My First Scope

My First Scope:

The above picture is my first hand made scope. It has a 12.5" f 5.13

mirror and is a two truss design. The two counter weights on the poles

are simple exercise weights which can slide up and down the truss poles.

This is the other side of the scope. The truss tubes are 56" long made from 2" aluminum

tubing. Everything on this scope was designed and made by myself. This includes the primary

mirror and cell, secondary spider, secondary holder and the 2" Helical Crayford focuser.

The altitude bearings were a bit tricky.

This is a close up picture of the Helical Craford focuser. It has 1.25" of total travel, is

very low profile, ultra smooth and does not cause the slightest bit of image shifting during

focusing. I also made a 1.25" adaptor.

This is the rear shot of the 9 point mirror cell.

Here is is packed up and ready to transport. The whole package is 18" square by

21" high. The focuser board becomes the lid. I used a old film container as the plug for the

1.25" focuser hole.

The scope performs far better than I ever imagined! I still need to

baffle it properly to increase the contrast ratio.

Peter