It's been a while but I've been having computer problems.
With the top of the telescope finished I started concentrating on the powered ground board.
The first step was to use the router to cut a circle for the ground board. I then proceeded to make the 'feet' keeping in mind that I wanted some distance between the ground and the board I made them 65mm thick.
One of the things that I wanted to do different this time around was to use bearings instead of Teflon on Formica (to see the difference) so that was the next step and from the photos you can see that it has turned out quite well. Once installed I finished it of with dust cover squares made out of Kydex that were glued on in place over the bearings.
There are still things to do to the ground board. I got a Powered Ground Board kit from Gary Myers at StellarCat and that will be the next thing to do.
awesome ED, missed seeing you at the last few meetings, but mate this is a masterpiece of astronomical proportions! Well done and I am more than impressed, I am ecstatic to see such work and I look forward to the results
I got out in the shed to do a bit more this weekend.
I started on the ply, marking out and cutting the necessary pieces for the mirror box and rocker box out of hoop pine. I then proceeded to laminate two pieces of 15mm ply together for the bottom of the rocker box.
I also made a press to press the large pieces of ply together.
1.. pic shows the box clamped together for a dry run with the mirror cell.
2.. the dowel joints.
3.. awaiting the glue up.
4.. after the clamps have been taken of, mirror cell fits the box perfectly
This scope is brilliant, you are a genius Ed, 1 question, what is the wire for which goes across the face of the blue triangles in pic 2, it looks like it is tensioned?
. I am looking forward to the completion of this project.
