[ATM] Suggestion for working on telescope tube/storage

[John Lynch <john_lynch2006@yahoo.com>]

To the ATM list:

When I constructed my 6" f/6 reflector a few years
ago, I made two cradles (5/4" thick X 4" high X 15"
long pine boards with cutouts to match the telescope
tube's curvature and lined with wool felt) to help
steady the tube so that it wouldn't rotate.  I saved
these blocks after the telescope was finished in the
event the telescope had to be put into storage or
worked on again.  I recently sent 
my equatorial mount back to the factory in California
to have a declination slow-motion control (tangent
arm) fitted to the equatorial head, and kept the OTA
in the blocks and covered with plastic for a few
months.  It has proven to be very useful on several
occasions, and I just thought I'd offer this
suggestion 
as a good way of securing the tube when you need to
work on it or store it.  The cutout can be done with a
bandsaw and smoothing the wood with a drum sander
before afixing the felt.

Regards,

John Lynch


	
		
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