Hi Siegfried.:

Sorry you couldn't reach me--I don't know what happened, but am glad to hear from you now. We've met in the dark a couple times over a Clave eyepiece in your beautiful Clark refractor, but I stay pretty low key so you probably don't remember (but how could I forget?)

A presentation from me on telescope making would mostly highlight the concepts I've taken from others... I do think my telescopes are pretty and they do function very nicely, but they are a fusion of ideas from our own Chuck Hards (open structure), Phyllis Lang (rotating, balancing tube), Richard Berry (back plate, tube rings), Barry Peckham (minimalist groundboards), Bob Cook (velvet baffling), Dave Kriege (tube laminate concept), Bob Royce (cell design, thermal management), etc.

My own small contributions (as far as I know) include an understanding of how to use lesser known commercial grades of countertop laminate to make a durable and colorful tube quickly, mounting a tube clamp ring on the front of the bearing box rather than inside the cradle, the use of acrylic craft paints to colorize the plywood edges to match the face veneers (and that was my wife's brilliant idea, actually ;^), my unique aesthetic approach, and an awareness of some of the techniques common to those who work and finish wood. The rest is just a lot of patience, hard work, and fussy attention to detail ;^).

I do know from a lot of trial and error about dimensional requirements for balancing weight and damping time (at least with my own design), alternate bearing ideas, how to make effective use of a router (you could almost build an entire telescope with a router and a handful of shopmade jigs), and how different woods behave when being finished. And I'm still learning all the time ;^).

Besides this discussion on the pending telescope making/glass grinding class, I am planning to build some EQ platforms pretty soon. Perhaps after everyone has a mirror and a dob, everyone can get together again and make some platforms for their creations later next year? Just a thought.

Kind regards,

Paul Stock