"Let me start by first saying that I have no affiliation with Dream Telescopes other than the fact that I maybe a future customer.

About a year ago I started looking for a company to make a OTA for a remote telescope I will be installing in New Mexico. After narrowing down my search to 4 or 5 manufactures I started contacting these companies about the possibility of looking over their products and manufacturing techniques in person. What I got was a luke warm
reception from most and a non-response from others except from Dream Telescopes.

That first phone conversation with Shane Santi the owner of Dream Telescopes lasted for about 2 1/2 hours. We discussed what his design philosophies were and how his differed from the rest. To say I was impressed is an understatement. He told me that his design is based on extremely light weight components without sacrificing rigidity. This includes the use of a completely carbon fiber telescope structure with cellular primary and secondary mirrors. I was shocked further by what he said next. That the 24" telescope he could make for me would weigh around 115 lbs.

I then asked the "Magic Question" that sent most of the other manufactures running for the hills. May I come look at your products in person? He told me this would not be a problem. About 2 months later I took the ride out to his place in Pennsylvania.

When I arrived at Shane's place I was warmly greeted, then we sat down to further discuss what had transpired at Dream in the last few months. After another long discussion about what he thought were some very strong points about his design we made our way out to his observatory.

In the observatory was a 16" Dream Astrograph sitting on a Paramount ME. The pictures he sent me of the telescope do not do it justice! The first thing I noticed was how well the carbon fiber work was executed. A lot of carbon fiber components I have seen tend to be
wavy especially when painted. This was not true of Shane's work; the OTA was very smooth. Smartly this OTA was painted white so the heat from the sun is not absorbed. With a black telescope any exposure to the sun causes heat to be absorbed in the structure which then needs to be radiated back out as night falls. This will cause problems with the seeing conditions local to the telescope.

Next I saw a huge K&N high performance air filter at the rear of the telescope. Most companies use foam air filters which have small surface areas. Foam as a filtering media is also the most restrictive. I know this because of the thousands of hours I have behind a flow bench testing the air flow through various automotive air filters, cylinder heads and fuel metering devices.

At this time he had the fans running which produced a steady flow of air at the front end of the tube which brings about thermal equilibrium very quickly. Let me also point out that no vibration was felt when I touched the tube even at the rear of the scope. We discussed leaving the fans on all of the time if it was set up permanently. Shane did testing and determined that the mirrors stay dew and dust free if the fans are left on. I don't see how any dust could ever land on the mirror with all of the air pouring out the front of the scope. Again another well thought out design on his part saving the customer the chore of frequent mirror cleanings.

Then he showed me his secondary design. All I can say is this is one of the most rigid secondary assemblies I have ever seen. We moved the telescope in different orientations with the CATSEYE collimation tool in place to check for any shifting of the optics. No movement was detected no matter where the telescope was pointed.

He then asked me to push on the secondary while looking through the collimation tool. What he wasn't expecting was for me to push as hard as I did. With each push at least 30 lbs of pressure was applied and very little movement was detected. After I released my hands from the secondary assembly the collimation triangles (in the CATSEYE tool)
always returned to their original position. This is more force then the telescope would ever see in actual use but it passed with flying colors.

Next we looked at some mirror sub-assemblies. This cell was almost exclusively made of carbon fiber which makes for a very flexure free mirror support. On careful inspection of the laminations of the individual pieces I was immediately struck by the fact that there were no voids in any of the pieces I examined. I have seen carbon fiber work where voids are present in the laminations which weakens the product and leads to mechanical failure. The fact that there were no voids showed me that Shane knows how to properly lay up carbon fiber.

I started thinking why is carbon fiber not used more effectively by the other telescope manufactures. The clear weight and strength properties that properly made carbon fiber components have over other materials should make this an easy design choice.

He then showed me the cellular 24" primary he just got back from the coaters. WOW! I have never held a lighter 24" mirror in my hands before! Being this light in weight makes holding the mirror accurately in its cell much easier, another plus to Shane's design. I sure wish all of the dob makers out there would start using mirrors like this. Transporting them would be a lot easier. We then examined the mirror with a Ronchi grating. The mirror showed no turned edge and the Ronchi pattern was textbook perfect. A properly figured light weight mirror is a thing of beauty. My hats off to his optician.

I spent about nine hours total with Shane that day and the whole time not one red flag was raised. This is not an experience I have had very often with other manufactures.

In closing Dream's designs are well thought out and implemented which is rare these days. I would not hesitate recommending Dream to anyone who is considering a large, fast and light weight telescope."

Chuck Clark