Teeter Truss Conversion

Lurch Reborn: Rob Teeter Truss Structure
(or Beauty and the Beast)
Tom Trusock – ttrusock@hatchet.badaxe.k12.mi.us


 This is Beauty, where is the Beast?

The acquisition.

A while back I happened to come into possession of a rather unique telescope.  The optics (consisting of a 10” f7.5 Swayze primary) were simply exquisite, the focuser a  work of art (Feathertouch), the 80+ inch OTA, well;  no matter what else it was a conversation piece (California Tubular designs), and driven (dob driver II) to top it off.  I had only two gripes with the scope:

1)    the mount was badly in need of reworking.
2)    have you ever tried to transport a 10” f7.5 sonotube scope? 

I had thought it would be a test to see if I like observing from a platform, 6 - 8 inches off the ground.  I intend on getting a larger scope some day and wanted to determine just how large I could go.  I had initially thought I would keep it for 8 months to a year and then sell it to fund my upgrade to a bigger scope.  As time wore on, I wound up liking the optics so much, I decided I wanted to keep it.  I quickly realized, that if I were going to keep it, the mount would need a MAJOR overhaul. 

 There’s the beast! The 10” F7.5 before restructuring – the old
 8” f6 shown in the foreground gives a sense of scale.

To give you an indication of just how bad the mount was let me simply say that some of you may have seen an observing report, and recognize the scope by it’s name: Lurch.  The name was quite appropriate.  The motions, while probably acceptable at one time, had degenerated badly.  The stiction was so great that if you attempted to move the scope manually, at anything other than the lowest powers, you simply overshot the target.  The rocker box and ground board were made of 1" aircraft plywood, and stood just under 3 feet tall. The base alone was extremely heavy, and  while sonotube is convenient, 90+ inches of it made the scope a little difficult to transport.  It did fit in my medium sized SUV, but only if my daughter, wife and I agreed to have a large stellar post run through the middle of the vehicle and allowed it to rest on our shoulders.  Provided I wanted to keep the optics, everyone agreed that a truss would make life a little easier.

Why would anyone prefer a long focal ratio?

While the mainstay in days past, long focal ratio dobs are fairly uncommon today, due in large part no doubt to the talents of optical magicians like Carl Zambuto and structure design/manufacturing gurus like Rick Singmaster.  If you have ever looked through a well collimated Starmaster with a Zambuto primary, then you know that a short focal ratio scope can do extremely well on the planets, so you don't tend to sacrifice much at all.  Short focal ratio scopes have another advantage in usability.  Many can be used while seated or standing flat footed.  Long focal length scopes with decent aperture usually require some sort of platform to stand on while observing near the zenith.  

Every single telescope design is a trade off.  You simply have to decide what you are willing to live with.

If you are willing to cope with the fuss of a long focal ratio, it does have advantages to its shorter counterparts. (This is assuming we are talking similar quality optics and mechanics for both the long and short scopes.)

But, in spite of all this, they aren’t nearly as popular (useability can be a very big issue), and calls to every manufactures I could find advertising truss conversions left me empty handed.  No one wanted to touch a 10” f7.5.  The situation sat for months.  I even considered making my own structure, but was forced to acknowledge my woodworking skills are sorely deficient.

Enter Rob Teeter.

In December of 2002, a friend dropped me a note about this “new guy” out in NJ.  Rob Teeter was running a little shop out there called “Teeter’s Telescopes”  Being the internet junkie that I am, I was surprised to find that a prolonged search brought up nearly nothing, only the company web page.  What was there looked intriguing.  Rob specialized in truss conversions and long focal length dobsonians from 8” up to 20” called “Teeter’s Planet Killers”.  I even noted that he offered a 10” f7 dob.

Satisfied, I asked him if he would be willing to undertake a 10” f7.5 truss conversion. He agreed and in late December 2002, I packed up the optics, mirror cell, focuser, diagonal, spider, and a check and sent them all his way.

The Construction

 The UTA nests inside the mirror box for transport

The pictures he sent were superb and served to whet my appetite, but I did wonder –what would it look like in person?

Looking at it now, I can tell you the pictures didn’t lie.  Rob’s workmanship is simply excellent. He used 1/2" Baltic Birch plywood with a maple veneer throughout the scope, except for the altitude bearings which are 3/4" Baltic Birch and the mirror cover which is 1/4" domestic pine (used for contrast).

All hardware is solid brass including large drawer-pulls, corner protectors and personalized name plate mounted on the mirror box, nuts and bolts on the upper tube assembly, and the chest handles on the rocker box.

All exterior wood surfaces have been stained using a Colonial Maple stain (my choice, Rob offers several options) and overcoated with three coats of Gloss Marine Spar Polyurethane (brushed, not sprayed, for a more handmade final appearance).   All interior wood surfaces (ie. interior of mirror box) are finished with several coats of Krylon Ultra Flat Black paint.

Because one of my primary requirements was portability, Rob designed the mirror box in such a way as to allow the Upper Tube Assembly (UTA) to sit inside of the mirror box and not harm the primary mirror during transport.  Rob liked this design so much, he decided to offer it on future Planet-Killers and Truss Conversions.

 
Rob’s fit and finish is first class.

The modified Novak 9 point mirror cell is removable, using four 1/4-20 stainless steel bolts with large diameter knurled heads, that thread into four 1/4-20 T-nuts fastened in the mirror box.  Additionally, the primary cell is easily adjusted by hand, and allows for a no-tools collimation.  In an interesting note, Rob found this cell on Astromart saw it as an upgrade to mine, and called to ask if I wanted it.

Rob used Moonlite ball and socket Truss connectors,  and Moonlite 1" diameter clear anodized Truss poles.  The connectors and blocks are made from black delrin plastic which is very sturdy and provides a solid connection between mirror box and upper tube assembly, while providing a no tools assembly.

Other components used in include Astrosystems' teflon kits (azimuth and altitude), central azimuth pivot kit.  Additionally, Rob provides a custom fit Astrosystems’ shroud, shipped directly from Astrosystems.

I decided to have Rob install 4000 tic encoders (using the Sky Engineering Mounting Kit) for use with my Sky Commander.

Rob also added a custom eyepiece holder for the front of the rocker box.

We kept my 10” F7.5 Swayze primary, secondary mirror (Astrosystems), secondary holder (also Astrosystems), Rigel Quick-Finder and Starlight Instruments' Feathertouch focuser.

As update followed update, eventually we reached the point where there was nothing left to do.  Rob dropped the scope off for shipping, and I cringed – not wanting to hear the bill.  Surprisingly, it was only $160 via the local UPS store.