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2/21/2007 - Look at the SIZE of those things!!!

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OK, it's like a second Christmas for me this winter season. I have been ordering and receiving parts like mad for the last couple of weeks. Each time something arrives, the sheer size of this instrument becomes more and more apparent. Oh sure, I knew what I was getting into but it just becomes more "real". Obsession Telescopes is great in the fact that they offer those hard to make parts. I have purchased a set of cast aluminum upper pole clamps, split bolts to hold the mirror sling, and two brackets to hold the altitude encoder to the cast aluminum side bearings. Speaking of side bearings, I chose these monsters from Obsession as well to save weight (the mirror box alone will push 100 lbs. when complete) and they already have built-in notches to allow room for the lower, side truss tubes. Want to see just how BIG?, see below!

ENTRY PICTURES

Cast aluminum side bearings with a normal CD for scale. Note the notch in top edge of each bearing (one on the right, one on the left). These allow the truss tubes by so that ALL truss blocks are mounted OUTSIDE the mirror box. This makes the mirror box smaller and therefore more RIGID. I like this comparison for size and scale better, that's my 13.1 inch telescope mirror box and side bearings for scale. YIKES!!! These are the cam-lever quick lock upper truss pole clamps that will go on the Secondary cage. No more spinning knobs, just slide the pin in and lever up the cam and the poles are locked in tight. The two bolts in the upper right are the split bolts for the mirror sling. The bracket on the left is what will screw directly into the cast aluminum side bearing to hold the altitude encoder. The long arm is the bracket that will attach to the rocker box and hold the encoder shaft still while the bearing rotates.

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