Re: atm V1 #149 (truss tube

Tom Lum (tom_lum@quickmail.sps.mot.com)
10 Jul 1995 18:28:59 -0500

Subject : RE>atm V1 #149 (truss tube design) Date : 7/10/95 Time : 6:24 PM

Aart M. Olsen (aart@uiuc.edu) writes:

>Has anyone made a real Serrurier design, where there is a bottom truss >that
is designed to sag as much as the top so there is no angular shift >of the secondary and focuser from the optical axis? Most ATM designs >have only the top set of poles set in a solid and more rigid bottom >box. Is this just half of a Serrurier? Once you get to decent poles, >say 1.25 aluminum, is the nonsymmetrical sag small enough not to >matter? -------------------------------------- At last, someone else out there realizes what a Serrurier truss design really is! My own 17.5" has truss tubes above and below the center section but is not a balanced design like the Hale (200") telescope. I have not found any differential sagging but then on a small scope like mine, it wouldn't be practically measurable. I did it only for the most compact design (disassembled) to fit in the trunk of my car.

-- Tom Lum (tom_lum@risc.sps.mot.com)