Posts Made By: Bill Gardner

Working on a DIY dome and am running into problems with my centering wheels. Does anyone have suggestions on a source of brackets, perhaps spring loaded, that can be used for the radial wheels.

Thanks,

Bill

Got a little more work done on my observatory this past weekend. A current image can be seen at:

http://members.rogers.com/gardner.w/html/const_019.htm

Still need to work on the shutters opening and closing and getting them absolutly water tight. Then need to deal with the centering wheels. Right now, they work, to a degree. I want to find a stronger solution so that the dome does not fall off at some point.

Bill

I am starting to think again about starting the project to make my own scope using "The Dobsonian Telescope: A Practical Manual for Building Large Aperture Telescopes", by David Kriege and Richard Berry as my primary source material. There is a member of my local club who is excellent at helping new ATMers along the way with their mirrors and other advice. I have played with grinding a mirror before from scratch, just never got it all put together into a scope.

But the big question I have right now is cost. I would be interested in finding out what the average cost of building one of these beasts would be before I commit any resources. I would be looking at a mirror in the 16-18" range, aluminium tubing, probably go with the birch ply.

Thanks,

Bill

Hi Matt,

Nice setup you have going there. Still enjoying your old camera. Is this observatory built at your new home, or is it a remote setup?

Bill