This site is an extension to the TROK web site and covers the making of telscopes including recent work on making our 16 INCH and 8 INCH mirrors. The 30 inch TROK was our FIRST mirror! We have been using it for a while and have now converted it to computer control using Mel Bartel's software and circuit ( Motorize Your Telescope - top page). The only down side at the present is that it takes longer to transport to a dark site so plans are underway to convert it to a trailer mounted instrument. In the meantime we have started work on 8 inch and 16 inch mirors from 38mm and 25mm plate glass.
We decided to use the same construction methods as where used on the 30inch TROK. The radial arm grinder was re-commissioned and our first job was to set it up for the 8 inch mirrors to be hogged out.
We made a heavy wooden frame that came bve moved to suit different focal lengths. This employed an angled frame that can be adjustable to alighn the mirror to the axis of the radial arm grinder. The frame is postioned at the centre of curvature of the mirror (twice the focal length). See Purchasing the blank and hoging out. The glass blank is held in place with three pieces of plywood just pinching the sides of the mirror. The miror is angled back slightly to prevent it from falling out the frame. Ths was employed in the making of the TROK.
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Steve King had also brought along his newly constructed focal tester.
He had developed the design from the HOW TO MAKE A TELESCOPE book by Jean Texereau. But had done a few mods along the way. He had a dial guage micrometer instead of a calibrated screw. The Tester is not fully finished in this photo but 'looked the buisness' and has given us much better results than the original tester.
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PAGE LINKS FOR PROJECTS
Klick here for the MAKING OF THE TWO 8inch TELESCOPES:-
Klick here for the MAKING OF THE TWO 16inch TELESCOPES:-
Klick here for the RE-MAKING OF THE 30inch TROK
Return to the 30 inch TROK Telescope home page
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