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2/4/2007 - First Entry.....A Summary

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So here is the first entry to the K-20 Journal and I'd like to summarize a bit in regards to what has developed up until this point. A 20 inch telescope has been in the back of my mind since long before I built my 13 inch, even before I got involved in the 5A's. While using the 13 inch and lugging around my 4 inch refractor with it's 5.5 foot tube and 40lb mount I've come to realize that a LARGE aperture telescope should probably come sooner then later. Both the 13 and 4 inch scopes are wonderful instruments I enjoy greatly, but at the end of a night of observing I feel the work involved in using them. While not anything close to me getting rid of them, I decided that going bigger should be done now, I'll simply feel I'll get more out of it. That is the first half of the story....Back in May of 2006 rumblings of Corning closing its Pyrex operation before the end of the year began to spread through the amateur astronomy community. Ordering Pyrex from over-seas would be demanding and expensive in the near future. This expense, as we have seen, would surely drive up the prices of large aperture optics. After a month of hard thought and a number of conversations with John Hudek at Galaxy Optics I made the plunge on June 28, 2006 and ordered my 20 inch f/5 optic. I won't get into detail on cost but between excellent pricing on John's end and getting in before the cost of optics went up, I have made a very good purchase. Just in time too, most large aperture optic manufactures are sold out until at least mid-late 2008 as orders went through the roof. Delivery for my optic is June 1, 2007. This works great for my schedule, I have plenty of time to get ready for its arrival. Over the past 4 months I have been slowly collecting parts and have entered FULL design mode. Below are some pictures of the parts I have collected thus far. NEXT UP: The primary mirror cell is completed!

ENTRY PICTURES

Secondary Cage (aka Upper End) stuff. Telrad, Meade 8x50mm finder This may not LOOK like much but aside from the optics, some wood for the mirror box and a few aluminum poles, everything else is here. Going clockwise from the top: Scale for torque/balancing equations, virgin teflon for bearings, mirror cell hardware, triangles and bars for the 18 pt flotation cell, telrad, JMI focuser, Meade 8x50mm finder, secondary spider and tailgate. Think it isn't big?...that tailgate is 2 FEET wide. In the center are rolls of Kydex and Ebony Star formica, mirror sling and split blocks for the lower ends of the truss poles. Beautiful split blocks! 3.1 inch Protostar Secondary holder and spider. This thing is also almost 22 inches tip to tip.

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