One of my passions are the stars. I love to look up at night. After doing some research via google, I started construction of a Dobsonian reflector 6 inch telescope. I purchased the two mirrors I needed from the internet and got to work. The first thing I did was to get some plans so I could figure out what it was that I was doing. I found these plans Sidewalk Astronomers They were very helpful but as you will see I did not really follow them. They just gave me the concepts. I will always march to the beat of my own drum. Here are the results of about 2 months of planning and work. I did not like the tube design so I made a frame from aluminum.

The entire scope stands 5 feet 6 inches when pointed straight up. The altitude bearing I made from 2 new toilet floor drain adapters from home depot.

I used a jig saw to cut a circle in the 3/4 ac plywood and lined the cut with a couple of pieces of 1/16 Teflon squares.

There is so little friction on the bearings that I had to add a strap of nylon that I can tension with the wingnut to increase the friction. It also serves to keep the scope on the base. The spring in the center is what other atmers were doing but was not enough force for my needs. Hence the nylon.
The primary mirror is glued to the tailgate with silicon leaving a 1/8th gap for air cooling.

This is adjusted by 3 evenly spaced bolts and springs. The springs keep constant pressure on the tailgate so with a few turns of the wingnuts I can tilt the mirror in any direction.

The secondary mirror is held in the center of the telescope by the spider. It is made from 5 1/4-20 threaded rod connectors welded to some steel banding cut to the right length, welding on some 1/4-20 threaded rod to connect it to the outside frame. This allows the center of the mirror to be moved in any side to side direction. The center is a 1/4-20 rod to which is screwed the actual secondary mirror assembly.

It to is made of three screws and springs like the primary mirror assembly, allowing it to tilt in any direction to aim it. The mirror itself is also glued to the 45° wood dowel with RTV. The focus assembly I stole off of a junk kids scope with the eye pieces. When I have more money I will redo the focuser with Meade eye pieces in mind. To aim the scope I added a targeting scope from another junk kids scope.

This is a shot down the throat of the scope.

While it may look like it is not lined up, it is. The images I get from the scope are unreal. I can clearly see 5 moons around Jupiter, The rings of Saturn are clear. I can see the white from the ice poles on mars. The craters on the moon leap out at you. I am VERY happy with the way it turned out. But like all of my home made projects, it doesn't look very good. I really need to get Tom Reins to show me how to do finish work.