12.5" Dobsonian Telescope Build

[@alejandropasill]

I skipped to the end. I saw the Toyota. I knew this was going to be a great video.

[@cbchhaya]

I don't care what else you make - just make more videos like these... Not to mention that the finished scope looks oh-so-gorgeous!! And special kudos to you for "Minimize visible hardware. This is purely aesthetic." Clear skies!

[@paulmacias6802]

Ok, dude. This was amazing. I'm not planning to build a truss, but this was fun to watch. Mr. Woggers sends his regards!

[@michaelogden5958]

Like a boss! Pretty dang complex device using fairly basic tools. My hat's off to you, Sir! 👍

[@akashchoudhary497]

Great demonstration of manufacturing process really well explained! Please keep making such videos in the future they are treasures for someone like me who wants to make his own Dobsonian telescope.

[@FPGAsandbasicElectronics]

Amazing mirror cell

[@Dark-Light828]

Absolutely mesmerizing! You’re a talented guy.

[@Asifkhan31416]

Great and inspiring video! I am also building my 12" F/5 and your work is going to be helpful.

[@PeterSmithwoodsmith]

Lovely project. Well done. There is nothing more satisfying than making a scope and then looking at the stars with it. much respect.

[@Thepiematrix]

Amazing stuff!!! Really very well documented video. This helped me a lot for my own project of an 8" dobsonian

[@SPACED_ASTRO]

Thank you! Glad I could help. Watching videos like this has gone a long way towards giving me ideas for various projects so I figured I might as well make my own videos and pass that on.

[@akashchoudhary5738]

What kind of material are you using for the mount? Is it marine plywood and please also tell me what kind of laser cutting machine do you use

[@SPACED_ASTRO]

@@akashchoudhary5738 Regular 3/4" sanded plywood from Home Depot. No laser cutter. Table saw, jigsaw and router.

[@markdoucette9870]

You did amazing work. Very beautiful instrument. Well done!

[@woody5109]

An absolute work of art 🙏

[@inkster147]

This is amazing and you're one skilled chap! Well done 👏🏽

[@Destide]

The Noctua is a perfect choice for a fan, seems like an often overlooked mod

[@SPACED_ASTRO]

Agreed. No vibrations at a high magnifications. And it's very quiet which is nice when I'm under dark skies in the wilderness and want to appreciate the silence.

[@scrumpymanjack]

That was a really good bit of filmmaking. Also a great project. Congratulations. Subbed.

[@SPACED_ASTRO]

Why thank you!

[@robconnelly202]

Fantastic video, man. I’m gearing up for my first build and I appreciate this.

[@JohnMason8183]

Enjoyed the video!

[@4D4STR4]

Amazing

[@claudioandres8979]

excelente trabajo

[@petermuller2012]

Super

[@misaelescobarruiz1193]

Very good My friend muy bueno mi amigo lo felicito yo tengo un sct meade de ,8 pulgadas saludos desde Honduras bendiciones

[@andreigrigoras6592]

Super profesionalism

[@woody5109]

Wood worker, you are, welder, not so much. Great job overall, fantastic telescope

[@DanWatt]

Yeah still working on that. This was my first time welding aluminum with a mig gun. Getting better and hope to get a tig setup one of these days. There is nothing riskier than posting your welds on the internet.

[@atomicjay42]

Absolutely beautiful! Did you read "The Dobsonian Telescope" before you began designing the telescope's structure? I've heard great things about it.

[@SPACED_ASTRO]

I actually bought a copy years ago and forgot I had it! Didn't remember until your comment. I more or less copied a lot of the features that I liked from my 20" Astrosystems Telekit and changed a few things up, namely the front collimation system.

[@atomicjay42]

@@SPACED_ASTRO Did you design the front collimation system yourself, or were you inspired by other designs you had seen previously?

[@vecwlvcbu]

I was surprised at the thickness of aluminum plate you were able to work with the router, jigsaw, and hole saws-I struggle with anything over 3/16” even using WD-40. Any tips on what bits, blades, etc to use. Great video and beautiful scope, I especially liked the camera riding along with the router 😂

[@robertoalejandropalaciosor3617]

Hi friend ! your Stonecutters sitting bench is great haha Are the plans you show at the beginning on any website? I am very inspired to make my own telescope, beautiful video, congratulations

[@Bear049]

👍🏻

[@catalinalb1722]

Looks really nice! Great Job :) Could you share some images that you captured with it?

[@SPACED_ASTRO]

I cannot. This telescope is for visual astronomy. It is not designed to be used with a camera.

[@janhaans860]

proper gedaan

[@woody5109]

I have the same glue brush 😉

[@NMeteora]

If you have the plans for the scope, can I have it? I wanna try to build one for myself. Thanks...

[@JeremioMaduro-i4g]

Hi, I have a MEADE starfinder 12.5". the carton tube has seen better days, i also want to do rebuild it into something exactly what you have build. i want to rebuild it in a way that i can use it to take pictures and use it for normal observation. is it possible to share the measurements so i can start calculating what my cost is going to be for the rebuild ?

[@adrianlam8591]

Do you have extra of the altitude-bearing material you used? I only need a small strip like you and everyone sells it in huge sheets which are really expensive. Great video by the way.

[@reginaldosouzaveiga6622]

I'm having difficulty finding the balance point, could you help? as you did?

[@SPACED_ASTRO]

I was able to roughly calculate the center of gravity in Solidworks. Once you are close it's easy to add counterweight to either the mirror side of the secondary side. Keep in mind the weight of the telrad, finder scope and eyepieces while calculating. It's also easier to err on the side of the secondary being overweight as it's much more convenient to add counterweight to the mirror box.

