Steve's telescopes

Steve's 10" f/3, in his own words: 

First, the mirror is made of pyrex, approximately 3/4 inch thickness, and is ground to f / 3, with the back being ground to the same radius as the front, making it a meniscus mirror. This was a tool to work on other mirrors for many years, and it was decided that it would be converted to a mirror. I supported it's convex back, by gluing it down to another ten inch disk of glass with dobs of silicone glue. This allowed me to grind and polish on it's face, while it was on it's back. When finished it was cut loose from the piece I refer to as the backer. It was sent to Spectrum Coatings for the Max R coating. The diagonal was coated with Spectrum's enhanced coating. 

The secondary mirror is a 3.0 inch diagonal made of quartz by E & W Optical, back in the late 70's, and has been in a box all these years, until 2011. It was sent along with the primary for it's coating, as it was purchased bare. This came to me a few years ago, in a trade deal with a friend. 

The spider and secondary holder are from Astrosystems. The mirror cell is made of baltic birch plywood, two rings, one of which the mirror is glued down to, and the second has threaded rods going through it, and out through the walls of the tube, with nuts tightening down all surfaces, tube and cell ring. These were then veneered up with Padauk veneers and varnished. Springs and wing nuts are used to collimate the primary mirror. 

The focuser is made by Moonlite focusers. It's two inch, single speed, and is the green colored focuser. I used a small, light, red dot finder, above the focuser. 

The tube is veneer, and epoxy soaked concrete form tube. This is light, strong, and of excellent thermal properties. The interior is stripped of the wax paper it comes with, and brushed with epoxy, to seal and strengthen it. It's brushed with a second coat of epoxy, then sanded down, as it's finish is very very rough. It will later then get two coats of primer, and two coats of flat black enamel paint. A baffle of thin plywood, is epoxied to the interior, just ahead of the primary mirror. This keeps stray light from coming up the tube from the back. It also strengthens the tube even more, back by the mirror. 

The veneers that went on the outside of the tube, are primarily a wood called Makore, or African Cherry ( mak oh ree ). This is accented with Birdseye Maple, and Ebony. 

The end rings are several layers of veneers built up, then Ebony veneer put on last for a nice finish. The end rings are built with layers of veneers, going beyond the end of the veneered tube, which has now been trimmed nice and square on the ends. One veneer is epoxied and clamped on the inside, also extending beyond the ends of the tube. This creates a channel, which is then filled with epoxy. This leaves a nice hard end to sand flat and square, and it coveres the ends of the tube, which is softer and vulnerable to weather. The tube ends are now very very strong and stiff, which is good, for a good spider tension. Epoxy is brushed onto the entire surface, for tremendous sealing properties, and strengthening the wood. This is then sanded down, and a good satin finish varnish is sprayed on, approximately four coats. The altitude bearings are made of plywood, and covered in Makore and Ebony veneers to match the tube and rocker. Formica is epoxied down around it's outside surface, for a good bearing surface. Aluminum bearing plates hold the bearings squarely to the tube. 

The rocker box is made last, after finding the balance point for the tube assembly, and determining the distance from the bearings to the end of the tube. This determines how tall to make the rocker. It's made of strong plywood, with cutouts to make it light, and beautiful. The interior of the rocker is painted a rich brown color, and the outside, and edges, and interior of the cutouts, are veneered with our theme, of Makore, Birdseye Maple, and Ebony. The ground board is made of plywood, and has teflon on it's three points, for bearing surface. These are directly over the feet, which are made of round hardwood dowel material. This was all epoxy coated, then painted. The edges that can be seen, are covered with Makore veneer. 

I'm realizing here, that I never weighed the scope. That can still be done. 

I think this pretty much sums up the details on the scope's make up, and components.