How
I built the 12 inch scope
Details
|
Grit size / Task |
Time in hours
|
................Notes
|
|
Angle Grinder
|
1.5
|
Sagitta ground down to 1.5mm |
|
60
|
9
|
Depth is 2.91mm |
|
120
|
5.5
|
depth is 3.31, Sun test f 5.4 |
|
240
|
30.5
|
Should have done more 120. f 4.6 |
|
400
|
4
|
Pits came out fast |
|
600
|
3
|
Pits came out fast |
|
1200
|
18
|
Spent most time chasing scratches |
|
Polishing
|
7
|
A lot of sweat! |
|
Figuring
|
5
|
Very challenging. f 4.9 |
|
Light testing (total)
|
3
|
|
|
Construction of scope frame
|
6
|
|
|
Odds, calculations, sun test.
|
5
|
|
|
Total time :
|
92.5 hours
|
It's my first scope, so I'm happy. |
Tests outside before aluminizing
| The eyepiece I bought is a Vixen LV-Zoom 8mm - 24mm. In dad's 10-inch scope it works excellently. I used a budgie mirror as a secondary mirror. It was useless as the mirror is on the back of the glass, result - double image. I used dad's secondary out of his scope. This worked fine. The results are I could see everything I can see with my 4.5-inch telescope, which is aluminized. I could see Orion, crisp & clear but little colour. Jupiter and its 4 main moons were clear but I could not resolve the bands on Jupiter. I could easily split Alpha Centauri down to 8mm with a small amount of flaring. The moon's craters are crisp but detail is lost when I zoomed in to 8mm. In general I am very happy with the scope. At the moment I am debating on whether to chemically silver the mirror or send it of to be aluminized. |
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