I am new at this.....

    Could anyone give me tips, ideas, and information on how to build a telescope? 

What kind of scope are you looking to make? A small refractor or a larger reflector. There are a lot of places to get parts. 

Here's a place to look for parts, but they go fast.

http://www.cloudynights.com/classifieds/showcat.php?cat=26

Also you can visit their DIY secton for tips and stuff.

http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php/Cat/0/Board/atm 

Here is just one of the links pages I use when researching a project. There's tons of ATM stuff in print and on the internet.

There are also a number of kits available, from some simple little refractors to some really sophisticated reflectors.

http://www.starastronomy.org/TelescopeMaking/Links/

Since you're just starting out, it would be a good idea to spend some time in the library with a few books on basic telescope design.Doesn't  do any good to build a scope from a kit or scratch if you don't have some understanding of the optical theory and mechanics involved.

Here on our clubs web site is a pictorial of a members 10" truss tube Dob being built. There are three pages of images. Change pages in the lower left of the page. They run from oldest to newest so start on the bottom right of page 3. Enjoy!

You might also go to  http://stellafane.org/atm/atm_main.htm  where amateur telescope making  pretty much started in this country.

Hope we can be of some help

Norm

Psalm 19.1 

You might well want to get THE book on telescope building before you start:

Dobsonian Telescope 

It has directions on how to built a telescope from 8" to 40", and not just plans, but the reasons why you need to make certain design choices.  David Kriege and Richard Berry did the hobby a great service with this book, buy it before you do anything else.

 
Happy reading.

 

hey guys, I am new to this ssite but not so new to the art of stargazing. My quandry is: I have purchased a 5 in meade newtoinian, no mount or tripod. I would like to use it as a dobsonian, where do I look for plans for the base and how hard would this be?

Again, look at the book in the post above yours.  There is a nice example of an 8" in the back.  It would not be too much of a stretch to make that design into a 5".

Good luck,

jamason_2000:

hey guys, I am new to this ssite but not so new to the art of stargazing. My quandry is: I have purchased a 5 in meade newtoinian, no mount or tripod. I would like to use it as a dobsonian, where do I look for plans for the base and how hard would this be?

Hi,

 You can take a look at my website (address in the signature) for some pictures and ideas. My solution is only one of many possibilities. I would suggest just looking around on the www to see what other amateur telescope builders have done. You will be surprized at how much you can find on-line and most telescope builders are happy to answer e mail questions.

 Good luck with your project.

Bill

HI,

I would like to start with a simple refractor. Nothing fancy, relatively cheap parts all purchased (use PVC pipe or similar for the tube). I guess what follows is a bunch of usual beginners questions. Thanks to anyone who takes their time to respond:

I wanted to go with the 50mm obj. lens from surplushed.com, but those are not available at the moment. Should I go with a a larger 70-80mm lens? I did found some instructions on how to build a small simple refractors (shorty, copyscope), but could this (80mm) be to much? Is it better to use approxf/11 or approx f/5,6 since both are available for such project? Are the baffles neccessary for this type of project/scope? Where on www can I read more?

Does anyone have a source for inexpensive focusers (stuff that I would not be afraid to mess up/break/destroy)? (currently not available on surplushed) and other equipment?

Again I want to do this for educational prurposes, but I would like to have reasonably usable first project when finished.

Thanks in advance!

If this is mostly for educational purposes, Edmund Scientific offers a low power refractor telescope kit just for this. If it is for classroom teaching they offer discount pricing.

http://scientificsonline.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_3071473

Here is some stuff at the Shed. They are in the 70 to 90 mm range and have at least a 500mm focal length. Any shorter FL and you have a finder scope. I like the 80mm X 900mm objective. It would make a nice scope. You could use 20mm through 5mm eyepieces and get descent magnification.

http://www.surplusshed.com/pages/item/l3002.html

http://www.surplusshed.com/pages/item/l3498.html

http://www.surplusshed.com/pages/item/l3946.html 

http://www.surplusshed.com/pages/item/m2913.html

Scope stuff

http://www.scopestuff.com/ss_fr2s.htm 

Hope this helps.

JJ

Hi,

Inexpensive focusers are easy to find. Sometimes they are available from Mead Instruments factory outlet (found at www.meade.com). I picked up a new 2" focuser from a discontinued Meade telescope series for about $20. You can also find inexpensive focusers on ebay.

Good luck with your telescope.

Bill