Almost three years to the day I started this, the telescope is finally finished. I’ve had to make a lot of changes along the way. Refinements, tweaks and modifications abound. I really never intended to do anything this complicated but the thing just kind of took me over. My sense of relief at having finished it is colossal.
I am aware that I’m going to get totally raked over the coals about these images. At some point I will have to get better photos. But the weather is crappy here and I have no “studio” to photograph in so I had to kind of fake it.
I still need to adjust the scope (collimate is the correct term) but that will have to wait for some decent weather as it has to be done outside and takes a bit of time. But the thing balances well (that was a fussy process in itself) and the movement is smooth and stable in all directions. I needed a lot more counterweight than I originally thought so I had to whack my counterweight and fill in with some cast iron weight plates. I needed twelve pounds to counterbalance the scope and there was no way to cram that much shot into my wood weight.
So, anyway… for what it is worth, here it is and now I can get on with the other part of my life!
