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Building a 10" f/4,5 airline Dobsonian

Roel

By Roel
in DIY Astronomer

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Roel

Roel

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I am currently rebuilding my 10" truss Dob into a suitcase-type scope that can be transported as hand luggage on an airplane. Everything but the trusses fits inside a wooden case of 14" x 14" x 8". The case itself serves as the bottom plate + rockerbox. The trusses are simple L-shaped aluminum rods that can be transported in one D=40mm PVC tube that will easily fit between the normal luggage (in a big suitcase)

I've just finished the painting, and I will upload more pictures soon.

More pictures of building the scope can be found here:

Zelfbouw: 254mm f/4,5 kofferdobson (UPDATE 4-6-’10) Roelblog

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Roel

Roel

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Actually, the "other" Dutch ATM (I guess you mean Sumerian) is a friend of mine. I don't know which one of us caught the virus first, but one thing is for sure: building truss Dobs is VERY addictive. A 12" is being designed as we speak...

As promised, a few photo's of the painted, almost finished telecope:

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boboco

boboco

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A Thing of Beauty indeed! Do you have the plans for this?

While I am pretty hopeless with wood, I do have an uncle to teaches woodwork and a 10" f4.8 dob that's not being used much. f4.8 vs f4.5 - could I copy directly or would I need to vary the distance on the struts considerably?

Cheers,

Karl.

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barkis

barkis

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I just get a great feeling when I see structures made of wood.

Of course the Aluminium Struts are complimentary as well as desirable. A wooden mirror is impossible :D.

Congratulations on a superb build.

If you also ground and polished & figured the mirror, then it is a supreme acheivement.

Ron.:)

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Roel

Roel

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Do you have the plans for this?

I never work with plans. I always start with the most inner part of the final package: the secondary cage. Then I make the other parts to fit around it. It's always a bit of a suprise how big the final package will be exactly!

how do you make the round / curved bits? How do you make sure they are exactly the right curvature?

My woodworking skills are limited to a table saw for the straight cuts and a jig saw for the round parts. I once tried a router but that was no succes...

If you also ground and polished & figured the mirror...

If I only got the patience... :)

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barkis

barkis

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I never work with plans. I always start with the most inner part of the final package: the secondary cage. Then I make the other parts to fit around it. It's always a bit of a suprise how big the final package will be exactly!

My woodworking skills are limited to a table saw for the straight cuts and a jig saw for the round parts. I once tried a router but that was no succes...

If I only got the patience... :)

Oh, I'm sure you have Roel, it's finding the time maybe.:D

It's great though, when your astronomy has a strong hands on element to it. What you've done is very nice indeed.

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Roel

Roel

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Oh, by the way. This is not the first truss-kit I built for this mirror set. I use to have a smaller, lighter version of this scope but because a 300mm f/4 mirror set is on its way, the 250mm telescope will be redundant soon.

Although it was light and small, it was not really strong. It had also a lot of loose parts that made it a bit awkward to set up. So I built this more rigid version that would be more suitable to be sold. It got first light just yesterday and it works fine. So bye bye 250mm, hello 300mm! (Can't wait for the mirrors to arrive!)

This is a picture of the previous version, on a trip to La Palma. You can see that especially the secondary cage was pretty delicate.

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Moonshane

Moonshane

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the work of both of you guys is just fabulous. well done indeed. not only brilliantly designed but also beautiful to look at and very functional with every possible corner cut to reduce weight/size; albeit without losing the strength needed to do the job. quite awe inspiring.

this is probably a stupid question but where do you put the struts? presumably in your suitcase?

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