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Post by borispider on Sept 3, 2012 16:20:05 GMT -5
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Post by Ales - iStar Optical on Sept 5, 2012 14:43:15 GMT -5
YES.. truss refractors.. Ive been playing around with this idea for over one year.. everyone knows the classic look of the closed tube refractor.. and the closed tube survived the "evolution of telescope" perfectly and ended up all the way on top as a truly working and perfect design... Well, we took a closer look at how the light behaves in different style scopes and I decided to give the open construction refractor a serious shot.. after a long and frequent talks with our master optician. He told me the other day after he evaluated the latest design: "I think I will work" but since there is nothing to compare this strange looking model with, we must simply build one and test it against closed tube design, side by side. The major advantage of this design is weight reduction and I sure hope for the substantial one... So people craving a nice 150mm or even 180mm refractor wont have to buy a 5000 dollar mount.. but can get away with their existing CGEM or even CG5 or similar. Another advantage is wind shaking and vibrations of the classic scope. In this scope the wind will go thru the scope like thru a thin wire fence. Third advantage is the fact that these scopes dont need the classic mounting rings. We are developing a set of special clams and those will be substantially less expensive and substantially lighter compared to regular mounting rings. Last advantage could be lower price but we wont know until we build one. We save money on material, that is for sure.. but the individual parts are much more complex and more expensive to produce.. so lets not celebrate alower price YET...
Another major advantage is a considerably faster lens cooling time, approx 40 percent faster compared to any closed tube design and even faster than the passive cooling vent design produced in the past. All in all, these scopes could outperform the classic refracor body style in many different aspects. Just give us some time and I will inform you about the final outcome. The first two scopes will be available before Christmas, for any of you interested. And since these two are a prototypes, we will offer them at a very attractive price. Contact Mike Harden if you are interested.
The only possible dissadvantage could be a slightly lowered resolution but we wont know until we test one in real life. The way it is designed with properly positioned baffles and an extra 80mm tube at the focuser end, I think the performance will be similar to the closed tube model.
I was in production today and we discussed production of two prototypes of this new truss refractor under Perseus CTR 150-12 name. The CAD drawings are nearly done and material is in house including the three alloy 40x15x2mm rectagular bars. There wont be dew shield, at least not right now. WE hope to have these special dew shields produced by one US based company. For those who prefer closed tube, we will develop a special water proof lightweight shroud which will be attached over the truss construction. I can not speculate about the weight, but we will know in three month time or sooner. This scope in its basic form (without dew shield or the special shroud) will be ideal for dark skies and preferably a dry climate like AZ, CA, NM, etc.. also great for solar observing and imaging. Im sure there is a market for these newly designed scopes and we will give it a shot. I will send you guys some photos from our production soon.
cheers,
Ales
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Post by borispider on Sept 6, 2012 8:03:23 GMT -5
Wow. Sounds great.
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