12.5"

If you owned a 12.5" F/6 mirror of excellent quality and you were all thumbs (as I am),
who would you have build your OTA for you?

Jim

Jim,
What do you want, a light weight, heavier sturdier weight scope, transportable scope, permanent mounted scope and do you want a truss or a solid tube?

If I would persuade Bruce Sayre, amateur telescope maker extraordinaire, to make the scope for such mirror, I would not offer it for sale on AM.

Jim,

I was in the same situation. I ordered a Woden 12.5" f/6.4 (ended up f/6.3) mirror. The final Strehl was 0.985. I chose James Grigar's Astrosky structure for my mirror. I ordered my scope when the price was a little lower and I've been very happy with the result.

I was afraid that balance would be an issue. Unless you go with an ultralight UTA, this will be a little top heavy for a standard dob design. James had the balance perfect by using a few powder coated steel counterweights attached to the steel tailgate assembly. Everything was perfect out of the box.

James's home was hit by the devastating hurricanes this past season. All things considered, he held up his side of the bargin. He stayed in contact, and when forced to evacuate took steps to protect his clients scopes. He was available and was easy to work with every step of the way. I have no regrets having him build my telescope and would do it again in the same situation.

While I had a good experience with Astrosky, check out the other dob makers also. I think Floyd rattled off a quick list earlier in this thread. When you finally get your scope made, it's going to be a great planetary scope. Best of luck!

Peter

Just a word of caution concerning T-scopes. The fast responses to MY emails slowed WAY down once payment had been made. Then it became difficult to get him to respond at all. I am now in the twentieth month of waiting for my order to be completed, after it was originally promised in six. Caveat emptor!
Larry Seguin
Taos, New Mexico