Just wondering how many have done this and how difficult this is?  Is building your own telescope something that is ONLY for experienced viewers?  Or is it basic enough for a beginner?  While we were at the McDonald Observatory, a gentleman brought his 18 inch homemade telescope.  He saved $7,000 by building it himself.  It's just got me wondering how hard this process is?

Could someone please delete this thread??  I missed this forum and didn't see the other threads already started.  I will just research those.

Hi Gingerale,

Building your own telescope is surprisingly easy and it is something a beginner can do. I built my first telescope, a 10" Dobsonian, when I was 16 years old. I read a 3 part installment in Astronomy ("How to Build a Dobsonian Telescope" by Bob Kestner and Richard Berry, June-August 1980), purchased the materials, and just followed the instructions. The www makes things even easier for a beginning telescope builder. You will be surprised how much you can find on-line, and most telescope builders are very eager to answer questions and help.

 You can look at my website (address in the signature) for some ideas. My telescope is a homebuilt goto telescope, which is more than a first time builder may want to attempt. I would recomend you build a basic Dobsonian style telescope: these are very easy to build and extremely good beginner telescopes. There are lots of on-line articles and Dobsonian books available. The following is considered to be one of the best:

The Dobsonian Telescope: A Practical Manual for Building Large Aperture Telescopes by David Kriege and Richard Berry, 6" by 9" inches, 496 pages, hardbound, 179 pictures, 88 drawings and 34 tables. $29.95

Good luck with you project.

Bill

Thank you, Bill.  You have a lot of very helpful information.  I will look into purchasing that book and continue to research this more.  I'm very interested in building one at some point.

I consider myself still  newbie, and I've finished (I think) building my first telescope, an 8" reflector. It really wasn't all that hard, with some basic woodworking skills. I was able to get both mirrors online, so I didn't do any grinding or polishing (!). The hardest part is being careful with your measurements.