800mm telescope

01/02/2025

Small yet mighty. 21minutes integration with ZWO S30

09/01/2023

Somewhere over Naples - November 2022

26/11/2022

After the first full build there are still a number of things to implement sooo it's detailing time.

We added wheels that are removable and are part of a system that can lift the telescope with a pedal - this is like a system for furniture I guess.
Feet are an integral part of the telescope structure and we opted for 2" threaded tubes -basically plumbing tubes and sleeve - so that we can adjust the height. There will be a mechanism to adjust the height semi-automatically.
We'll describe it later on - maybe in one of the upcoming videos.

After the first full build it's detailing time. Moving the telescope around and having robust feet it's key for a fully functional telescope. Wheels are remo...

05/11/2022

It has been a pleasure to be hosted by Nicolo' from Osservatorio Sideralmente for a Live session and have the opportunity to chat about the project!

https://youtu.be/-Q0CmtHZTwM

This is in Italian although a similar talk in English is available on our YouTube channel:
https://youtu.be/k6dGKAzqHyE

Michele Scotti ci parlerà dell'incredibile progetto "800mm Telescope"! Non "solo" un telescopio di grande diametro ma una piattaforma per riprese di profondo...

28/09/2022

Quite a milestone in making a large, affordable, DIY-friendly telescope.

Still miles away from completion but very refreshing to see the full scale of the project.

We have to admit it turned out to be slightly bigger than we thought which caused the ceiling lamp to be removed. 😅

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/csFta9DkSFE

26/09/2022

HUGE miscalculation! ;D
https://youtu.be/EUmnDFYuU68

Project update and a bit of a teaser. This is just the first time everything is assembled together and...OMG this thing is way bigger than we thought! Requiring a last minute modification of the garage...

Teaser and clickbait

09/08/2022

Quite a milestone so far....getting there step by step:

Big day! The Azimuth table and the mirror box are finally matched together. YOu can appreciate just a small amount of movement as the garage seems too small ...

31/07/2022

"Not another boring update on something we don't care. We want to see it all built and running!!!"

Well, we are getting there, slowly but steadily. I appreciate your patience.

A D.455mm steel ring is used to carry the encoder grating tape -still to be glued on- and it's installed on the tripod. The read-head is rotating on the Azimuth table and to do so we need to cut a sizeable hole to be able to do fine tuning adjustments for the readhead as well as the ring.
As a matter of fact the ring is secured with 3 screws and oversize holes so that it can 'float' around and be torqued down when the pretty tight tolerance (+/- 0.1mm) is met.
I'm just waiting for that - it's gonna take a lot of time and discipline....

The Azimuth table finally rolls on the 'tripod' Telescope Project

31/07/2022

Brief tour of the elements prepared so far + explanatuon of the DIY grinding tool that generates the Azimuth rail bearing

26/07/2022

25/07/2022

While the ring is on the tripod the readhead is placed on the rotating Azimuth table

19/07/2022

A small tour of where we are at right now followed by a lengthy and frankly boring description of the DIY-friendly apparatus that can be built for less than 100Euros.
Such apparatus is in line with the spirit of the project i.e. cheap!
Ehr...I mean value for money. Getting serious this is an attempt to generate a big -1.2m wide- bearing rail for the Azimuth movement.

So far so good....we'll see shortly how is working.

A small tour of where we are at right now followed by a lengthy and frankly boring description of the DIY-friendly apparatus that can be built for less than ...