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Struts, shroud, and altitude bearing for the 6-inch

 The scope fully assembled.


The nylon shroud wraps around the upper 
2/3 of the 'tube' and attaches to the struts
with velcro. The two struts that carry the 
focusing board with the focuser and secondary 
mirror as well as the unit finder from Rigel
systems (sticking up in this picture), are made
of 1/2" ply joined with glue and screws into
an 'L' shape.  Threaded brass inserts (#10, see
below) in the struts allow them to be bolted
onto the mirror box as well as allowing the
focusing board to be bolted to the struts.  
The two non-weight bearing struts are  made
from 1/2" 1/4 round with #6 threaded inserts
and their only purpose is to provide support
for the nylon shroud.

 The scope with the nylon shroud removed.


The struts in the foreground are 1/2" 1/4- 
round and the ones in the back are the
load-bearing 'L' shaped struts.

The circular altitude bearings are 7"
diameter 3/4" ply faced on the edge with
formica glued on with Liquid Nails.  The
bearings are attached with #10 bolts that
screw into threaded inserts on the mirror
box and are removed for transport.

   The focusing board not only holds  
   the focuser, but also the secondary  
   mirror which is glued (silicone) to
   a brass single-stalk holder.   The
  board bolts onto the 'L' shaped
  struts with 4 #10 bolts.


   To collimate the secondary you
   first adjust the distance from the
  board to the secondary  which lines
  up the primary and secondary mirrors
 and then bend the stalk to get good
  collimation. Crude, but effective.

  Brass and steel threaded inserts are
available in many sizes at hardware
stores . They have wood threads
on the outside and bolt threads on
the inside.

The 'furniture bolt' on the right is
used to bolt 'edge on' such as at the
top portion of the rocker as seen in
the picture (2) above.

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