Posts Made By: dan gieruszak

I'm thinking about converting my 16" sonotube neut on a gem to an aluminum tube with truss to a secondary cage. I'm leaning toward building rotating rings so the whole scope can rotate ... but it would probably be easier just to rotate the secondary cage ... but then if alignment is not perfectly centered with the primary this may cause a headache.

Any thoughts on these two options.

Dan

Ha anyone built a dome? I've built a dome base - have a dome frame made of wood almost assembled and I'm planning to cover the frame in fiberglas.

Diameter is 9'. How thick should the fiberglas be ... my supplier tells me that with the cloth and resin the dome will be about 1/4 inch thick. Is that enough.

Thanks for all your help.

Dan

I'm sure this has been covered somewhere else but I've not been able to find a good discussion on it.

where is the best place to locate cooling fans for large aperature scopes ... hot air rises but heat radiates ... and it moves in the direction of colder objects.

So is it best to 1) put cooling fans on the back of a mirror blowing toward the mirror cooling the back surface thereby causing the heat on the front of the mirror to move toward the back of the mirror, or

2) place the fans on the back of the mirror blowing away from the back of the mirror thus drawing cool air across the front of the mirror and out the back of the mirror box, or

3) place the fans in front of the mirror blowing tube currents across the front of the mirror and out the side of the mirror box.

I'm at the stage where I can do any of the above ... just don't want to try one and find out one of the other options is definitly better.

Thanks in advance for all your help.

Dan

Thanks for everyone's input on the fan front or bakc question ... scope is complete and working great - no vibrations from the fans ...

Can anyone recommend a scope building book or other written material for for folded newts?

Thanks in advance,

Dan

Just about finished my fiberlass dome - ready to apply gelcoat to the exterior. Does anyone have experience applying gelcoat?

Dan

hello,

I've had a request to provide a recommendation for a telescope for a 12 year old boy.

I'm inclined to recommend, books, binoculars, and software to help find objects ... if this maintains his interest then go the next step to a telescope.I'm interested in your foeedback - books? software? binoculars? other?

Thanks Dan

Hello,

Finally moving my home made fiberglass observatory into place ... still a fair bit of work to go but it is finally in place ... another sunny day and I'll have the shutters on ... then a little more work leveling the base ring and wheels ... then electricity, lights and computer connections.

thanks for all you help over the past 2-3 years.

Dan

thanks for everyone's post on this forum - I jump in and out of telescope making as time and weather permit - with lots of bad weather I'm thinking more about building.

Has anyone had experience with looking glass astronomical products - I enjoyed the discussion on sandwich mirrors - and was looking into buying a large blank 25"+ - during these cloudy / snowy days it seems like a reasonable alternative.

Dan

Anybody know what encoder I need for this vintage DSC? I believe the one I have is early 90's version.
would it be US digital S1? S2?

Thansk for your help,

Dan

18" F4.5
16" F4.5

Truss tubes I've seen have either been painted black or have the gray foam pipe insulation as covers. Has anyone used black PVC heat shrink wrap? It is more expensive. Any other advantage to the foam wrap rather than heat shrink?

Thanks for sharing your insight.

Dan