In early December, we unpacked and gave readers a quick FirstLook at the Hugo telescope. The Hugo is unlike any Newtonian reflector telescope currently on the market.
Some assembly (tube, tripod) is required before the Hugo is ready to be used. The process is part of the fun of the Hugo. It teaches the owner about the parts, the scope's construction, and all of the mechanics involved in making the telescope work.
The assembly process, amazingly enough, is very straightforward. In putting it all together, we learned quite a bit about how Newtonian telescopes work.
The Hugo does not use a cylinder to hold the eye piece, diagonal and primary mirrors in place. Instead, a tube is constructed using six aluminum rods and four rings. When everything is put together and tightened, the entire structure is very rigid.
To form the tube, two inner rings must first be aligned and the rods inserted. The two inner rings will eventually need to be properly spaced so they can be fitted to the tripod. At this point, there is no need to lock their positions.
The next piece to go on the rods is the eye piece mount. Once threaded onto the rods, the mount may be tighted in place. Final placement can be adjusted once it is time to align all of the optics.
The diagonal mirror is mounted on one of the end rings, the primary mirror on the other. Since the diagonal mirror will rotate into position, there is no need to worry about the mirror's orientation during assembly.
These two end rings are fastened to the rods by stainless steel bolts. Care should be taken not to overtighten the bolts. The diagonal mirror should be attached first. Once in place, put the entire structure on the floor and carefully lower the primary mirror into position and attach it to the rods.
When all the bolts have been properly fastened, the tube should be very rigid. Turn the entire assembly so that the primary mirror is closest to the floor. This is a more stable way to stand the tube out of the way while proceeding on to the tripod assembly step. We'll have more of the Hugo construction next week. - Wan Chi Lau (permalink)
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