Telescope secondary mirror support system

[pdentrem]

Since the sky is smoked filled, I continue to work on my telescope build.
Made a couple whiffletrees for the support of the 13.1” telescope mirror. Wire EDM cut the crescents and popped a hole for the pivot bearing on my lathe. Next drilled the ends for 5mm threaded shoulder bolts to hold the support bearings. Today I cut the post that the whiffletrees sits on. They still need to be drilled and tapped for the pivot bolt.
Pierre
The smoke is to get worst on Tuesday in the Niagara area.

 

[Susquatch]

Made a couple whiffletrees for the support

I see how they are being used Pierre, but I find myself wondering what the definition of a whiffletree is.... Do they have other uses?

 

[pdentrem]

Whippletree or whiffletree are used in agriculture and also lifting loads.

 

[Susquatch]

Whippletree or whiffletree are used in agriculture and also lifting loads.

Ahhhh! I see! Now I have the big picture! Thank you very much. Guess I have used them as a balancer on my engine hoist but didn't know the proper English name for them.

We had draft horses on my home farm in Saskatchewan when I was a boy. We called those things an "Ortscheit" - pronounced "ort-shite".

We also used them on wagons and sleds and called them a swing bar or a
"Wagenschwengel" - we pronounced that "vah-gen-shveng-gel".

Thanks for the memories!

 

[pdentrem]

Printed a couple of mirror clips. They will hold the mirror from flopping out when close to the horizon.
Pierre
Short YouTube video. It may not be live until midnight?

 

[Tom O]

Says it’s private

 

[pdentrem]

You must of looked at it before midnight.

All it really shows is how the PLA support breaks away from the PETG part so cleanly.
Pierre

 

[historicalarms]

Ahhhh! I see! Now I have the big picture! Thank you very much. Guess I have used them as a balancer on my engine hoist but didn't know the proper English name for them.

We had draft horses on my home farm in Saskatchewan when I was a boy. We called those things an "Ortscheit" - pronounced "ort-shite".

We also used them on wagons and sleds and called them a swing bar or a
"Wagenschwengel" - we pronounced that "vah-gen-shveng-gel".

Thanks for the memories!

We called them single trees or double trees, depending on how many horses were hitched

 

[Kernel Sanders]

Hey pdentrem are you over on Cloudy Nights?
https://www.cloudynights.com/ (not sure if links are aloud, please remove if they aren't)
They would likely be interested in seeing your build too

I'm a total newb with a Celestron 4SE which so far I've only ever used it for planetary, sun, moon and so far this year terrestrial bird nest watching (Raven nest). lol

 

[pdentrem]

Yes I am on cloudynights. Been there a long time now. I will be posting a full build thread at the end.

Today’s job is printing and adding the mirror clips to the whiffletrees. These and one more at the opposite side of the mirror will stop it from flopping out when looking at the horizon, as mentioned before.
Pierre

 

[pdentrem]

I forgot to mention that these clips do not touch the mirror! They are there just incase of stupo stuff!

 

[pdentrem]

Test assembly of the support system. You can see the three mirror clips now. Need a few adjustments to the lengths of the whiffletrees posts and a few little clearance issues that some file work will fix up. Good day so far!
Pierre

 

[Susquatch]

What is the little triangle in the middle of the mirror Pierre?

 

[pdentrem]

It is part of the collimation system. It is a target applied to the center of the mirror. It has no effect on the usage of the scope as it is in the shade of the secondary mirror. The inventor passed away a few years ago, fortunately it has been picked up by other as it is a very good system.
Pierre

CATSEYE Collimation Main Page Frameset File

Information about CATSEYE brand Newtonian telescope collimation tools and primary mirror spotting accessories.

catseyecollimation.com