Home Made telescopes

£1000 :shock:
A 16" primary mirror will cost that much alone. I wonder how can afford to sell at that price and still have mirrors as good as they do.
Griffnneil, a 16 incher is much larger than the scope you saw at the galway meeting. Mine was a just a 12.5. Meade also do a 12 incher which has dropped in price dramatically since the 16 incher was announced.
Here's a review of the 16.
www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=1674

Here's a nice pictorial of one guy who built an almost identical scope. It's in Finnish by the way
www.allarscopes.com/300mm_dobson/300mm_dobson1.htm
& a really nice 10 incher
bi-staff.beckman.uiuc.edu/~melockwo/tele..._F5p5/10in_F5p5.html
& bigger stuff
www.strnad-emskirchen.de/home_e.htm
& a ridiculously large one for the brave at heart
www.cruxis.com/scope/scope1070.htm

Cheers,

Trev

I just checked www.telescopehouse.co.uk and guess what, they have put their prices up. The 16" is now £1500. The 12" is is around the €1100 (euro) mark. I wouldn't have the patience to build one myself (at these prices) but the satisifaction of building one yourself must be priceless.
I prefer a warranty though via my mastercard:D

It's amazing the price difference between vendors.

At Ace Cameras the cost of the 16" is around the same as the TelescopeHouse, but the 12" Lightbridge is only £699 - I think it's the deluxe model.
Very good value.

It's amazing the price difference between vendors.

At Ace Cameras the cost of the 16" is around the same as the TelescopeHouse, but the 12" Lightbridge is only £699 - I think it's the deluxe model.
Very good value.

You wouldn't build a 12" for that sort of money :shock:
What a wonderful age we live in. When I was a kid all you could get was a 6" reflector or a C5/8 (if you could afford one).

That 42" scope was amazing, but it looks like a lot of hard work to actually set up, I would imagine that it's only assembled when dark skies for the entire night are assured, imagine the disappointment after setting it up the clouds roll in.

I've seen numeorus images of amateurs standing on top of high ladders to use these monsters, I just couldn't see myself climbing up one on a windy night.

Does he have the largest solar filter in the world? That thing is huge.

I wonder how many times a year he gets to use it.

That 42" scope was amazing,

You wouldnt believe the things I'd do to have a look through that scope !! :lol:

I would imagine that it's only assembled when dark skies for the entire night are assured, imagine the disappointment after setting it up the clouds roll in.

If I owned it, I would wheel the entire thing assembled into a shed, therefore the only setup time is the time it takes to wheel it out, happy days ! The 20" takes less then 10 minutes to get running on average. I'd only get one if I lived at a dark sky site with a massive shed :lol: , I wouldn't consider that monster portable.

I've seen numeorus images of amateurs standing on top of high ladders to use these monsters, I just couldn't see myself climbing up one on a windy night.

I felt the same way until I got a ladder that's very comfortable to use, its like you're leaning against a wall when looking through the 20", the only thing better would be a chair. The wrong ladder will literally land you in hospital.