Telescope

General Pictures

My homebuilt 17-½ inch telescope.

Some pictures from the 1993 RTMC web site.

Collimation Control Motor controller schematic:

for each collimation motor (Adobe Acrobat format)

Replace the Focuser

The old Lumicon focuser

The new FeatherTouch focuser. I finally got a chance to try this new focuser out on Labor Day weekend. WOW! It is a delight to use. There is absolutely no backlash. Turning the knobs feels as nice as stroking fine satin. The focus absolutely stays put. I just cannot say enough nice things about this fine piece of machinery. Go buy one!

SAS Presentation

16 March 2005

Pictures from the mirror cell rebuild project:

Counterweight Reduction Table

(All weights in grams, all distances in inches. Sorry about the mixed metaphor but I don't have a metric ruler.)

	Old Weight	New Weight	Difference	Old Dist	New Dist	Old Moment	New Moment	Diff
Counterweight	1125	0	1125	-50	-50	-56250	0	-56250

Fan	87	81	6	15	15 1/2	1305	1256	50		Replace 1.5" fan and duct with 3" fan
Fan Hole Aluminum	78	0	78	16 1/8	16 1/8	1261	0	1261		3" diameter
Fan Hole Plywood	96	0	96	17	17	1628	0	1628		3" diameter (chamferred)
Tailgate Center Board	2495	1373	1122	16 5/8	16 5/8	41479	22826	18653		Cut out unnecesary wood
Tailgate Back Board	366	0	366	17 1/8	17 1/8	6268	0	6268		Routed to match center board, 1/4 inch deep
Batteries	1301	400	901	10 1/2	2 1/4	13661	900	12761		Replace 8 D-cells with SLA battery embedded in bearing
Battery Cutout	130	0	130	2 1/4	2 1/4	293	0	293
Motor Control Card mount	29	0	29	15 1/2	16	450	0	450		Remove excess metal
Motor Connectors		15	-15	17	17	0	255	-255		Replace plugs with barrier strips
Motor cables			0	17	17	0	0	0		Replace 8 oversized wires with 5 smaller ones, remove extra plugs
Limit sensor cables			0	17	17	0	0	0		Replace 8 oversized wires with 5-wire flat cable
Mirror hanger triangles	128	94	34	13	13	1664	1222	442		Remove excess metal
Barrier Strip	48	21	27	16 1/2	16	792	336	456		Replace oversized conncector with smaller one
Handle Screws		-1	1	18 1/2	18 1/2	0	-19	19		Trim excess length - 3/16"
Power Socket	29	0	29	18 1/2	19	537	0	537		Replace XLR connector with disk drive power connector
Fan switch	4	3	1	18 1/2	20 1/8	74	60	14		Replace toggle switch with rocker switch in back board. Switch will replace plywood.
Limit Sensor Brackets	15	16	-1	18	18	270	288	-18		Cut out unnecesary metal (add cable holder)
Motor Mount Brackets	70	53	17	18	18	1260	954	306		Cut out unnecesary metal
Power relay	0	3	-3	17	17	0	51	-51		Add relay for power control rather than run power through ribbon cable
Power and Paddle wiring		58	-58	18	18	0	1044	-1044		Not complete!
Front Fan	0	81	-81	11	11	0	891	-891
Front Fan Hole	42	0	42	11	11	462	0	462
Tailgate screws	14	0	14	18 1/2	18 1/2	259	0	259		Remove two 1/4-28 screws from back right next to 3/4 inch bolts
Capacitor	11	1	10	16 1/2	16 1/2	182	17	165
Hinge Bolts	49	41	8	19	19	931	779	152		Use 1/4" shorter bolts
Aluminum Plate Holes	10	0	10	18 5/8	18 5/8	182	0	182		3/4 inch holes
Aluminum Plate Holes	5	0	5	18	18	88	0	88		3/4 inch hole
Aluminum Plate Holes	1	0	1	16	16	14	0	14		5/16" wire pass-through
Rocker Box routing	950	0	950	14	14	13300	0	13300
Control Socket/Plug	33	97	-64	18 1/2	18	611	1746	-1136
Control Padle Bracket	27	0	27	18 1/2	18 1/2	500	0	500		Cut off extra metal
			3681	g				54861	g-in
			8.12	lbs			To Go:	1389	g-in
								98%

Current CW								28	g
								0.06	lbs
Conversions
0.002204623	grams to pounds
2700	kg/m3	Aluminum Density
61023.75899	in3/m3
1000	g/kg
0.044245062	kg/in3	Aluminum Density
44.245062	g/in3	Aluminum Density
7.856	g/in3	Plywood Density