diagonal holders

Greg Granville (gag1@psu.edu)
Wed, 1 Mar 1995 23:11:29 -0400 (EDT)

Last year, when I was building my 6" dob, I obtained a spider and diagonal holder from university optics. The holder they sent for my 1.3" secondary was constructed with a piece of 1.5" aluminum tube with a 45 degree angle cut on the end. This seems to be an old design, as I've seen this type of secondary holder pictured in several ATM books and magazines. I stuffed some cotton inside the tubing to hold the mirror in place - snug up against three little retaining clips on the front of the tube. But now I'm thinking of fabricating my own secondary holder. The plan is to get a 1.3" piece of solid aluminum bar and mill a 45 degree angle on the end. Then I figured I'd just glue (RTV - silicone seal) the mirror directly to the end of the 1.3" aluminum piece. I'll reduce the obstruction from 1.5" to 1.3" while keeping exactly the same secondary mirror. Kinda makes me wonder why the tube-style of secondary holder is so common in the first place ??? ________________________________________________

Greg Granville - N3SPE - (day)814-865-3310 ARL-PSU gag1@psu.edu (eve)814-339-7244