Here we have a simple plywood disk mirror cell in the mirror box. there are 18 felt pads at the calculated points for support of the mirror.
Here I’ve cut out two 30″ diameter altitude bearings and matching rocker box sides from a single 2’x4’by3/4″ sheet of plywood.
Here we see the altitude bearings attached to the mirror box, resting on the rocker box with the mirror resting on its cell.
Look what Fedex brought
It’s the seed from which a 16″ lowrider dobsonian telescope will grow. I’ve been daydreaming about building a larger telescope for a while when I came across this on the Cloudy Nights classifieds for a nice price. 16″ has been in the back of my head for years as a good size. On the cusp of being a large scope but not really having to deal with big scope problems like weight, cool down, or $$$. 16″ would typically just be $$ not $$$. More to come as I build stuff to go around it.
Moon over DeGray Lake
Here is the former “super” Moon setting over DeGray Lake Saturday morning. I’m always a sucker for a Moon in blue sky.
