10" f4.8 DIY OTA

[robjohnb]

Thought I would share some pictures of the OTA I've just completed.

The concept was to make the OTA portable for taking to dark sites ( I'm in Greater London) with easy disassembly and re-assembly, lightweight and low cost.

Main concern with the construction was rigidity and maybe weight when fitted to an eq5-mount, these size OTA's are usually found on Dob's but I may just get away with it.

Finding the right materials had been a task. Sourcing alu tubing, quality ply-wood and tube lining.

It still needs some adjustments but all parts put together and roughly aligned and tested. Discovered that light is leaking into eyepiece view, so top section will need to be longer.

Regards, Robert

[JamesF]

Very nice. A shroud and a dew shield might fix the light leakage problem?

James

[teleskopjo]

How will you attach this to the side rockers? Is that an orion optics mirror?

[JamesF]

How will you attach this to the side rockers?

My reading is that it is not to be attached to rockers at all.

James

[Carbon]

That's a great looking scope whether you mount it on an EQ or dob mount. Attaching large radius alt bearings can be a challenge if you decide to build a dob mount.

[wookie1965]

I'm so impressed how talented people are i could never attempt that and people say im good with my hands and ask me to help them with diy jobs.

[Moonshane]

very original and well executed scope!

[Mr Spock]

Nothing beats a good home build and this one's a beauty. Excellent.

[angusb1]

Looks to me like there's a dovetail to fit it to the eq5 puck hiding behind the truss pole at the bottom/front in the first pic. Nice scope, should go together very quickly in the dark.

[robjohnb]

Thanks for the comments, nice to hear other astro enthusiast's view point.

This picture shows the eq5 fixing. The standard counter weights for eq5 are just not quite enough, suggests the OTA is too heavy.

The primary I believe is Orion.

Rob