First home made DOB

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helicon United States of America
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First home made DOB

#1

Post by helicon »


I'd like to tell the story of my first Dob.

First of all, I was introduced to the San Francisco Sidewalk Astronomers and John Dobson at the age of 13. I quickly resolved to build my own 8" Dob, which would be a big upgrade from my previous scope, an Edmund "red tube" 4 1/4" f/10 reflector. That scope had served me since I was eleven and one I had drooled over for years before that reading the old Edmund Scientific catalogs. My neighbors down the street had gotten an Astroscan and they gave me the catalog that came with it.

Here's a review of this oldie by Ed Ting:
https://www.scopereviews.com/page1x.html


John provided some guidance and tutelage. But rather than using old porthole glass for the primary mirror I elected to get a pre-figured set of mirrors from Meade. I funded the purchase with money from my paper route, and I gathered the materials quickly from a home improvement store - Ace Hardware I recall, though I had to get the Sonotube from a supplier that specialized in concrete for contractors. Building out the OTA was straightforward, and I used some rolled steel 1.25" tubing which I cut off with a hacksaw for the focuser, the pressure was provided by a thumbscrew that held the eyepiece in place. I built the spider vanes using cedar shingles and a dowel cut at a 45 degree angle to mount the secondary. The primary mirror cell was a piece of 1/2" plywood into which was drilled three 1/4" holes into which I inserted 4" bolts. I sanded down the ends of the bolts holding the mirror so there would be little chance of cracking (horror of horrors) the mirror.

Collimating was done by adjusting these bolts in the back of the mirror.

The rocker box was pretty easy, and I used a handsaw to cut all of the plywood. In fact, I didn't use a single power tool in the scope's construction. I got the teflon I needed from the local TAP plastics store after making some phone calls - as they didn't carry it at ACE. I used closet flanges as the bearings which rode on the teflon. On the top of the base, which was 3/4" plywood I placed a round piece of formica which supported more teflon. When I tested it out it moved very smoothly.

It took me about a week making the scope in the summer of 1983, and I spent several hours a day on it. Outside of my paper route I had a lawn-mowing business serving Kensington and Berkeley residents and I had about ten regular clients. So when I wasn't mowing lawns or delivering papers I worked on the scope. As an aside, one of my clients was the Nobel prize winner Charles Townes (maser and the laser), and we often talked physics and astronomy over a couple of glasses of lemonade when I was at his house. I had met him through church as my mom was friends with his wife, so somehow I got the gig.

When I was finally done I hauled the scope out to our east-facing deck. I tried out the scope at about 4 in the morning at the beginning of September (it was still summer) and I went after the Crab Nebula. After focusing and collimating the scope to the best of my ability and looking around (star-hopping) through my 6x30mm finderscope I finally got zeta Tauri in the field of view. I was using Wil Tirion's Sky Atlas 2000 which was a newfangled atlas at the time.

I was amazed when I suddenly noticed a faint cloud - it was the remnant of the nova noticed by Chinese astronomers in the eleventh century! So my 8" Dob had a successful first light. I used the scope for 4 years before I went off to college. There I met my girlfriend during freshman year and we were eventually married. After that, more work, grad school, kids, a mortgage and everything else. So I dropped out of astronomy for 25+ years until I got my Z10. However, I always pined for the stars and did look at comet Hale-Bopp through a pair of binos.

So that was my ATM adventure...
-Michael
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Re: First home made DOB

#2

Post by Bigzmey »


Great story Michael! I suppose you don't have any photos of your DIY DOB?
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Re: First home made DOB

#3

Post by Lady Fraktor »


Thank you for the great history Michael :)
I imagine it was interesting having the opportunity to speak with Mr. Dobson and Mr. Townes!
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Re: First home made DOB

#4

Post by helicon »


Bigzmey wrote: Mon May 20, 2019 8:13 pm Great story Michael! I suppose you don't have any photos of your DIY DOB?
Thanks Andrey! I used have a few Polaroid (!) snapshots of it (ha-ha) but they are long lost.
-Michael
Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope
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Re: First home made DOB

#5

Post by helicon »


Lady Fraktor wrote: Mon May 20, 2019 8:20 pm Thank you for the great history Michael :)
I imagine it was interesting having the opportunity to speak with Mr. Dobson and Mr. Townes!
It was - Dobson was very helpful and Dr. Townes (call me Charlie, he always said) was a humorous guy and even took the time to speak with a 13 year old nerd who mowed his lawn. :geek:
-Michael
Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope
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Re: First home made DOB

#6

Post by Thefatkitty »


Michael, that is an awesome story, wow! Thanks for sharing that; sounds like you had an awesome childhood/teenage experience; I'm envious...:lol:

All the best,
Mark

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Re: First home made DOB

#7

Post by The Happy Parrot »


Really good read Michael!
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Re: First home made DOB

#8

Post by Juno16 »


Thanks Michael!

