Re: ATM "more normal" scope pix

[Michael Lindner <mikel@att.net>]

Kent Cheatham wrote:
> 
> I have a 13" coulter (5 yr old)...

I also just got a used 13.1" coulter. Shipping weight was 110 pounds.
This is a nice scope, folks. I foucault tested the mirror (it's 1/4 wave
on the wavefront), built a 6 point flotation cell, which took 10 pounds
off the back end (I had to move the bearings). I then cut out a bunch of
holes in the sides of the rocker box, made a new, much lighter ground
board (I can now lift the base with one hand - it used to be 50 pounds),
replaced the azimuth bearings with magic sliders, replaced the spider,
secondary holder, and focuser with Wolanski ones. I'm in the process of
adding dew heaters, a big dew cap, and a counterweight system (to
balance the big dew cap).

I'm eventually going to make it into a truss, I think, just to save
space in the car (so maybe I can bring the family places too :^).

You can see my project (at least the parts I have scanned in so far),
including a good description of how I made the mirror cell) at
http://www.starastronomy.org/TelescopeMaking/index.html - hope this
helps.

--
Mike Lindner