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Here are some of the 2014 TSP Amateur Telescope-making entries!

Robert W Kieras (Austin, TX) – 10″ “Focal Balance” Newtonian
Award for an Innovative & Flexible design

Bob has come up with an ingenious design that allows him to both change the primary to secondary distance, and to re-balance the tube assembly on its mount. This is achieved by sliding two sections of the telescope along 4 fixed aluminum truss tubes. One example of the usefulness of this would be to increase the back focal length to accommodate a camera.

Robert Kieras – 10″ “Focal Balance” Newtonian

Robert Kieras – 10″ “Focal Balance” Newtonian

Timothy Cowden – Bryan, TX – 6″ f/10 Refractor & Mount

Award for cost effective re-use of materials

Tim took recycling to the limit with his telescope, mount and tripod build. Just about every piece of metal, wood or cardboard had seen a previous life, and in the case of washing machine rotor, appearing as a declination shaft in this telescope mount was now its third useful reincarnation! Tim had even cut the RA gear from plywood.

Timothy Cowden – 6″ f/10 Refractor & Mount	Timothy Cowden – 6″ f/10 Refractor & Mount
Timothy Cowden – 6″ f/10 Refractor & Mount

Ron Price (Tucson, AZ) – 24″ f/3.65 Newtonian & Alt-azimuth Mount

Award for Craftsmanship

Ron designs telescope for a living, but this is his first self-build. The finished instrument is of professional quality in both build and operation. A key feature that Ron incorporated is custom slip clutches, allowing him to simply push the telescope to an object, just let go, and the scope tracks perfectly.

Ron Price – 24″ f/3.65 Newtonian & Alt-azimuth Mount	Ron Price – 24″ f/3.65 Newtonian & Alt-azimuth Mount
Ron Price – 24″ f/3.65 Newtonian & Alt-azimuth Mount

Joe Mungo (Coppell, TX) – 16″ f/4.5 Ultralight Alt-azimuth Newtonian
Overall Winner & Award for creative Design & Build
Joe wanted a scope that didn’t need steps to reach the eyepiece. He has clearly achieved that and along the way devised and incorporated a large number of unusual features. His elimination of a rocker box gave a big reduction in height and weight while providing a very stiff and stable mount. Similarly his bold use of taut wires to hold the secondary has paid off too and works very well in practice. As well as a great design, Joe has made a very good job in building and finishing the telescope.

Joe Mungo 16″ f/4.5 Newtonian Notice the height of the eyepiece matches Joe’s eyeline!	The annular base board showing the three (one adjustable) azimuth bearing wheels.
Joe has reduced the rocker box to just a thick annular disk. The 4 ptfe elevation axis thrust pads are directly above 4 azimuth pads that run on the laminate bearing surface.	An unusual asymmetric 9 point mirror mount that Joe designed using PLOP software
The wire supports for the secondary. Note the collimation screws for the secondary are at 90 degrees to the normal configuration.