Thin Aluminumn Ring Chatter

[madman]

I made a .190 thick aluminumn ring. It was 6.5 inch outside Diameter and 5.5 inch inside dia. I used soft jaws and it was going ok till last face cut. Then for some unavoidable reason it chattered bad ,, I slowed it down fiddled around but cut by cut it was reaching finish width .190 wide. Finally i just took it of and left it crappy looking. Any tips guys. ? Thanx

[Evan]

I turned a bunch of rings like that for my telescope.



I did it by mounting the material on an MDF faceplate. This allows the tool to cut right into the faceplate when turning the inside and outside diameter while supporting the ring completely so it doesn't "ring".




For facing just mount it inside the ID and face it. Part it off as the last step.

[chrsbrbnk]

What are the gray struts made of and do they come apart for transport?

[Evan]

The struts are pultruded graphite fiber-reinforced epoxy. It doesn't come apart for transport.

[sid pileski]

telescope

Evan- I like the looks of that telescope. That is something I would like to make sometime, after I finish my car project. I don't know anything about them, but, I know that I would like to look at the stars and I've seen (looked though) cheap ones. They were kind of frustrating to use.
Is that your oun design?

Thanks- Sid

[Evan]

Is that your oun design?

Yep. See here:

http://vts.bc.ca/astrophoto/scope.htm