ATM 20 inch Binoculars take form

["Clive Milne" <milnecd@wantree.com.au>]

        Yes, more pictures to look at on my web page......
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Cafe/7068/

.....The latatest six images show the first of the twin tube assemblies as
it takes form, as you can see it has been constructed entirely out of
aluminium. I purposely chose heavy gauge materials as binoculars require an
order of magnitude more rigidity than a standard telescope. Even so, the
tube assembly tips the scales at a whisker under 30 lb's.....   Transfering
the basic design to a monocular you could easily bring it in for well under
half that.... I figured that 30lb's isnt that big a deal to me at least, so
there it is....
    The mirror cell end is not finished..... the completed structure will
incorperate inverted triangular pyramids that transfer the wieght of the
mirror and the truss loads directly to the Alt bearing with only compressive
and tensile forces..... It's a little complex to explain so you will just
have to wait until I have the thing built to see the what I am talking
about..... it's a little more work than a standard cell, but in the context
of the whole project, no biggie really....... The nature of the mount that I
am using affords me about 4 inches of space behind each primary mirror,  All
I have done is tried to utilise it to best advantage......What the heck,
it's not as if an extra pound or two is a bad thing when it is located below
your C of G..... For an old pic of my original concept model, take a peek
here.....
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Cafe/7068/bino4.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Cafe/7068/bino2.jpg
.....The design has been somewhat modified since then.....and no, I am not
going to make another scale model....*G*...... My time is kinda taken up
with the real thing at the moment....
    P.S....   I aoplogise for the composition of the pics, unfortunately
that is as plain a backdrop as I could find around here....
    Enjoy.....