BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT

  10' DOBSONIAN f.5.3     

  June 1999

suz~1-(2).jpg (45783 bytes)Congratulations, I am a proud owner of a homemade bouncing baby 10 inch Dobsonian telescope. What do you need to make a telescope? A thirst for viewing of the universe, blind faith, stubbornness when it comes to defeat. A willingness to start over and over or an open mind to changing your floor plans. The ability to make a "W" stroke with both hands on a tool and knowledge that Murphy’s law will find you. And after all of this,  the courage to pay a juggling postal worker, to mail my mirror off to be coated.

I started this project not knowing what I was getting into. It’s a good thing. It took me on a great journey of discovery. I found that if I broke it down into small victories, it wasn’t so over whelming. The most trying of moments was when Paul and Gary tested my mirror to see if it was ready for the final configuring. They were expecting to find something wrong, they tried to find something wrong. But to their surprise and mine, it turned out great. When they told my husband, he thought they where pulling his leg. It shows what great help I had.suz~3-(2).jpg (37374 bytes)

The many Saturday meetings of the Amateur Telescope Makers, where of mixture of learning, war stories about the previous telescopes, lots of humor and new friendships. This telescope was made by eight people each offering their own expertise. I would like to thank Paul for listing to my simple repetitive questions, his great technical advice and hours of help. Thanks Bill for the encouragement and technical support. And thanks Dennis for your teasing, that made a tedious mirror grinding job fun. Many thanks to my husband who had no idea what I was getting him into. Thanks Rob, my son, for your MacGyvering ways. Its been great fun. Let the viewing begin. suz~2-(2).jpg (39029 bytes)   Has anyone seen any stars? 

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