Well Gang,
I finally ground down the welded seam of my new 40" long 7" OD aluminum tube of .081 thickness with a 3/8" back fold at each end. Thanks for the advice and help for the techniques. It still needs final sanding and polishing but I want to make all the holes before I go ahead with the final preparations.
HOWEVER, it looks so good and durable that I have second thoughts of mounting the focuser that I did get for it! My old focuser was 1 1/4" all the way through, causing some vignetting on my fiberglass tube, while the 'new' one is 1 11/16" ID. Unfortunately the design and construction of this one is pretty marginal for the quality of other parts that I have (Novak spider and diagonal holder, and Novak aluminum mirror cell). This 'new' focuser only has about 1" in travel from 6" till the tube starts to protrude into the telescope tube. That's pretty crummy since it will get right into the light path!
SO, what is a decent, but reasonably priced durable, all metal, focuser to use with this 'ultimate', and high priced, 6" f6, built like a tank, telescope??? One that won't protrude into the light path, and that is wider than 1 1/4" at the tube end?
As before, all opinions would be appreciated.
Mike Pupeza.....>
I finally ground down the welded seam of my new 40" long 7" OD aluminum tube of .081 thickness with a 3/8" back fold at each end. Thanks for the advice and help for the techniques. It still needs final sanding and polishing but I want to make all the holes before I go ahead with the final preparations.
HOWEVER, it looks so good and durable that I have second thoughts of mounting the focuser that I did get for it! My old focuser was 1 1/4" all the way through, causing some vignetting on my fiberglass tube, while the 'new' one is 1 11/16" ID. Unfortunately the design and construction of this one is pretty marginal for the quality of other parts that I have (Novak spider and diagonal holder, and Novak aluminum mirror cell). This 'new' focuser only has about 1" in travel from 6" till the tube starts to protrude into the telescope tube. That's pretty crummy since it will get right into the light path!
SO, what is a decent, but reasonably priced durable, all metal, focuser to use with this 'ultimate', and high priced, 6" f6, built like a tank, telescope??? One that won't protrude into the light path, and that is wider than 1 1/4" at the tube end?
As before, all opinions would be appreciated.
Mike Pupeza.....>
