8 Inch Telescope

This one I completed a couple of years ago. This was my first telescope building project. Beacuse of all the cutouts and fancy finish it took me almost 5 months to complete. I have to credit my wife for encouraging me to build and put quality components in it. I had been doing a cost compairson between lots of cheap telescope mirrors and I was showing her the options one day when she said, “Why are you fooling around with this cheap stuff when you should just buy quality and get something you will be happy with.” What a woman!

The next day I ordered a premium mirror that cost more than most imported 8” scopes by itself. I have been happy with it from day one. I get lots of compliments on the wood working and almost just as many on the optics. Nothing stands out like quality.

The details of the construction can be found here: http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=1096

Basically the wood is a combination of 3/4” Home Depot birtch ply and then a sheet of baltic birtch ply. Baltic birtch is the way to go, I will never use anything else. The tube is a 10” Sonatube from the local contractor’s supply. It’s wrapped in post-form Wilsonart. I must also add that the design was copied from someone online who was in business for a while building these guys. He was very helpful and gave me lots of ideas.

There are several issues that you can’t see in the pics. Mostly the finish I used is cracking :=(. I used a water based polly and put on too may coats. Next time it’s oil-based and I’ll probably spray it on before assembly. There are a few parts that are not 100% square but they don’t impact the movement or look of the scope, but I know they are there.

Thanks for looking.

-- Jerry L.