Page 6 of 6 FirstFirst ... 23456
Results 76 to 80 of 80

Thread: George's Telescope - Consolidated Threads

  1. When finished this will be a treasured heirloom unlike almost any other. I applaud your skill and your perseverance to bring this to completion. I sure hope George understands the amount of effort, skill and love that has gone into this special piece of equipment. I look forward to its unveiling when completed. A proud grandpa you must be!
    Remember, in a moments time, everything can change!

    Vision - not just seeing what is, but seeing what can be!




  2. #77

    Veneer!

    After searching everywhere for a decent price on some nice veneer for the tube, up pops this 48” X 120” quarter sawn cherry for.....ten dollars a sheet?!?! Ok. Something’s wrong here. The shipping is more than the veneer. Gotta be a mistake. I ordered a sheet and then waited for the “oh no... wait... that’s an error... it’s supposed to be $110, not $10... sorry. But the order goes through with no issues and three days later I get a shipping notice. On its way. Now I’m thinking this is probably going to turn out to be one baggy piece of veneer. But the other day it arrived and it’s gorgeous!!! Beautiful bookmatched straight grained cherry with a really nice curl all across the entire length of the sheet. I have no idea why this was so cheap but it’s not because it was flawed in any way.

    veneer.jpg

    Next weekend, my son and I will laminate this to the maple tube using the "iron on" method with Titebond 2. Then it will be stained to a close match with the mount tubes.
    David DeCristoforo

  3. #78

    Update

    Update... My son came over today and we got the veneer laid up. In case you are wondering why this is being posted on a turning site, if you look carefully, you can clearly see the vital role the lathe played in this phase of the project.

    tube_veneered.jpg
    David DeCristoforo

  4. #79

    George's Telescope... Finished!

    Almost three years to the day I started this, the telescope is finally finished. I’ve had to make a lot of changes along the way. Refinements, tweaks and modifications abound. I really never intended to do anything this complicated but the thing just kind of took me over. My sense of relief at having finished it is colossal.

    Done_2.jpgDone_3.jpg

    I am aware that I’m going to get totally raked over the coals about these images. At some point I will have to get better photos. But the weather is crappy here and I have no “studio” to photograph in so I had to kind of fake it.

    I still need to adjust the scope (collimate is the correct term) but that will have to wait for some decent weather as it has to be done outside and takes a bit of time. But the thing balances well (that was a fussy process in itself) and the movement is smooth and stable in all directions. I needed a lot more counterweight than I originally thought so I had to whack my counterweight and fill in with some cast iron weight plates. I needed twelve pounds to counterbalance the scope and there was no way to cram that much shot into my wood weight.

    So, anyway… for what it is worth, here it is and now I can get on with the other part of my life!
    David DeCristoforo

  5. #80

    Balancing Act

    Amateur telescope makers say a scope in never “done”. Apparently, the urge to tweak, refine and otherwise modify is too great to resist. But sometimes, changes have to be made out of necessity. In this case, getting the scope to balance was proving to be a bit tricky. I could get “close” but the tendency of the scope to slew was apparent. I finally realized that the action of the mount axes was such that any slight offset would throw it out of balance enough to cause movement. So I needed some way to counter this. My solution was to add another small counterweight opposite the focuser and finder to offset their combined weight. The post is a seven inch long piece of 1/2” all-thread with a wood sheath covering it. The weight is drilled out on the back side, holes packed with two pounds of shot and plugged. This has totally eliminated any tendency to slew and the scope now balances perfectly and holds it’s position nicely.

    weight_1.jpg


    I had also added another small counterweight at the bottom of the tube. This is to provide a way to offset the weight of the eyepieces, some of which can weigh up to five pounds. The only other way to counterbalance them is to shift the position of the tube in the rings, a cumbersome solution at best.

    weight_2.jpg

    David DeCristoforo

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •