Here’s an update for May on the truss tube project. 

Not much has happened in the past couple of months but there has been some progress.  I decided to rebuild the “Starfinder” primary mirror cell.  The original cell was made of some rather soft fiber board, probably not the best of materials.  So I cut out some new parts using the 3/4th inch Oak plywood that most of the rest of the OTA is being built from.

 For the upper assembly, the design calls for 1×1x13″ solid square rods to support the focuser plate and to bind the assembly together.  I had purchased a new metal cutting band saw blade for this and other cutting needs, but discovered that I didn’t have the clearance on the band saw for these rods to fit. 

So it was off to Home Depot for a metal cutting blade for the radial arm saw. 

It was slow going, but that did the trick.  Here’s a mockup of the upper assembly (below) showing how the rods will be placed.

Next, I have to drill and tap several holes in each rod with a brand new drill press I haven’t had a chance to try yet!

Dark skies,
Larry