rewarding back then.
I'd like to know what people's experiences are and whether they've ever built a scope themselves?
I always laugh when I hear people saying "things were better in the good old days", no they never were, film instead of instant rubbish optics, swapping five different films mid roll for different occasions, having to carry 100, 200, 400, 800 iso negative and positive as opposed to just the flick of a switch, vars that you hoped would start in winter as opposed to taking for granted they will now, air con, rubbish mounts.
Hi Leon
Wonderful scope.
I think one must look forward not back...
For me everything is better now than ever before...at least that is what I tell myself to remain cheerful☺.
Alex
Hi Pete
I know what you are saying but its nice to swipe a credit card and walk out with a nice eight inch for relatively little cash...well no cash..just a new balance☺
Alex
No one said it wa better in the good old days, but, however maybe a few enjoyed putting this stuff.
Yep the film could be a problem but it didnt matter how hot it was, there was no sensor noise.
Then cam the darkroom and the joy of seeing the image appear, although probably not so clear as tracking one of these out of balance things was a night mare.
So I decided to make this instead a clock drive formulated to the radius of a curved rod wit 24 pitch to the inch and a motor at 1 rev per minute with a a certain distance from the center of the main shaft
IT actually work quite well also for a while at least if you very pointing to the SCP.
Strongman Mike gave an excellent talk at StarStuff last year about his astrophotography journey - talk about necessity being the mother of invention! Some of his early day McGyver-like endeavours with various pieces of home-made and improvised gear were very impressive, even if the more technical aspects escaped a non-photographic chap like myself.
I dare say Leon also appears to have a similarly strong strain of McGyver DNA - that's a schmicko looking scope.
I always laugh when I hear people saying "things were better in the good old days", no they never were, film instead of instant rubbish optics, swapping five different films mid roll for different occasions, having to carry 100, 200, 400, 800 iso negative and positive as opposed to just the flick of a switch, vars that you hoped would start in winter as opposed to taking for granted they will now, air con, rubbish mounts.
I'm glad we can buy stuff at affordable prices these days. Many moons ago I tried to grind my own mirror on top of a 44 gallon drum and ended up with a lovely W shape.
We whinge about mount PE etc but the gear today is amazing compared to yesteryear.
Plus a solid lead counter weight..