It was great to read about your old project! All of us here can relate to the thrill of building such a nice instrument. All yours too. Wow, what a cool feeling it must have been to view your first targets!

Thank you for a warm read!

Jim
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Re: First home made DOB

#9

Post by Ozypic »


Thanks very much for the interesting story, Its great that your still in a hobby you've had since your youth. That explains your very usefull posts. Phill
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Re: First home made DOB

#10

Post by STEVE333 »


A very interesting account Michael. You must have been a very brave 13 year old to talk to these two men. Well done!

Thanks for sharing your journey with us.

Steve
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Re: First home made DOB

#11

Post by bladekeeper »


That's awesome, Michael! Thanks for posting this! :)
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Re: First home made DOB

#12

Post by Don Quixote »


This is a wonderful read Michael. This is a great adventure for sure.
Thank you for sharing.
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Re: First home made DOB

#13

Post by helicon »


STEVE333 wrote: Tue May 21, 2019 1:08 am A very interesting account Michael. You must have been a very brave 13 year old to talk to these two men. Well done!

Thanks for sharing your journey with us.

Steve
Actually I was a very shy kid in most aspects except for when it came to science, where I had a kind of unbounded curiosity. :geek:
-Michael
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Re: First home made DOB

#14

Post by OzEclipse »


That is a great story Michael! I really enjoyed the read. And WOW :shock: John Dobson. ATM rock star as a mentor.
Actually I was a very shy kid in most aspects except for when it came to science, where I had a kind of unbounded curiosity
Your statement above jogged my memory.

Like you I was a shy kid at school and found public speaking very difficult. Astronomy gave me the motivation to overcome that fear, first at school astronomy club, then at the state astronomy association because I wanted to tell people about what I was doing.

Eventually I graduated from giving short, "show and tell," contributions at the end of meetings to giving the occasional main lecture of the night. The association had 300+ members and it wasn't unusual to have 80-90 people attending these meetings but we were all friends so I quickly became comfortable speaking to large groups. When you talk about a topic that you're both passionate and knowledgeable about, it's easy.

Later in my university degree, we had to give seminars and be subjected to oral exams on our end of degree research thesis. It didn't help that our lecturers invited all the industry and research people they could muster. They had us congregate in another room then walked us in and sprang this crowd on us. They went alphabetically and my name was first. Thanks to my astronomy speaking experience, a lecture theatre with 60-70 people was a small crowd and I sailed through.
Many of my fellow students had never spoken to a large crowd and still had the "fear" and found giving their presentations very difficult.

thanks for sharing.

Joe
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Re: First home made DOB

#15

Post by helicon »


Probably my most scary speech was my oral exam when I was getting my doctorate. You had to defend your dissertation in front of the assembled faculty, and the value of its contribution to original research. Always a chance for some would-be hecklers to try to trip you up. Mainly faculty that weren't on my committee, but I made it through pretty much unscathed.
-Michael
Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope
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Re: First home made DOB

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Post by notFritzArgelander »


helicon wrote: Wed May 22, 2019 1:22 pm Probably my most scary speech was my oral exam when I was getting my doctorate. You had to defend your dissertation in front of the assembled faculty, and the value of its contribution to original research. Always a chance for some would-be hecklers to try to trip you up. Mainly faculty that weren't on my committee, but I made it through pretty much unscathed.
Wonderful to read of your DIY Dob. You had good mentorship too! I didn't and had to teach myself everything from books.

Oral presentations have always been a problem for me. As a young person I always had performance anxiety issues. It's the main reason I decided for science rather than music. Self criticism was always a huge issue. Foolishly, I thought that by going into science I wouldn't have to deal with the problem. HA!

