How To Make Your Own Telescope
Want to learn how to make your own telescope. Great! Over the next couple of months I will be publishing a book, that teaches you how to make your own telescope.
Make sure you come back to this site.
Update: June 2008 - Now you can read the PDF version of:
Make Your Own Telescope right here.
Chapter I. STORY OF THE TELESCOPE
The Galilean Telescope
The Keplerian Telescope
The Gregorian Telescope
The Cassegrain Telescope
The Newtonian Telescope
John Hadley
Herschel's Contributions
The Achromatic Refractor
The Modern Era
Reflector or Refractor?
What Size Reflector?
Chapter II. Materials and Equipment
The Template
Channeling Tool
Grinding Stand
Mirror Testing Rack
Testing Stands
Foucault Testing Device
Theory of the Foucault Test
Chapter III. Mirror Grinding
Strokes
What Abrasive Does
How the Curve is Obtained
We Go To Work
How to Determine Contact
Cleaning Up
Fine Grinding
Examining for Pits
Chapter IV The Pitch Lap
Making the Lap
A Better Lap
Making Contact
Chapter V Polishing - Testing - Correcting
Theory of Polishing
Polishing Procedure
How to use the Foucault Device
Further Polishing
Examining for Pits II
Correcting
Turned-down Edge
Turned-up Edge
Correcting the Oblate Spheroid
Correcting the Hyperboloid
Chapter VI The Paraboloid
The Reference Spheres
Knife Edge Magnification
Surface Tolerance
Error of Observation
Testing the Paraboloid part 1
Testing the Paraboloid part 2
Testing the Paraboloid part 3
Testing the Paraboloid part 4
Testing the Paraboloid part 5
Testing at Focus
Test for Astigmatism
Parabolizing Strokes
Parabolizing Strokes part 2
Aluminizing
Chapter VII The Diagonal
How Large a Diagonal
Preliminary Preparations
How Flat a Diagonal
The Light Source
Testing For Flatness
Making the Diagonal
The Lap
Polishing and Testing
An Elliptical Flat
Chapter VIII Tube Part - Alignment - The Finder
The Mirror Cell
The Tube
Eyepiece Support
Diagonal Holder
Spider Support
The Saddle
Optical Alignment
The Finder
Chapter IX Eyepieces and Related Problems
Field of View
Exit Pupil and Eye Relief
Eyepieces
Aberrations of the Eyepiece
Assembling Eyepiece Components
Chapter X The Mounting
The Babbitted Bearings
Further Suggestions-
A Portable Mounting
The Tripod
Machining the Parts
