Posts Made By: P. Lee Stock

I just love the way this nests together into a tidy box. Good job! I saw this in an earlier post and enjoyed thinking about how it went together.

Lee

Please keep us informed--especially regarding weight and stiffness comparisons to traditional Kriege-Berry scopes. You already know it looks great, so it will be fun to hear how it performs.

Love the mirror cell, BTW.

Lee

Sure is interesting to compare the two (the traditional vs. the innovative).

Very, very sharp-looking! I'm imagining a lightweight black and silver mount made from carbon fiber and aluminum to match that gorgeous OTA ;^).

Hi Walter,

I honestly don't know, but wouldn't think it would work well off-hand. Polyurethane itself is very durable, especially after several coats are applied. As mentioned a little earlier this week, you can add stain to make it different colors. I've even "ebonized" it by adding black dye stain with wonderful results--like a black lacquer piano.

You can lay down several coats with only a brush or pad, sanding it flat and to remove the dust nibs, runs and sags after each coat, then spray only the final coat to get a smooth, brushless surface. That way you don't have to buy $200 worth of polyurethane in spray cans. I also recommend gloss polyurethane for all but the last coat, which I generally do in satin.

To summarize, I'd buy a 1 gallon can of gloss polyurethane, add a stain to color if you wish, and apply several coats, sanding as close to flat as you can between each one. (I do at least 6 coats before I begin to see a nice flat and regular overall surface begin to emerge). Then do a final sanding (I generally use 320 or 400 grit for the final sanding) and spray the last coat using satin from cans. For an 8" or 10" like the ones I make, it would take about 4 cans. So that would add up to $20 for the gallon of gloss and probably $24 for the four cans of satin. You can see why it quickly becomes worth it to buy a compressor and finish gun if you are going to do this a lot.

Good luck!

Lee

I can't help myself--I have to keep coming back and looking at this. I like the fir wood tripod legs, the true Surrerier truss, the Giro-ish mount, the imposing focal length, and the overall technical look. What a nice-looking telescope.

Lee

Hi Bill,

It's not an Obsession clone, but I made this budget truss scope for a friend for a total cost of less than $250 excluding optics. The mirrors were taken from a crumbling 16" Meade dob at a cost of around another $800'ish.

Rear view of the back plate holding the cell. The 3 round knobs around the perimeter quickly unscrew to release the plate and cell from the end ring. (I brand most of my projects with the horse logo). The fan cover is a speaker grill--any car stereo shop that installs will probably have boxes of these pulled during installation and will probably provide them to you either cheap or free. I think they dress it up nicely.

Thanks Bill, maybe I'll have to consider that someday!

Nice. I like it.