Re: ATM 6" Dob: How Easy?

[Ross Orr/Margaret Wong <rotohut@ic.net>]

Hi Brent--

>OK, so I'd like a telescope. I think a 6" Newt would be very nice and
>a slick Dobsonian mount should work well enough.

Sounds exactly like what I went through back in February. . . you might get
a few ideas from my webpages at:

http://www.glpbooks.com/oyb/roscope/index.html

The main thing I discovered after everything was done was that my
top-mounted eyepiece requires a bit too much craning your neck over the
scope, not so comfortable in long sessions.

>For a 6" mirror in an 8" x 48" tube, is all that 3/4" plywood really
>necessary?

Your instincts are absolutely correct!  The original dobson plans (and
derivatives like the designs in Berry's _Build Your Own Telescope_) are
hideously overbuilt. I used 1/4" masonite for most of my tube--and next
time I would use something even thinner (like 3/16" "doorskin" plywood).

Good luck,

--Ross

===============================
||  "No home can have too much Pyrex"
||        --1923 advertisment, Corning Glass Works