Telescope secondary mirror support system

[pdentrem]

Today I spent some time cutting out a 2” disk out of a .125” thick piece of Kovar plate. Kovar and Borosilicate glass have fairly similar CTEs. Chucked in 4J and used a trepanning tool to cut it out. Now I have to drill some holes.
Pierre

 

[whydontu]

Thank you, learned a new alloy today. I’ve worked with Invar before, never heard of Kovar before.

 

[Tom Kitta]

Kovar - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Composition makes it sound like rather expensive alloy.

 

[pdentrem]

Expensive and not found on any street corner! We use it for parts in the aviation/space industry. Usually used for metal cover on chips and other electronics. Has to be plated - either 2 layer or best 4 layer. Ni, Au or Ni, Au, Ni, Au.
Pierre

 

[pdentrem]

All the machine work on this part is complete. Now to silicone glue the mirror to the round Kovar piece.
Pierre

 

[skippyelwell]

Newtonian with an elliptical secondary mirror?

 

[pdentrem]

Yeap. Just need 3 dots to glue the mirror. Could of made a triangle piece but a circle was easier.

 

[skippyelwell]

Nice, I use to be a telescope maker, a multi faceted occupation that demands you're fluent in math, engineering, design, aesthetics, electronics, geometry, ...
Would love see any other photos of your scope.

 

[Tom Kitta]

I always wanted to watch the stars... but somehow never got around to it. Except when I was a kid and when I was in college - took astronomy as elective - back when they did not have any extra terrestrial planets yet discovered.

 

[Susquatch]

I always wanted to watch the stars... but somehow never got around to it. Except when I was a kid and when I was in college - took astronomy as elective - back when they did not have any extra terrestrial planets yet discovered.

Ironically, other than colour, and how friggin many there are, there really isn't much to see looking at stars. It's the globular clusters, the nebulas, the galaxies, and the many other deep sky objects that turn my crank.

Whenever the sky is black and the seeing is good, I always start with the Andromeda Galaxy. First with my naked eye, and then with binoculars. It loses a lot in a telescope because it is so huge.

Most people don't know it, but the Andromeda Galaxy actually spans as big a part of the sky as the full moon does. You just can't see that with your naked eye or binoculars. It's amazing to even think about it.....