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3/18/2007 - The Secondary Cage Part III: It all comes together! (A)

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Over the past week and a half I had completed applying 3 coats of polyurethane to the rings as weather permitted. The finish is beautiful and rings very comfortable to handle. This weekend my brother and I finished the Secondary Cage. It is now ready to be weighed and I can proceed with doing the math that will yield the rough dimensions of the mirror box required to balance the whole telescope. Please view all of the Secondary Cage entries in this Journal to get the "whole" picture.

ENTRY PICTURES

Our first step was to cut the aluminum tube into 4 equal length struts. We used the full-size CAD drawing to double-check dimensions. Here you can see the threaded inserts that will allow me to attach the struts to the rings. You press these inserts into the tube and they DO NOT come back out, that fact is pretty obvious in the picture at right. This strut is now ready for the 1/4-20 mounting bolt. Here we are drilling 1/16 inch strut seats in the rings. My brother and I drilling more strut seats.

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