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I started the project in February of this year.
The telescope was my own design. I wanted a telescope for visual deep sky observing, so decided on a low f ratio and it had to be able to break down (by removing the truss-poles) to fit in the back of an average car.
I finished it in May and I’m pleased with the results. It’s stable, solid and the axis’ move smoothly.
The mirror took a bit longer.
5 months longer. One turned edge, two pitch-laps and three parabolising attempts later and I have what Terry Pearce of Vacuum Coatings described as an “excellent parabola”. Coming from a man of his knowledge and experience, that’s high praise indeed. In fact I measured the mirror at better than 1/10 P-V wavefront which Terry thought to be somewhere near.It was a very enjoyable project. The most challenging aspect being mirror polishing and parabolising. I learnt a lot during the process and I’m already thinking about a small table-top dobsonian as another project.
I’d like to thank Denis Buczynski for his generous donation of the mirror blank and tool. Also Terry Pearce for his evaluation of my mirror at his ATM club, and excellent aluminising service, and Mike the Ebay seller who supplied the extra Cerium Oxide I needed and some very helpful advice.
Also thanks to David Arditti for the telescope making article in the 2024 August BAA journal for giving me the initial spark.I haven’t had much luck with the skies lately, but I did get some lovely views of Saturn and the Moon in the last couple of nights.
I’m looking forward to putting it to good use during galaxy season.Clear skies to all.
I forgot the picture
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