As some of you know I bought Eric's 8" f/4 Newt yesterday. Today I hacked it to bits and converted it to truss tube. Disassembled it's small enough for airline travel. I still need to make a mount for it.
Too tired now to post all the details now. Another time perhaps. I'm very pleased with the end result. The truss structure is very solid despite having used flat Al bits for truss rods. Here are some piccies of the finished scope. In the last one it's standing next to the 8" f/6 Dob.
Thanks guys. Yes, mounting is going to be tricky. I want to keep it very simple but fully functional. Obviously that means Dob ... been shopping for LPs at the Salvos today ...
Geez, that was quick! Very nice, Steve. What part did you need to use the Janome for?
You've got me thinking now. Did you take some pictures as you went? What sort of aluminium struts are they? What did you use to cover the cut edges? How are you going to mount it? Where is the centre of gravity? Details, details, man...
Where is the centre of gravity? Details, details, man..
I'm also very interested to see the design of the base and how it ends up.
My guess is that the balance point will be somewhere inside the trussed portion. What will the altitude hubs attach to ?
not sure how you mean Ken... I redid the truss rods yesterday (putting the 22.5 degree twist at the ends further away from the mount points) because they were getting squeezed a bit too much for my liking. I also made up altitude bearings. That's as far as I got. Hopefully today I can finish the rest: attach alt bearings balanced for XW and make up a collapsible dob base.
8" f/4 travel Newt - truss conversion!
I redid the truss rods yesterday (putting the 22.5 degree twist at the ends further away from the mount points) because they were getting squeezed a bit too much for my liking. I also made up altitude bearings. That's as far as I got. Hopefully today I can finish the rest: attach alt bearings balanced for XW and make up a collapsible dob base.
