I completed My Mirror & Rocker Box today...............

The mirror box consists of an inner frame made from 5/8" plywood. Outer surface is hardwood floor material. I used Brass lid attachments and side handles.

Rocker box and mirror box bearings are made from 1" Oak.

Side bearing surfaces are covered with kitchen counter edge laminate.

1" square pieces of Teflon are mounted on rocker box bearing surfaces (2 on each side) and also used as azimuth bearings between ground board and rockerbox (3 each).

I still have more to do on my Mirror Mount, but almost there.............

I will update this forum as more is done.

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nSpace01

Hi Leonard!

Looks great, how long have you been working on this?

Yup it's me, I finally crawled out of hibernation...

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Clear Skies-Larry

Hey Larry -

Where've you been hiding yourself? It's good to hear from you. Welcome back!

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Dave - Morrow, AR

Good to hear from you................You've been missed......

I've been working on this project since the first week of May. The reason I went with the 14", is cost and the fact that 14" has twice the light gathering capacity as my current 10"....................... That would be wonderful........

I finished my Secondary cage the other day, just haven't posted a picture yet..............

All I need now is the money to order my 14" F5 mirror from "Hubble Optics" (http://www.hubble-optics.com/products.html), a 2" focuser and truss components from Moonlite (http://www.focuser.com), and a 12" to 18" 3 vane, Curved Spyder and 2 1/2" secondary mirror from Destiny (http://www.1800destiny.com)

Everything up till now has been an education in "Woodworking" and a study in Dobsonain Telescope Design. Next I need to get all the components in and alined..............

................. I am on a great adventure................

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nSpace01

I posted more Pictures in "Leonard Lynch's Album".........

I completed the assembly of the Secondary cage.

I got my Moonlite 2" CR2 Focuser and 15" curved Destiny Spider/Mirror Holder last week and installed them today.

All I need to do now is to complete the Primary Mirror Flotation Cell, install two cooling fans and controller in the Mirror Box and save enough money to order my Truss componites from Moonlite and a 14" Primary Mirror from Hubble Optics.

I need to come up with a "Name" for the telsecope, any ideas???

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nSpace01

So.. what's your favorite movie? You might be able to use something from that movie to name your scope.

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Dave - Morrow, AR

I guess I can call it "Froto"

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nSpace01

Today, I bought a 100 ft roll of 2" black heat shrink tape on ebay.............To save money, I decided to buy 1" Aluminum Conduit in 10ft sections to cut to length to make my trusses. I will apply the heat shrink tubing to each truss.

I going to do it this way to save money. A 6ft length of 1" black Anodized Aluminum Truss is $18.00 on the moonlite website. My telescope design requires 8 truss tubes a little less than 5 foot long. $144.00, Whew!!!!!

With the cost of the Heat Shrink Tape (100' @ $20.00) and four 10" lengths of aluminum conduit ($4.00 each), it would only come to $36.00.........Quite a savings.

BTW: Anybody need 60 feet of 2" black Heat Shrink Tape?????

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nSpace01

That's going to be an interesting telescope with truss poles only 5" long. THIS I've got to see....

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Dave - Morrow, AR

You'll have to wait a bit.............be a while before I can buy a primary mirror............

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nSpace01

I understand completely. I still want to rebuild my 12.5" into a truss-tube style Dob, but the economy isn't going to allow that yet. I have looked at several approaches, and I've decided the ultra-light is just a bit too flimsy for me. I like the protection from the wind and dew that a traditional mirror box provides, and the UTA does provide more dew protection and light baffling than a simple ring. I do wan to keep the weigh down, but not that much. Hopefully I can think about doing something like this next spring.

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Dave - Morrow, AR

I have documented, via CAD drawings, everything I have done in my construction. I will be glad to share it .........

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nSpace01