How to Build an 8" or 10" Dobsonian Telescope

This section is a step-by-step guide on how to build your own low cost, good quality stable telescope.

To view the complete set of instructions, click here.

The winter is a perfect time of year to build your new telescope.  Who wants to go outside in the rain, snow and wind anyway, right?

There are two excellent books that I highly recommend if you’re about to embark on building any dob telescope.  

1. For 6 to 12 inch dobsonians, Richard Berry’s “Build Your Own Telescope – Complete Plans for Five Telescopes You Can Build with Simple Hand Tools,” Willmann-Bell, Inc., 1994.  ( I bought mine used on Amazon.com for $15 US).  

2. For larger dobsonian telescopes, there is one book that stands above the rest, David Kriege and Richard Berry’s collaborative book, “The Dobsonian Telescope – A Practical Manual for Building Large Aperture Telescopes,” Willmann-Bell, Inc., 1997. (Approximately $30 US)

Other useful links:

 Please take pictures of your project as you progress!  If you send them to me, I’d like to post them on the website as encouragement to others to build their own telescopes!

10/01/2017