Amateur Telescope Making Pictures

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Guy Brandenburg and John showing the NOVAC banner at Stellafane in 2002. Stellafane is an outdoor convention of Amateur Telescope Makers which is held each August in Springfield, Vermont. Bobbie and John camp there in a tent, even after her stroke. Since our tent is close to the food tent, it's a nice hangout for NOVAC ATMers - Bill Burton and Jerry Wolczanski are regulars. This year John brought his new 12.5 inch telescope. He is holding the upper cage assembly, and the mirror box is in the process of having the struts attached.


John showing his first scope, a 6-inch Dobsonian, at Stellafane in 1999. Note the NOVAC cap, as well as the High Tea Shirt. Photo from Stellafane web site.	John with his new 12.5-inch scope camping at Stellafane.

The 6-inch mirror was made under the direction of Jerry Schnall, of the National Capital Astronomers (NCA). Most of these pictures were taken in the NCA mirror-making workshop meeting on Friday evenings in the basement of the McKinley building at American University. Guy Brandenburg is now the active workshop leader, but Jerry is still the expert.

John and Jerry John polishing Mirror on stand

John polishing as instructor Jerry Schnall looks on. It may look like the cerium oxide is messy, but just try rouge! John with aperture fever at the NCA mirror workshop, polishing his 12.5-inch mirror. The mirror in the test stand. The first test showed a pretty spherical shape with a pretty small turned down edge. The focal length is 65 inches. That's F 5.2.

I have two herneated disks in my C-spine, and I find the effort expended in pushing glass helped build up the muscles around the neck, as well as anything else in physical therapy.

The cage polishing QuickCam

The upper cage. The spider uses bicycle spokes for struts. The spokes are several different lengths. Spokes can be shortened by a bolt cutter and then ground flat. I threaded them with a 2-56 die, which was adjusted to about half a size larger. The diagonal holder and spider. I'm not sure where one leaves off and the other begins. The holder itself is 2 inch PVC pipe. The two hubs are cut from 1/8 inch aluminum, threaded to accept a small 1/4 inch (i.d.) pipe. A QuickCam repackaged for use at prime focus. No camera adapters here. The three parts are a 0.25 inch plastic base, a 1.25 inch drain pipe, and a truncated pill bottle.

New Dob mount

The finder scope is made from a broken pair of 35mm binoculars. The objective fits perfectly in the wide end of the 1.25 drain pipe. The ocular is wrapped with adhesive tape, which ensures a friction fit and holds the cross-hairs in place. The scope is held by two right angle brackets and is held in place by springs. One of the two perpendicular adjustment screws can be seen. Below the scope are the Daisy BB-gun sight and the QuickCam. The toggle switch controls the dew heater on the diagonal mirror, giving 0.5 W and 2 W settings. NEW! This is the new mount for the 12.5" scope. At is based on the article by Mel Bartles in the August 2004 Sky & Telescope, but the skate wheels are on the inside of the ring, rather than the outside. There are four Teflon pads instead of three because both the ring and the rocker box are expected to flex a bit, so even pressure should be maintained. Having four pads should reduce the flexure.

Plumbing focuser Channelling

Ed Karch's plumbing focuser, part of his donated door prize for the 2004 NOVAC Star Gaze. Shaun Parkin cutting channels in his pitch lap using a soldering iron with a V-shaped attachment.

Ellen and Bill Bryson Pedro Martinez Collimation

Ellen and Bill Bryson grinding their second mirror, a 10 incher. Before each polishing session, Pedro Martinez ensures that the pitch lap conforms to the mirror by cold pressing. Collimating a Newtonian.

Aluminizing John and Gerry Jerry Wolczanski

Guy is placing Steve Johnson's mirror into the vacuum chamber for aluminizing. NOVAC members Jerry Wolczanski and John Avellone. John exhibited several projects at Stellafane in 2000. That is a fire extinguisher made into a finder scope. John's famous AstroCan telescope is at the right. Jerry explaining how his telescope works at the annual session at Camp High Road in 2000.

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Last modified: Fri 29 Jun 2005


John polishing as instructor Jerry Schnall looks on. It may look like the cerium oxide is messy, but just try rouge!	John with aperture fever at the NCA mirror workshop, polishing his 12.5-inch mirror.	The mirror in the test stand. The first test showed a pretty spherical shape with a pretty small turned down edge. The focal length is 65 inches. That's F 5.2.


The upper cage. The spider uses bicycle spokes for struts. The spokes are several different lengths. Spokes can be shortened by a bolt cutter and then ground flat. I threaded them with a 2-56 die, which was adjusted to about half a size larger.	The diagonal holder and spider. I'm not sure where one leaves off and the other begins. The holder itself is 2 inch PVC pipe. The two hubs are cut from 1/8 inch aluminum, threaded to accept a small 1/4 inch (i.d.) pipe.	A QuickCam repackaged for use at prime focus. No camera adapters here. The three parts are a 0.25 inch plastic base, a 1.25 inch drain pipe, and a truncated pill bottle.


Ed Karch's plumbing focuser, part of his donated door prize for the 2004 NOVAC Star Gaze.	Shaun Parkin cutting channels in his pitch lap using a soldering iron with a V-shaped attachment.


Ellen and Bill Bryson grinding their second mirror, a 10 incher.	Before each polishing session, Pedro Martinez ensures that the pitch lap conforms to the mirror by cold pressing.	Collimating a Newtonian.


Guy is placing Steve Johnson's mirror into the vacuum chamber for aluminizing.	NOVAC members Jerry Wolczanski and John Avellone. John exhibited several projects at Stellafane in 2000. That is a fire extinguisher made into a finder scope. John's famous AstroCan telescope is at the right.	Jerry explaining how his telescope works at the annual session at Camp High Road in 2000.