12" truss dob

[glenc (Glen)]

Congratulations Graham, look forward to seeing it.

[CoombellKid]

Excellent Graham,

Well done mate, must be good to have it all done (pretty much) hopefully
I'll be able to star test Buzz over the weekend. You keen on a get together
this month? we could head up to Alex's place but after bumping into him a
few days ago I dont think he will be there this new moon. I think Glen is
heading west, so my place will be available which would probably be
easier for me as I'll have the boy's with me. Let me know if your keen.

Anyways I'm keen to have a look through your new beasty

regards,CS

[AstroJunk (Jonathan)]

Turned out very nice - I particularly like the 'go darker' brass detailing which is both original and very smart

[GrahamL]

thanks guys yeah I'd like to try for next weekend rob
health and weather permitting.

The brass has a longish past attached to it actually
back in 98 I think when we first got online my son and I were well hooked on astronomy.. A small 4' reflector was around $1000 .. but could you make your own ?.. I found the sidewalk astronomers website with all the instructions to build your own scope .. there was VERY few other sites around regarding astronomy at the time .. I had no idea what sonotube was or were to get it so came up with a square ply tube (black of course)which was going to be mounted on a pretty steel frame of 1 " flat steel .. ( its probably good things didn't work out as i think it might of resonated like a tunning fork)
Anyway my father being a marine engineer and always doing little jobs at home always used a lot of brass .. it always goes with stained or painted timber I noticed so planned to drop a little around my scope when i built it.
Well the falling ausie dollar put an end to my plans ..( mirrors and such )
were just very pricey even in small appertures .. anyways I kept the little thought that brass would look nice on a scope tucked away all those years and when finances this time allowed me to have another go ..
well there it is .

[CoombellKid]

Originally Posted by nightstalker

thanks guys yeah I'd like to try for next weekend rob
health and weather permitting.

Sounds good to me mate


regards,CS

[GrahamL]

first flight .. er i' mean light..
prety much finished now and in use . .works great

[astro_south (Andrew)]

looks great Graham - looking forward to seeing it operating in the flesh in the coming months

[Starkler (Geoff)]

As someone who took the easy way out, I tip my hat to those with the skills and patience who build their own. Well done!

[glenc (Glen)]

Great job Graham.

[CoombellKid]

Excellent Graham, I also like the extra two drink holders for Glen and I.
Nice of you to think of us

Hope you had the same nice skies last night.

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

thanks guys . I havn't been able to collimate for a week or two as I don't have an adapter to hold my cheshire.but the views are still great.the larger secondary seems to realy bump up the contrast/detail on dso's.or maybe its the extra apperture ?
I couldn't be happier atm .well I could .a little less tension on alt motion needs a tinker but all in all I could and will probably live with it

[GrahamL]

my final tinker with things was to trim 5 mm off the inner and outer of my
upper cage ..I went with 50 mm rings originaly which in hindsight was
overkill and a bit to much weight ..trimming off 10 mm on both dosn't sound a lot ..but the scope balances much better now and i can lose a couple of kgs in counterweight.

take care graham

[CoombellKid]

LOL, I'm the other way around. I've been thinking of drilling holes in my
counter weights in the bottom end. But then using it the other night I
remembered I cut about 15mm too much off the the truss poles. I have
to set my low powered ep out about 10mm off the focuser seat. I figure
remaking the truss poles will only cost $14 for the tube and I'll get the
joinery shop to cut them.

Hope to have a look through your scope soon

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

try again .. type a reply ..can't submit or copy text to paste again .

hows next weekend looking for your place?... I think glens away

btw I have a drop saw to trim your poles If you need to.

[CoombellKid]

Originally Posted by nightstalker

try again .. type a reply ..can't submit or copy text to paste again .

hows next weekend looking for your place?... I think glens away

btw I have a drop saw to trim your poles If you need to.

Try highlighting the text and doing a Ctrl + C when I trying to right
click and copy or cut, I only get paste from the popup menu in these
text boxes... weird.

I'll probably have the boy's next weekend maybe the weekend after
I'll let you know when it's closer. I was going to go with Glen out to
Leyburn but I cant confirm I can make it due to school holidays and
an ex that has no idea. But you are more than welcome to come out
next weekend I'll be here just dont know how involved I will be with
the lil one here.

I'm yet to re-order the ali for the truss poles. It's not a big issue as
I have a lil counter weight (medium size bolt, those holes in the SC
rings come in handy) I have a pole cutter, a hand one. But was
thinking the joinery shop might be able to set ali tube into a jig to
replicate the lengths more precisely.

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

Its all a no go for me now rob anyway .. driving down by the beach this arvo my gearbox /clutch had a meltdown ..LOL..car still goes great .. it just dosn't go anywhere .. couldn't of happened at a better place..rolled into a carpark and theres my son getting out of the surf.

[CoombellKid]

Sorry to hear that dewd, hope you can get mobile again soon. What sort
of car you got as I can get some second hand parts pretty cheap. My
auto-transmission is on the way out too.

what are you doing on the 12 April?

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Originally Posted by Satchmo

Just for future reference the flower shaped threaded furniture tube closures normally used for mounting the spacing tubes on the top end as shown in Kreige's Truss Dobsonian book, are available from Maumac's in Sydney.

Mark,

Thank mate sorry to beat an old thread. But I ordered some of these
a couple of days ago from Maumac, they have a website and online product
guide. I rang them on Tuesday and spoke to a nice lady and really helpful.
To order was as simple as Email/Fax order with part number and your details
and you'll recieve a package 2 days later with an invoice and how to pay.
It may of arrived yestarday but I didn't go to town yestarday.

So all I'm saying is, this product is easy to get and the supplier Maumac
are as good as any Astro shop that I have ever had the pleasure to deal
with.

btw, the ones I got are for 1" OD tube and cost per item $2.30 excluding GST
$10.00 postage.

regards,CS

[Satchmo]

Great to hear They also sell different kinds of knobs with threaded inserts or threaded extension which are really good for ATM's too.

[Ian Robinson]

Not too shabby...