Modifications to the Bigbigspace.com 6" Newtonian

thingiverse

The www.bigbigspace.com telescope is awesome and a fun project. However, the plastic based coupled with an metal focuser on the secondary cage makes it unbalanced. Good news is the 16mm CF tubes give you a way to make a counterweight. I used an Ioptron 1-lb counterweight that was for a Smart EQ mount. These are readily available. This threads into the top large hole on the primary mirror box and is locked in place. You put the CF tube into the hole and then the weight can be clamped into place where required based on the eyepiece you're using. 1 lb was more than enough... 2 lbs if you're using huge eyepieces might be required. The CF tube tie allows you to reuse some of the CF if you happen to have large pieces left over to make the altitude bearings stiffer. I bought 1000mm CF tubes so they were 'just' too short. This tie goes betweeen two pieces to join them together.