From: "Bob Walker" 
To: "ATM Group" 
Reply-To: "Bob Walker" 


"Savor the small victories--sometimes that's all you have." -
anon What with real life and other trivialities intruding, my First Scope
that I thought would be finished by the first of the year remains
incomplete.  True to my heritage, ( I grew up in Denver, which was settled
by people who decided climbing the Rockies was just too much trouble) I
lowered my goals a bit for the sake of getting the mirror pointed at the
sky before the turn of the next century.  I have in mind a really neat
design for my 16" f/5.4, but it has taken so much time to make the 18
point cell and the so-far incomplete secondary cage that I decided to wimp
out on the base of the scope and make your basic plywood box.  That's
something I can do pretty quickly.  Well, let me tell you, when I set the
mirror box on the altitude bearings for the first time and it actually
swivelled up and down, that was quite a thrill.  Almost as much as the
first time I got my Foucault tester aligned enough to see the shadows!  I
just stood there rocking it up and down for probably ten minutes with a
silly grin on my face.  So, the cell is done, and the base is almost done. 
With just a bit of luck, I'll get the secondary cage finished this week and
be able to do some actual stargazing in the dark of the moon next weekend. 
Then, keeping all fingers and toes crossed, pass the Star Test and coat the
mirror!  Then, if it takes me another year to build the super-neato base I
have in mind, at least I'll be able to do some stargazing (oops, I mean
OBSERVING) in the meantime.  So, am I lazy or practical?

 *  Best regards, Bob
*
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