I like visual astronomy and manual pointing (star hopping).
Build a 12.5" Dobsonian (with Dobson) and it was great.
I also love doing public outreach (sidewalk astronomy).
Wanted robust, portable, mount for larger mirrors.
Ball scopes tick many of the desirable trade offs for me
I put a 16" mirror in one and it was a favorite for years.
but balls do have drawbacks,
lack of physical access to back of mirror, poor ventilation,
how to lift into vehicle ...
and they can be stunningly expensive to buy.
Sudiballs are my answer to how to easily construct precise
light weight spherical analogs in the comfort of your own home
with materials lying around.
HN crowd could likely think of them as wire frames of spheres
in meat space.
There are of course many (infinite) ways to choose a wire frame
representation of a sphere.
So we choose one that provides convenience IRL.
The "wires" in the wire frame are the edges of some sheet material
such as plywood cut into arcs.
By following the geometry of an octahedron, three planes (sheet material)
intersect at right angles which (surprise) is exactly what our household
tools saws, drills, routers, lasers etc, are designed to cut.
There are other details to make it work, ensuring the wire frame
is always touching the base at least three points.
Eroding the edges of the edges to be one with the sphere ...
I like visual astronomy and manual pointing (star hopping). Build a 12.5" Dobsonian (with Dobson) and it was great.
I also love doing public outreach (sidewalk astronomy). Wanted robust, portable, mount for larger mirrors. Ball scopes tick many of the desirable trade offs for me I put a 16" mirror in one and it was a favorite for years.
but balls do have drawbacks, lack of physical access to back of mirror, poor ventilation, how to lift into vehicle ... and they can be stunningly expensive to buy.
Sudiballs are my answer to how to easily construct precise light weight spherical analogs in the comfort of your own home with materials lying around.
HN crowd could likely think of them as wire frames of spheres in meat space.
There are of course many (infinite) ways to choose a wire frame representation of a sphere. So we choose one that provides convenience IRL.
The "wires" in the wire frame are the edges of some sheet material such as plywood cut into arcs.
By following the geometry of an octahedron, three planes (sheet material) intersect at right angles which (surprise) is exactly what our household tools saws, drills, routers, lasers etc, are designed to cut.
There are other details to make it work, ensuring the wire frame is always touching the base at least three points. Eroding the edges of the edges to be one with the sphere ...
But all doable by you.
[] https://ix.cs.uoregon.edu/~tomc/Hobbies/Astronomy/ATM/index....