ATM Collapsable truss tubes.

["Marco Miglionico" <marco.pm@btopenworld.com>]

Goodevening.

I've had an idea for truss tubes for 'suitcase scopes'. It would be an
inexpensive and lightweight way to minimise the size of the trusses
without compromising on strength.

Here goes. Example; 12in F6 scope. Trusses 1600mm long.
use 3/4in 0.049mm al. tubing. For suitcase application we want the truss
split
into 4 sections each 400mm long. These of course need to be joined STRONLY.
>From the same size of tubing (3/4in) cut 3 extra pieces 100mm long and split
them
right up the length with a hack saw. Now you have joining collars.use hose
clips
to fasten the tube parts with the collars together. Hey presto - very strong
join!

I would of course use a jig to make sure the parts were all the same length.

I estimate that the scope would take 10 - 15mins mins extra to set up than
normal.
(1-2mins for each truss tube)
It is a sacrifice, but a small price to pay for the whole scope getting into
the suitcase
without the expense of telescoping tubes.

I may try this on my next scope (planning a trip to La palma).

If anyone has any comments or opinions on this idea or has tried it before
do speak up and save us the pain of building a Frankenstein tube!
I'm confident it will work though!
That's just pride talking.

Marco Miglionico

www.geocities.com/telescopiman

p.s. I accept no liability far any mistakes made due to the fact I mix
metric
and imperial units. 'One day we will all use a standard unit of dimension
equal to
the distance travelled by light in the time it takes a quark under a
1,000,000,000,000J
LASER of wavelength 3.1415927nm at 1,000,000,000,000W/m2 to decay into
antimatter.
Set your watch by it.' Quote: -  Marco Miglionico; from yet unpublished book
'What not to say at a dinner party'.