It’s November 9, 2004. Please join me in an adventure which starts now. My neighbor just gave me two sheets of ugly 11/16 inch roof decking plywood which is 6 ply; held together with marine glue. Two 6 foot long 14 inch diameter thin wall concrete forming tubes cost $28.00 with tax from Lofland Company here in Albuquerque, N.M. I noted they also get tubing from a Canadian Source, http://www.mayersfibretubeandcore.mb.ca/. The tubing has an untreated paper exterior and lightly waxed interior and wall thickness of 3/16”. It bears Lofland Company logo and is marked “SW 14” Berthoud, Colo.”

Gary Hand, http://www.handsonoptics.com/, sold me two 12 inch diameter 1.5 inch thick f/5 mirrors for $900.00 including shipping. They are not low expansion glass like pyrex, but I see no difference in cooling time compared to pyrex, and the images are superb. Finding the center of the mirror is easily done with paper, pencil, scissors and lastly magic marker. After a dot is applied to mark the center, a larger center “target” can be drawn using a small washer as a template. This will be handy later on to align the secondary mirror to the center of the primary and to align the primary mirror with a Cheshire.

mark circle on paper cut out circle fold in half, quarters, eighths then cut off tip

mark center of glass glass with center targets

Here’s a view of my Jeep – the rear dimensions with the spare tire in place are 57 1/2” deep x 40” wide x 34” high. The scope will have to (a) fit in there and (b) break down into “pieces” which can be lifted Jeep floor high and then “parked” without doing lumbosacral damage.

So, we have the beginning of a design – 14 inch tubes allowing good air flow around 12 inch mirrors, not bigger than the back of the Jeep, not too heavy to lift and move around.

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