Thursday, September 3, 2009

16" Mirror Arrives safely

I picked up the packages that contain my 16" mirror, spider, secondary, focuser, and a little surprise: A Meade Coffee Cup!! (Thanks Richard).  You know, you don't really think about how big something is until you get it.  When I pulled the mirror out, it was kind of overwhelming to see it.  I did get a tape measure out and confirm that it indeed is 16" wide (instead of 18 or 20, hehehehehe)

The secondary was larger than I expected.  I measured it to be about 3 5/8" wide.  Pretty big for visual use, but not big enough to cause a problem (you want to stay between 20% to 25%).  I measured the spider and it is just about the right size for my purposes.

Now the fun begins!  I will start with the secondary ring and bearings, and then onto the mirror box.  I need to start getting stuff together to sell so that I can afford the truss system.  This is where I learn patience.  Pretty hard to do when there is a nice 16" mirror waiting to reflect some photons.

Cannot wait to start cutting wood!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello Jason! Great to see the mirror set arrived safely. I don't know if I mentioned that the scope this set of optics came from was found here on Craigslist. The owner hadn't been using it for some time and wanted to free-up the funds for an outdoor playset for his 18 month old daughter.

Richard

Undermidnight said...

Hey Richard! Yep, optics arrived safely. I think I will end up selling the secondary and spider. Just to get something smaller (and lighter). The 16" will be my dream telescope and I am pulling out all the stops so I am getting a Protostar spider.

Anonymous said...

That 16" mirror looks sharp. I can't wait to see it all come together. You're sure to draw a crowd outside your house with this one.

Matt R.

Undermidnight said...

Cannot wait, if I play my cards right, I may be able to finish it in the fall instead of the winter. Crossing fingers...