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- Due to the four element design, the lens and cell are nearly
20 lbs. The round OTA tube has therefore been strengthened with
additional wall thickness. This also provides added rigidity,
reducing flexure issues with such a fast, f4.3, optical system. |
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- Baffling was a key design element so all internal areas are
baffled. This knife edge style baffling (0.015" thick) also
gives the structure(s) more strength and rigidity, yet adds very
little to the overall weight. |
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- The dew shield is 16" long, 4" slipping over the
main OTA tube, yielding 12" of baffled space in front of
the lens cell. All baffling can be optimized for a given CCD
chip size or visual purpose. |
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- Through intelligent designing of the bolt on assemblies, light
leaks can be greatly reduced or eliminated. If neccesary, the
focuser can be customized to include an "O" ring. |
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- The intended CCD camera is also a little heavier than typical.
It is 7.5" long and weighs 7 lbs. To reduce flexure at the
imaging train, ribbing was added to the extension tube that sits
between the focuser and the main OTA tube. |
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- The extension tube can be removed and replaced with the focuser
and its mounting plate to allow other instrumentation to be installed
that requires longer back focus. |
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- Both the focuser and the lens cell can be independantly collimated.
This allows for fine tuning of the image plane to insure the
needed collimation on this fast system. |
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- All ribbing, baffling and tubes are designed using carbon fiber.
The weight of the OTA is therefore minimized. |
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- The CTE of the OTA reduces focus shift due to temperature change
by an amount more than 10 times less than aluminum, which was
a possible candidate material for the OTA. |
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- Quickly detacheable dew shield and mounting rings. |
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