I received a Meade 390 telescope for Father’s day, I am a lucky boy. I decided to make  a more portable and lighter  SUN GUN, this boy is also getting older.

TRIPOD: The tripod is a Ultimate TS-88 speaker stand (www.ultimatesupport.com/TS-22.htm) . The tripod extends from 5'2" to 9'2" and weighs 8 lbs. A Ultimate socket mounting bracket TSM-  150 is used to mount the scope to the tripod. A 6 ½"x7"x1/8 piece of aluminum is mounted to the top of the bracket. The legs on the telescope  are removed, and the telescope mount is attached to the aluminum on the top of the bracket.

TELESCOPE: The eyepiece holder on the telescope is unscrewed, and replaced with a Celestron 36.4 mm to T adapter ( Celestron T-Adapter Refractor #93634). Remove the eyepiece tube and ring from a standard universal camera adapter, the body of the adapter is the only part used. Screw the camera adapter body onto the
t-adapter.

REAR PROJECTION SCREEN: The rear projection assembly is the same as the prototype SUN GUN except a 3" to 1 ½" pvc adaptor is installed into the floor flange. A 3" piece of 1½" pvc dwv (ACE Hardware part number 43102) with a 1/8" hole drilled 1" in from the end, is mounted in the adapter. ACE sells the 1½" pvc dwv in 10' lengths, so you will have some to share.

FINAL ASSEMBLY: Mount the telescope with the mounting rings as close as possible to the eyepiece end. A 1 lb counter weight is mounted on the lens end of the telescope. Install a 12.5 mm eyepiece with a number 12 yellow eyepiece filter into the camera adapter body. Mount the rear projection assembly over the camera adapter body, using the eyepiece retaining screw to hold the rear projection assembly and eyepiece to the telescope. The fine adjustment cables that come with the telescope were replaced with two faucet hook up tubes (ACE Hardware part number 4092375). The tubes were connected to the telescope with two tubing clamps, and two knobs were screwed into the ends. The scope comes apart in three sections, rear projection assembly, telescope with mount, and tripod. It weighs 25 lbs, and will fit into the back of a Geo Tracker. Enjoy!

AUTOMATED SUN GUN

Meade 390 Sun Gun mounted on a Meade DS 90 mount

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