The links through in the OP to the Edmund catalogs certainly brought back memories. I was long admiring of the white tube 4 1/4 equatorial Newt. I started making my Newt before Dobson popularized the alt-az mount that became eponymous with him. Thus I made a crude unguided equatorial from pipe fittings.

Cheers, and thanks for the warm memories your post stirred.
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Re: First home made DOB

#17

Post by mcolbert »


helicon wrote: Wed May 22, 2019 1:22 pm Probably my most scary speech was my oral exam when I was getting my doctorate. You had to defend your dissertation in front of the assembled faculty, and the value of its contribution to original research. Always a chance for some would-be hecklers to try to trip you up. Mainly faculty that weren't on my committee, but I made it through pretty much unscathed.

Funny, for me, the experience of presenting a concept / thesis whilst nerve racking was also enjoyable, in particular having to think on my feet when asked a question from left field and then the satisfaction when I knew that I had responded effectively. :)
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Re: First home made DOB

#18

Post by mcolbert »


[quote=notFritzArgelander post_id=5661 time=1558758504 user_id=72]

Oral presentations have always been a problem for me. As a young person I always had performance anxiety issues. It's the main reason I decided for science rather than music. Self criticism was always a huge issue. Foolishly, I thought that by going into science I wouldn't have to deal with the problem. HA!

Same for my wife, trained as a concert pianist, but the performance issues were exacerbated by her teacher when younger. She finally decided to enter teaching ( a much less stress inducing field ) or so she believed. :)
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Re: First home made DOB

#19

Post by notFritzArgelander »


mcolbert wrote: Sun May 26, 2019 10:46 pm
helicon wrote: Wed May 22, 2019 1:22 pm Probably my most scary speech was my oral exam when I was getting my doctorate. You had to defend your dissertation in front of the assembled faculty, and the value of its contribution to original research. Always a chance for some would-be hecklers to try to trip you up. Mainly faculty that weren't on my committee, but I made it through pretty much unscathed.
Funny, for me, the experience of presenting a concept / thesis whilst nerve racking was also enjoyable, in particular having to think on my feet when asked a question from left field and then the satisfaction when I knew that I had responded effectively. :)
At my first oral examination I was asked some off the wall questions. When this happened my response was to draw diagrams, define variables, and write an equation that was true from first principles, then solve it.

I failed.

On asking why, since I was certain that everything I had presented was correct, I was told: "Yes, it was all good but you didn't talk us through enough!"

I learned my lesson and now can't be shut up.... ;)
Scopes: Refs: Orion ST80, SV 80EDA f7, TS 102ED f11 Newts: AWB 130mm, f5, Z12 f5; Cats: VMC110L, Intes MK66,VMC200L f9.75 EPs: KK Fujiyama Orthoscopics, 2x Vixen NPLs (40-6mm) and BCOs, Baader Mark IV zooms, TV Panoptics, Delos, Plossl 32-8mm. Mixed brand Masuyama/Astroplans Binoculars: Nikon Aculon 10x50, Celestron 15x70, Baader Maxbright. Mounts: Star Seeker IV, Vixen Porta II, Celestron CG5
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Re: First home made DOB

#20

Post by mcolbert »


notFritzArgelander wrote: Sun May 26, 2019 11:01 pm
mcolbert wrote: Sun May 26, 2019 10:46 pm
helicon wrote: Wed May 22, 2019 1:22 pm Probably my most scary speech was my oral exam when I was getting my doctorate. You had to defend your dissertation in front of the assembled faculty, and the value of its contribution to original research. Always a chance for some would-be hecklers to try to trip you up. Mainly faculty that weren't on my committee, but I made it through pretty much unscathed.
Funny, for me, the experience of presenting a concept / thesis whilst nerve racking was also enjoyable, in particular having to think on my feet when asked a question from left field and then the satisfaction when I knew that I had responded effectively. :)
At my first oral examination I was asked some off the wall questions. When this happened my response was to draw diagrams, define variables, and write an equation that was true from first principles, then solve it.

I failed.

On asking why, since I was certain that everything I had presented was correct, I was told: "Yes, it was all good but you didn't talk us through enough!"

I learned my lesson and now can't be shut up.... ;)
and I think that is what allowed me to go into teaching at university and college levels. :)
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