I will be posting updates to my telescope project here weekly. This is
the first telescope I have ever designed and I invite you to make
comments and suggestions in the forum.
My first choice for a design is a 14.5" Ritchey Chretien. I will not be
grinding the optics myself because I realize just how difficult
that would be for this size instrument. I hope to find a supplier for
the mirror set who can make a reasonable quality product at an
affordable price. If I cannot find a Ritchey-Chretien mirror set which
I can afford, I will have to change my plans to a Schmidt Cassegrainian
design.
I intend to use the telescope for primarily deep space observing and
some CCD photography.
Please take a look at what I have come up with so far and make any
comments in the forum which may help me to design and build a better scope.
Thank you.
Started a new drawing on the mirror cell. Some ideas that occurred
to me while
working on the first 2 attempts were just easier to put into a new
drawing, rather
than rework the previous ones. The red lines are the PLOP suggested
radii for mirror support. I have only been using Autocad for about a
month so most of what
I spend my time doing is figuring out how to do it...Please follow the links to left
for
more info. 8/1/2006 did some radius work on the edges to make the
design a little more CNC friendly.
Still considering how to attach the mirror retaining ring to the
mirror cell. I am considering posts, tubes with a center thru bolt,
or plates which span the width of the mirror cell base tips. Less
weight in the tube design. Have to consider adjustability since I
want only light pressure on the retaining ring. Applied the post
idea to see how it would fit. Seems pretty solid. I thought some
about the contact point between the posts and glass and if it
would be a good idea to use a Teflon or Delrin pad or not. My
stack of the mirror flotation armiture, mirror, and retaining
ring seems a bit high. May have to try and reduce the mirror
cell height a bit.
I would like to say that this will be a long term project, perhaps
on the order of 2 years
or more. My goal is to get everything figured out here, hopefully with your help, before
I buy one ounce of aluminum. I have so much to learn that I can't
rush forward and
end up with something less than what I want, which is a good quality
telescope which I can use the rest of my life.
