Anyone ever build their own telescope?

ManfredVonRichthoffen

Mook
ManfredVonRichthoffen
Joined
Jul 31, 2001
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I'm looking for a hobby. But not one that requires a PhD, or a second career to finance.

Building a telescope kind of looks fun.

There are different levels of involvement. From throwing together off the shelf parts, to grinding your own mirror for reflective.

Anyone ever do this? Is it economical and fun?
 
You should really check out the forum over at www.badastronomy.com. Plenty of people there are astronomers of an amateur nature (and some, not so amateur) and will be able to give you loads of advice.
 
When I was in HS, some of the physics teacher decided it would be a good project to build a telescope (grinding and all). My class decided not to (don't remember why), all the others didn't really have a choice. From talking to the kids that did do it, I gathered that it was: a) not expensive; b) tedious and boring; c) easy to screw up with the sands and the grinding. But then again, this was highschool, so they were probably all drunk as they sanded.
 
There are numerous ways to start this, but the best one is a Google search on 'amateur telescope building' or 'beginner telescope building'.

If you want to try a refracting telescope (lenses), check out www.surplusshed.com . They've got lenses out the hoohah, and the descriptions work pretty well trying to figure out what works with what. A couple of pieces of sliding PVC plastic pipe and you're in. They've even got a surplus device that takes Pentax-style screw-in camera lenses and makes them telescopes (I have one -- be advised that we're not exactly talking the second coming of the Hubble here, especially as you go up in magnification).

If you're talking a reflector telescope (mirrors), the simplest design is a Dobsonian. Again, googling that term will get you gazillions of sites detailing how to build one. A good starter size is a 6 inch mirror -- and yes, you can buy them already ground and silvered. If you're into the blood/sweat/tears mode, you can buy Pyrex blanks and grind your own.

Fun? Depends on your version of fun.
Economical? Depends on how much you want to spend.
Some are into it, some aren't.

Your turn.
 
Telescope Building

I'd say this is not a good hobby unless you are into it for the telescope construction ONLY. I've been to a number of sky parties put on by the local astronomy club that have featured some pretty impressive rigs. You look through them and ... ho hum. Well, only ho hum when compared with the incredible photos available on the web, but that is important.

But if the construction itself is what you're into, then I'd suggest robotics. See if you can build something that really does something in the real world. Hmmmm, didn't you recently have a kid? Build a robot to change his nappy. NOW you're on to something :)
 
Re: Telescope Building

SezMe said:
I'd say this is not a good hobby unless you are into it for the telescope construction ONLY. I've been to a number of sky parties put on by the local astronomy club that have featured some pretty impressive rigs. You look through them and ... ho hum. Well, only ho hum when compared with the incredible photos available on the web, but that is important.
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Well, I wouldn't expect it to compare to the hubble telescope, but I would expect it to compare to what I would see using a store bought telescope of the same size.

The pvc pipe telescope sounds about my speed, for starters. If cheep enough, I could give it to a nephew when I was tired of it. I may have to find a tutorial. You can find tonnes of instructions for pvc potato guns, I would expect you could find one for a telescope.
 
I was once assured by my Big Boy's Book of Fun that you could make a telescope using two spectacle lenses and a paper tube.

Problem is, when you're nine years old spare pairs of spectacles can be remarkably difficult to come by, so for many years I never got around to it. A couple of years ago, I got a new pair of glasses for myself and remembered that book. I took the lenses out of my old ones, taped them into a paper tube and peered out across the moor.

Couldn't see a bloody thing. After all that time waiting to try it! I really was gutted.
 
Made several telescopes when a teenager. Using various odd lenses I gould get my hands on. Never have I seen so many edge distorted, rainbow fringed images :rolleyes:.

Now, if you just need a telescope, buy one. They are not that expensive, these days.

If you find it fun to build your own, start with off the shelf parts, if only to get a hang of the constructional work. Lense grinding is tough and tedious work, so you'll want to know exactly what lenses to grind and how to use them before you start that.

Hans
 
Re: Telescope Building

SezMe said:
But if the construction itself is what you're into, then I'd suggest robotics. See if you can build something that really does something in the real world. Hmmmm, didn't you recently have a kid? Build a robot to change his nappy. NOW you're on to something :)
Click to expand...

Or he could build a robot that builds telescopes. Or a robot that doubles as a telescope and replicates itself. Large scale Nanomachines!
 
One caveat, however: These days, it is actually much cheaper to buy a new telescope than to build one. Grinding one's own mirrors is actually quite expensive (cost of blank, set-up and coating). Unless you are building a very large scope or getting unique coatings for the mirror, its only worth it for the sense of accomplishment.
 
kookbreaker said:
One caveat, however: These days, it is actually much cheaper to buy a new telescope than to build one. Grinding one's own mirrors is actually quite expensive (cost of blank, set-up and coating). Unless you are building a very large scope or getting unique coatings for the mirror, its only worth it for the sense of accomplishment.
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Also for the fact that home-made optics can be much better than factory-produced ones. Although I doubt you'll turn out a perfect mirror on your first attempt at grinding.

May I recommend

ATM mailing list http://www.atmlist.net/


as a resource?


--Terry
 
richardm said:
I was once assured by my Big Boy's Book of Fun that you could make a telescope using two spectacle lenses and a paper tube.

Problem is, when you're nine years old spare pairs of spectacles can be remarkably difficult to come by, so for many years I never got around to it. A couple of years ago, I got a new pair of glasses for myself and remembered that book. I took the lenses out of my old ones, taped them into a paper tube and peered out across the moor.

Couldn't see a bloody thing. After all that time waiting to try it! I really was gutted.
Click to expand...

Irritating and unnecessary misconception. I remember this annoyed me when I saw the "Lord of the Flies" movie too (I can't remember if the book made the same error), when Piggy's glasses are used to build a fire.

The problem is that the corrective lenses for us near-sighted people are diverging lenses. Their power is rated in negative diopters. What you need to build a telescope or make a fire are converging lenses, which are used to correct farsightedness.
 
Stephen Tonkin is a frequent poster to uk.sci.astronomy and his website has a section dealing with amateur telescope making. This also has a section on suppliers of mirrors for those that don't want to grind their own.

Here's one, for example. Get a 12" diameter mirror for £500!
 
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