Sky and Telescope - February 2016 - 34

Gary Seronik
Telescope Workshop

A Finely Finished 14-inch
A few ﬁnishing touches often separates a good scope from a great one.
Wow - he thought of everything. That's
what went through my mind as I watched Victoria, British Columbia telescope maker Miles Waite assemble his
14-inch Dobsonian reﬂector. When he was done, I stood
impressed with the scope's overall appearance and the
particularly ﬁne craftsmanship in evidence. But it's all
the little thoughtful touches and attention to detail that
makes this scope extra special.
Miles is typical of many telescope makers I've met
over the years - he wanted an instrument customized
to his speciﬁc observing needs that also appealed to his
aesthetics. But the road to completion for this scope was

GARY SERONIK

Victoria, British Columbia telescope
maker Miles Waite designed and built
this superb, portable 14-inch f/4.7 trusstube Dobsonian.

Februar y 2016 sky & telescope

perhaps a little longer and more winding than most. Having successfully made a 9¼-inch mirror before, he was
ready to try his hand at something more ambitious. "I
would say that in this case, the mirror chose me," Miles
says. "A friend owned a commercial ﬁshing boat and had
a couple of surplus 14-inch diameter porthole windows
he was removing when aperture fever struck and I immediately had visions of making a big telescope mirror."
One thing about working on a telescope mirror is that
it gives you lots of time to think, and Miles used that time
to work out the details of his dream scope. Eventually the
planning and construction got ahead of the mirror's progress. "Most of the scope's structure was nearing completion, and my mirror wasn't ﬁnished yet," he recounts.
"So, I decided to purchase a primary with the intention of
swapping it for my own optic when it was done."
The scope pictured here is the result. It's a lightweight, compact instrument with a f/4.7 focal ratio that
places the focuser at eye level when the scope is aimed at
the zenith. The telescope is made largely from aluminum stock. As Miles says, "One of the biggest challenges
was bolting everything together accurately and securely;
the only welding I did was a bit of brazing on the spider
secondary holder bracket."
So what about those thoughtful touches I mentioned
earlier? There are several, but let me highlight just a few
that illustrate the care Miles put into the design. First,
the Achilles heel of most open-frame Dobs is the truss
system that joins the front of the scope to the rear. Many
are ﬁddly, and some invite potential disaster with poles
and hardware precariously attached until the assembly
is completed. All six truss members in Miles's scope are
joined together as a single unit that unfolds and attaches
to the rest of the scope with captive bolts - there's nothing to lose in the dark or fall on the primary mirror. (But
there's a mirror cover in place, just to be extra sure!)
I also like the nifty way the front sections of the side
bearings fold in for a compact conﬁguration that makes
transporting the scope easier. These "ears" swing into
position and are locked in place by a pair of ordinary
cabinet latches. The scope also utilizes digital setting circles, but you might not notice them at ﬁ rst glance. Miles
has done a superb job of routing the various wires that

Sky and Telescope - February 2016

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