I'd be more concerned about vibration finding it's way into every observation you make. If you were only using powers in the range of 20-50x, you might get away with it, but with the tube you're describing, you'll be using higher magnifications and it'll "wiggle". Cold as hell to touch in the winter, too.
>One more thing - would it be
preferable to use the traditional
wooden >structure than, say, an aluminium frame in the altitude fork?
>I could use a fairly heavy guage aluminium. The ultimate aim would still
>be to improve the portability, though.
>Koot Pieterse
>badjjp@puknet.puk.ac.za
You might have a look at an article in S&T June 76 called I think "Structural considerations for telescopes" . This article covers some of what been discussed in this thread.
Donald Clement
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