[@ThanhHoang-rb6rw]

GOOD

[@the.saurav_chauhan]

Please share the results of this telescope. I really wonder how much powerful this telescope is

[@SPACED_ASTRO]

This telescope is built for looking through with your eyeball, not for taking photos with. But think of it as a 1460mm lens at f4.6. On a night with good seeing I can easily push it to 400x magnification.

[@conorwoods2649]

How much did this scope cost in materials, not including equipment and your talented labor but just materials?

[@SPACED_ASTRO]

That's a great question, I really didn't keep track of that as the answer would scare me. If I had to guess I'd say around $1400 which includes the donor optics.

[@Dr.Pepper001]

These run about $6,000 if bought commercially. How much did you spend?

[@SPACED_ASTRO]

I'd estimate around $1200, including $800 for the premium mirrors.

[@inimic6900]

where did you get a mirror for something like this? i.e. was it something you bought via ebay, etc. , or just had the donor laying around?

[@SPACED_ASTRO]

The donor optics was a Ostahowski 12.5" F4.8 from an early Discovery Telescopes solid tube scope I found locally on Craigslist. A 5' long solid tube is not very practical to carry around so I did this truss build for it. The mirror is one of the best I've seen, easily supporting magnifications of 500x if the seeing is good enough.

[@mydogworriesalot1840]

Newt is a really small and old file it runs on Linux mint I had a pro set it up where did you get the mirrors did polish them yourself :)

[@SPACED_ASTRO]

No, the mirrors are from a Discovery 12.5" Dob back from when Terry Ostahowski was making their mirrors. I bought the scope off of Craigslist solely for the optics as they are excellent.

[@mydogworriesalot1840]

@@SPACED_ASTRO Thanks for the response nice to see a fellow builder I need the motivation I need to fix up my mount for the coming eclipse :)

[@reginaldosouzaveiga6622]

congratulations...... hello. Do you have a link to the file of your project... I thought this model was excellent... and I plan to make a telescope

[@SPACED_ASTRO]

Give me a couple days and I'll add a link with design. It won't be super exact as I tend to build the 3d model as a rough mock up and then make little changes while I'm actually building it.

[@reginaldosouzaveiga6622]

@@SPACED_ASTRO in advance, thank you... difficult to find pdfs or files of these models of telescope. and for me this yours, is the excellent model, besides preserving the mirror from dust, easy to take off with it

[@SPACED_ASTRO]

@@reginaldosouzaveiga6622 Patience is a virtue. My solidworks model is a mess and I'll need to take a good amount of time to export all the drawings in a more organized readable format. In the meantime here are some of the parts www.dropbox.com/s/iatw0y53nqir7nh/12.5_dob_drawings.zip?dl=0

[@reginaldosouzaveiga6622]

How many mm is the thickness of the wood? 5 ?

[@SPACED_ASTRO]

@@reginaldosouzaveiga6622 The majority of the plywood on the mirror box is 1/2", or 12.5". The rocker box is 3/4", or 19mm

[@Fatpumpumlovah2]

Sadly dobs like this nowadays cannot take advantage of long exposure photography. Think uts high time someone made a smart one that can track

[@SPACED_ASTRO]

Alt Az dobsonian mount is not ideal for astrophotography, even if it tracked. Field rotation is unavoidable. Equatorial Platforms exist and can work alright but for AP it's far easier to have a purpose built scope on a german equatorial mount. This scope is purely for visual observation.

[@PeterK6502]

@averted_vision, I've also constructed a 12.5-inch Dobsonian telescope including an equatorial platform, primarily employing it for astrophotography purposes. I reside in a Bortle class 8-9 region, characterized by substantial light pollution that renders visual observation rather underwhelming. However, due to the incorporation of the equatorial platform and a camera, I've managed to capture stars with a magnitude as faint as 20, even within this heavily light-polluted area (I've verified this through the online Stellarium). Just recently, I was able to photograph Pluto-a mere speck amidst the stars, yet distinctly discernible in the resulting image.

[@Fatpumpumlovah2]

@@PeterK6502 this is what i am talking about and asked about. Anyway to show it? One would think someone by now has done it.

[@PeterK6502]

@Fatpumpumlovah2, have you come across the concept of an Equatorial Platform? It's possible to either purchase one or construct it on your own. The Dobsonian telescope is positioned on the Equatorial Platform, which compensates for the Earth's rotation over the course of an hour. Once the hour is up, you'll need to reset the platform, allowing you to begin anew.

[@robconnelly202]

Look up “equatorial platforms”. You can make or buy an equatorial platform for Dobsonians. That said, why spend your precious time under a dark sky fussing around with cameras and laptops? Just look with your eyeballs and enjoy the purity of visual observation. 👍 on this build. Awesome.

[@starkx3071]

mirror 8" $$$$ :((( i cant buy it

[@starkx3071]

and not parabol

[@Fatpumpumlovah2]

45 degree was a degree off buddy

[@SPACED_ASTRO]

?

[@Sharpless2]

and in the end, it worked fine and resulted in an absolute showpiece of a dob. Sure, you can buy a large aperture dob for cheap, but youre not getting one of these eyecandies.

[@ronconovoa7566]

i am so sorry if i am late but how much one of this will cost looks amazing

[@user-Atamigaputer]

lol this is rubbish where did the optics come from?. When I build my scope I ground and polished my own primary mirror

[@SPACED_ASTRO]

Why the hostility? No need to project your insecurity out in the open, there is therapy for that. The optics came from a Discovery dob I found for cheap locally with mirrors made by Terry Ostahowski who makes some of the highest quality mirrors out there. I've grinded my own mirrors on past scopes but since this mirror basically fell into my lap for cheap I decided to build the telescope around it. He's a far better optician than you or I will ever be.