How Do You Make A John Dobson Telescope?
John Dobson’s simple telescope design has provided an easy, inexpensive and effective telescope mount for large amateur telescopes for more than half a century. The Dob as its called by its admirers is made of plywood and phonograph records and some nuts and bolts. It allows you to spend your money on large mirrors and optics rather than on expensive legs to hold the thing up. We will assume you have a standard ten inch Newtonian reflector telescope and are ready to mount it. That’s where John Dobson comes in. Cut two 12-by -12 inch plywood squares and two 12-by-13 inch plywood squares. Glue and screw them together to form an open ended box with an inside diameter of 12-by-12 inches. Slide the scope into the box. It should fit snugly. Drill and screw a screw through the outside of each side of the box into the sides of the scope tube to hold the scope in place inside the box. Be sure the scope balances when you lift it by the box. Cut two 6 inch diameter circular “ears” out plywood. Sa
