Why Build it Yourself?

By John Reed

Indeed!  Why?  Telescopes are now cheaper than ever, even large aperture ones.  Why go to the trouble, time, and investment to build your own when you can send off to Coulter or the equivalent and order an already assembled telescope ready to use?

There are several reasons.

First there is the waiting period.  I once waited 9 months for a Criterion 6" that I had paid cash for up front.  This was my first telescope other than a little Sears refractor, and that 9 months was the longest of my life.  Often this is the case with fully assembled scopes.  Companies do not keep the assembled instrument in stock, just the parts to make them.  They begin building only when you order.  Some are faster than others.  I have heard of amateurs waiting over a year for a 17" Dobsonian.  But, if you order the optics alone, then they simply pull the items off the shelf and send them.  I have had very good luck with the following companies: Meade, Coulter and University Optics.  Sometimes an item will come in less than two weeks, although four to six is more realistic in some cases.  That way you have something to hold for your money instead of a good promise.  Of course the transformation of collection of optics to telescope is still up to you.

Second, there is the quality of construction.  I feel I can build a better telescope than I can buy.  I don't mean a mechanical monstrosity ready for astrophotography, I mean a simple visual instrument using the easy to construct Dobsonian mounting.  I have seen commercial telescopes that had undersized diagonals, poorly positioned diagonals, and sloppy mountings that had a half of sky worth of back-lash.  Not all commercial telescopes have all of these things wrong with them, but many have some of them.  There is no substitute for a well built plywood tube containing commercial components and a good solid Dobsonian mount.  This combination will work almost every time and is not as difficult to build as most people think.

Third, there is the education.  The things you learn by building your own telescope are very beneficial to your hobby!  Telescope building requires no advanced degree in optics.  It requires no great construction skills.  It does, however, require a willingness to learn and to apply that knowledge with a little thought.  There are many good books on telescope building.  One that comes to mind is Sam Brown's All About Telescopes.  It's full of easy to understand diagrams and text that cover a large area of telescope making.  Also, you do not have to grind a mirror, just understand what it does.  Mirror's are nearly as cheap to buy than they are to make anyway.

Fourth, there is the cost.  Home built telescopes are very reasonable to build.  Mirror prices have come down in the past years, especially large mirrors, and a large aperture instrument may be built for a fraction of what it would have cost to buy several years ago.  Commercial mirrors are usually better than you can make at home anyway.

Fifth, you get what you want.  If you want that heilical focuser instead of rack-and-pinion, then you can design your scope that way.  If you want to make the tube look like a piece of furniture or just a rough framework, you have that choice.  If the tube must fit in your back seat, you can design your instrument with that parameter in mind.  With a little creativity, you can tailor a scope to suit you, not a production line supervisor.

Here are some common myths about telescope building:

1.  I will never be able to align the optics.  Nonsense.  If you can align a commercial scope, you can align one from scratch.  If you use commercial mirror cells and spiders, this is no harder than with a commercial scope.

2.  A tube must be made of Bakelite.  Again, nonsense!  A tube is merely a frame to hold the optics.  Whether or not it is completely closed on the sides is arbitrary.  Tubes may be made out of wood, PVC pipe, sono tubes, even metal or card board.  Use your imagination and rummage through your basement.

3.  I don't have the fancy tools or a place to work.  True, this may be a problem if you live on the 9th floor of an apartment building and have never picked up a hammer in your life, but an entire well equipped work shop is not required either.  Just hand tools and a carport are enough.  Power tools are definitely a help, but are not required.
 

I 'm surely not saying that everyone should build their own scope or not bother to get one at all.  Some people simply want to look at the stars and could care less about the details of building.  This is fine.  I'm just saying that there is a very good option that can have rewards far beyond the above listed ones: the satisfaction of doing it yourself.  Try it!