Constructing a dob

Thanks for trying Dave.

ah cool! That's a stunning scope Michael. I love the bearings. That must be the world's most portable 16 incher!
Can't wait to here how you get on with it.

Alas, I've had to tear my mirror box apart again. I need to change a few things on it.

Trev

The thing I'm most worried about Trev is the strength of the supports between the bearings. I'll find out soon enough I guess. Plan to cut the poles to the right length this evening.

Well, I attached the supports to the bearings this evening and cut the poles. As a result, I had first light! Woo hoo!

The poles are cut so that my 27mm Panoptic just about came into focus - i.e., I can cut a little more off the poles later if I like. My 17mm Nagler didn't come to focus, but won't require much to be cut off for that to happen. My 9mm Nagler did come to focus, a good bit away from the 27mm Pan. I reckon, there is a point at which the poles can be cut so that they all come to focus.
Anyway, I didn't try too hard at collimating it as I wanted to test drive the bloody thing, considering how much time it took to design and construct it. Well, it didn't disappoint. Sweping the Milky Way in Cygnus was breath-taking. Countless stars on view at any one time. Also got super views of M31, M57 and the Double Cluster.

Who ever said you need adverted vision?

Anyway, when using the scope, I noticed a few things that need twekaing. The legs on the base board are most in need of urgent attention as it was very wobbly as a result. Once I've fixed this, I'll focus on the other things which need to be tweaked a fraction.

Who ever said you need adverted vision?

Not me congrats on first light, it must be great to see the light at the end of the tunnel . :lol:

Congratulations Michael, and welcome to the Big Boy's Club! Pretty cool views, huh?

A funny thing about big telescopes is that, just like a 6", you end up looking at objects that are >just< on the limit of detectability... it's just that they are of a much lower magnitude! The fun is that when you've had enough of averted vision and enhancement filters to eek out those last few elusive photons you can then WOW yourself on some of the (now) really bright Messier objects. I mean, come on, how many telescopes leave an after image of M42 on your retina?!

Enjoy your new baby - the tweaks and improvements will continue to come for a long time yet!

Phil.