telescope making

cristian abarca · #1 29-10-2005, 08:19 AM

Hi guys Just to let you know that I finished my 250mm F7.2 mirror last night. I'll be posting pictures of the project soon including ronchi test results. Now to get it alluminised and moubted on my telescope.

Regards Cristian

asimov (John) · #2 29-10-2005, 08:12 PM

Good one Cristian...How far's first light away? F7? Should make for a nice planetary scope.

cristian abarca · #3 29-10-2005, 09:57 PM

Thank's John. I'm putting it together now without alluminising it so that when I get it alluminised all I have to do is fit the mirror in, collinate and of I go. I'm phoning the guy who'll alluminise it for me tomorrow, so I'd say another week away. At the moment the weather in Melbourne is horrible so hopefully when I get it back it would have cleared up a little. Can't wait though I think It will be a huge difference to the 6 inch I have now.Regards Cristian

asimov (John) · #4 29-10-2005, 10:07 PM

Just in time for mars too! Hope U get some decent pics....thats if you have any astrophotography gear?

cristian abarca · #5 30-10-2005, 08:39 AM

That was the whole idea of building this telescope. I wanted to have it built by the 31st of october but I missed that deadline. I was on schedule but I got the wrong pitch to polish my mirror (They sold me some sort of resin instead). I ended up with all sorts of errors and it took a while to fix them, which was OK because I learned a lot out of it. I have toucam webcam and have tried taking photos with my six inch but it,s not that good fo this. Hopefully I can take some pictures during november.

Regards cristian

cristian abarca · #6 30-10-2005, 07:52 PM

Hi guys here is a picture of my finished telescope. All I have to do is get the mirror alluminised.

[1ponders] (Paul) · #7 30-10-2005, 08:31 PM

Smooooth Cristian. Hat's off to you. Hope the mirror is as slick as the outside looks.

cristian abarca · #8 31-10-2005, 10:13 AM

Thanks

We put a lot of effort in so I hope the mirror doesn't dissapoint. I'm getting it tested on Friday so if all goes well I'll leave it to get alluminised then.

Regards Cristian

Orion · #9 31-10-2005, 06:18 PM

Very nice telescope, it looks like it's got a nice sturdy base as well.

ving (David) · #10 31-10-2005, 07:32 PM

looks great christian. does it come in other colours?

it'll be good to see the finished product. nice n' sturdy. you going to motorise the base?

cristian abarca · #11 31-10-2005, 09:21 PM

Thanks guys. One of the hardest things was to pick a colour (I'm a painter by trade and I have a shed full left over colours, in the end I chose something close to the Australian flag colour, so neighbors don't think it's a canon , not that you can see the colour at night .) I just wanted to make it different. I am thinking of motorising it and trying to put it on an equatorial platform. One concern I have is that the base is 1 metre in diameter( I got a little carrired away), so I have to make a platform to suit. By the way the length of the tube is 2 metres long It's made out of 30cm diameter pvc water pipe. It's abot 5-6 mm thick. The mount is made from formwork plywood, (the type they use to make concrete moulds so it's fairly waterproof). The edges I sealed using laminex edging pre glued. I tried it out during the day and I could see the leaves in the trees nearby quite clearly so I'm hoping the final test goes well on friday. Can't wait it's been a long 6 months.Regards Cristian

rmcpb (Rob) · #12 01-11-2005, 01:13 PM

I love it

Congrats on a beaut job!

mick pinner · #13 01-11-2005, 02:35 PM

hope it all goes well Cristian

cristian abarca · #14 20-11-2005, 11:06 AM

Hi guys I got my mirror back fully coated and have put it on the scope to test it. Initially I couldn't see anything and I started to wonder if there was something wrong with it. Eventually I worked it out (with a little help). I hadn't allowed for the diameter of the tube and the length of the focuser. After working that out I gave it a test run on the moon on thursday night and everything lookeed well. Today i will go and put the finising touches on it and bring it home to start observing. Finally. Now for my next project 10 inch F6. I already bought all the materials so I will start this soon. I'm not making a telescope just the mirror.

Regards Cristian