The Telescope Is Together

The Telescope Is Together

It is all assembled--and weighs fifty pounds--which is darn impressive for a 17.5" reflector. I still believe that it will be stiff enough that I won't need to add the other three rails--but if I need to do so, it would still only be fifty-five pounds.

The balance point is 14.5" from the mirror end of the scope. This means that the dovetail plate that will attach it to the mount will be centered at that point on the bottom rail. I have some concern that over time, the rail might bend under load. If I see any sign of this, I might swap that rail for one that is still 1" square, but with a .125" or even .25" wall. This would add 1.68 pounds for the .125" wall, or about 3.7 pounds for the .25" wall--quite acceptable increases in weight if it lets me keep the rest of it light.

Some of you have asked why I didn't go with a more conventional truss design. My primary reason is this: I wanted something that I could mount on a conventional equatorial mount, and I haven't seen any truss designs that would do that.

I wish that I had the energy to finish this tonight--we had a wonderfully clear (although cold) evening.