Ad Astra Observatory

Of all the parts of amateur telescope making, for me the absolute most satisfying one is cutting truss pole clamps. It just epitomizes the whole process to me; there are dozens of little calculations, it takes hours to set up the jig, and nothing looks like it’s going to come together until the very end, when you get a result like this.

It amazed me the first time I put one together, that what i’d just done could possibly work, and yet…

All the blocks are level at the top and bottom. All those triangles just worked themselves out. It’s a bit boggling.

The keen-eyed observers among you will surely have noticed that the truss is a bit too large (it’s sitting on top of the cutout of one of Trixie’s rings, and all the blocks are outside the corners). That’s because the poles haven’t been cut to length yet. The 2011 upper truss started out with 36″ poles, and I cut about 1.5″ off a few months ago, as I was getting the RCC working again.

Given the calculation that I made yesterday, the poles need to be more like 29″ to fit the new UTA. Now that I have pole seats, that’s the next step.

Another evening or two, and I’ll be ready to reassemble the scope.