I haven't been out to observe much this year.  Between the bad weather, work, and the 50-minute minimum drive to one of the club dark sky sites, there haven't been many opportunities for viewing.  I began talking about wanting a "grab-and-go" scope I could use if I had a few minutes on a clear night.  I began looking at the catalogs.  I began introducing terms like "Televue 85" into the dinner conversation.  My husband, ever-alert to signs of scope fever (and a ruptured checking account), used the same technique on me I've seen him use on small children-distraction with shiny objects.  Shortly before Christmas, he came home from an ATM meeting with a "present" consisting of a primary and secondary mirror set plus eyepiece.  I thought the 4.25" f-4 mirror would make a nice rich-field telescope which I could mount piggy-back on my 18" Obsession for long observing sessions or on my binocular tripod as a "grab and go" scope to sneak in a few minutes here and there.

I started the project by attending one of  NOVAC's Sunday night ATM show-and-tell meetings to steal ideas.  I got lots of ideas, lots of encouragement and was even given some very nice parts.

What did I learn from building this telescope?  Lots of stuff:

1. The ATM group is very friendly, very supportive and wildly imaginative. If it doesn't move, they'll find a way to stick two mirrors on it and turn it into a telescope.
2. Smaller is not necessarily easier.  A 4.25" scope actually has finer collimation requirements than my big scope.  Plus, you can't fit both hands and a paintbrush into a 5" square piece of plumbing pipe like you can a one and a half foot wide upper cage assembly.
3. Guys DO like to shop (who knew?), especially for small pieces parts at Home Depot and Sears.  This turned out to my advantage as my husband happily and cheerfully shopped every hardware store in the area looking for screws, bolts, pipe, etc.  ("Honey, I know it's almost bedtime, but we're out of milk, and while you're out could you pick up some brass acorn nuts and one more 6-32 cap screw?")
4. An optical tube made out of plastic plumbing pipe looks just like a piece of plastic plumbing pipe until it is painted and finished.  I know this because my husband needed a couple of inches of plumbing pipe and cut it off my telescope.  (Maybe that's why he's done so many hardware runs without complaint).
5. Murphy LOVES telescope projects.
6. If you're going to clean your mirror with alcohol, don't use acrylic paint or shellac on the mirror or mirror cell. (Do you really need to ask how I learned that one?)
7. A good workshop helps but is not an absolute requirement.  I had the advantage of a husband who has been generously indulged by a doting spouse with a nice shop and equipment like a drill press and band saw. For my small project, everything I did could have been done with the tools I owned and used in the pre-shop days.  It might've taken a little more planning or effort, but it would have been doable.  In fact, some of my cuts would've been straighter using my old, hand Japanese saws.
8. Plan to spend a lot of time just shopping for parts. If you need four 8-24 stainless steel thumbscrews to fit four brass acorn nuts, it's almost guaranteed the local hardware store will have three of them in stock and you and Murphy will be schlepping all over Northern Virginia looking for the fourth. ("Honey, it's such a nice day, let's go for a drive in the country.  I've heard there's a hardware store in West Virginia with 1/4-20 stainless steel screws.")
9. It's the journey, grasshopper. The right mindset really is important. Telescope making can be fun, but not if you just want to screw it together and use it ASAP.  For that, stick to kits like the Coulter Odessey, StarSplitter Steve's six-inch kit or one of the other small kits. If you are craftsy and find joy in the process as well as in the end product, telescope building can be a good experience.
10. Finally, never, EVER, leave an unpainted optical tube made of plastic plumbing pipe out where others can get to it. (see item 4).