The Make a Telescope Project
Follow along as I make a reflector telescope- And learn how to do it yourself
This is the beginning of my new project where I make a telescope. I have ordered an eight inch primary mirror off ebay. It was a great deal on a brand new mirror and I will be building a telescope around it. Here you can see what I do and how I build it and I will teach you all the tricks and techniques so you can build one yourself if you are thinking about building one.
About the Mirror
I bought it off ebay (It’s brand new) and it is an eight inch in diameter primary mirror with an F/4 focal length. This focal length while exactly not what I am looking for will make this project a bit easier because it means a smaller telescope and tube. I had considered making something with a longer F ration because it would be better for planetary viewing. But this is ok, it will be a great project and should give a terrific field of view so I will use it for deep space astronomical viewing. Of course I will still use it to look at the planets! I have started this project, You can check it out here: How to make a small reflector telescope
Update: I have received the 8″ Mirror and it looks great. The next step will be for me to build a Foucault tester so I can test it.
About the Books
I am armed with quite a few books on the subject of telescope making and I will give you a run down of them. I will also be writing reviews of these books so you can get a good sense of which books you might want to buy if you are going to be making a telescope.
- Standard Handbook for Telescope Making – Neale E. Howard
- Making Your own Telescope – Allyn J. Thompson
- How to Make a Telescope – Jean Texereau
- Amateur Telescope Making – Stephen F. Tonkin (editor)
New Project started. I have started the 4 1/4″ reflector telescope project. I made a temporary tube assembly to test it all out. Worked great. You can follow along with that project here: How to make a Newtonian Reflector Telescope
