Ever since I started observing in 1997, it has been my dream to own a large aperture telescope. The major drawbacks were the cost, size and weight. When I saw a 13.1" Coulter mirror on Astromart that was being sold by my friend Jorge Morales, I realized this was my chance to get my "dream scope". Jorge graciously allowed me to purchase the mirror on an easy payment plan. I had seen an article in the March 2003 Sky and Telescope with instructions on how to build a hemispherical reflector by Randall Wehler and after some research, I started purchasing parts and planning the details.
I purchased the mirror in October of 2004 and the basic scope was completed by Christmas of that year. However, it took another three years of tweaking to get everything working to my satisfaction. The finished scope is a pleasure to use - it moves smoothly in any direction with the eyepiece almost always at a comfortable height. Vibrations are minimal and setup and breakdown take only a couple of minutes.
This was the first telescope I built and it is actually a hybrid design. The base is almost identical to Randall's design in S&T, however the truss and upper secondary ring design are much more like the minimalist designs of Albert Highe. I chose this design because the base was very simple in concept and I have no wordworking skills and the wordworking I did on my own took place in my kitchen with just a few basic tools. I had the help of a good friend, Paul Klahn, who has a great wood shop in his basement to build most of the basic parts. Some of the other pieces were made with the help of my brother-in-law, Raul Queri.
For details on how it all went together, step right this way...
If you're going out observing tonight, be sure to visit my Deep Sky Database to build your observing lists.
Questions, comments? Send an email to duanefrybarger@yahoo.com.
This site is a part of the Virtual Colony of Duane Frybarger
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