"Easy-Tilt" Newtonian Telescope Secondary Holder

An "Easy Tilt", for those unfamiliar with it, provides a simplified means of adjusting the secondary mirror. The design is by Steve Watkins, an amateur astronomer in Houston. While many secondary holders use a push-pull adjusting/locking design that can be a bear to adjust even in the daylight, Steve's design is based on a single socket head cap screw at each of three evenly spaced radial points, with enough built in friction to eliminate secondary movement under telescope use or transport. Belville spring washers hold the adjustment screws under constant tension to the mounting plate fastened to the secondary support rod. Small threaded brass balls between compression plates allow for tilting of the portion of the holder glued to the secondary mirror with silicone adhesive. This sounds complicated, but it is in fact quite simple. The whole design depends on friction forces applied after the whole unit is assembled and works extremely well. In practice, the screws are adjusted with a small allen wrench and are simply turned clockwise or counter-clockwise at each of the three adjusting points to align the secondary mirror WHILE you are looking through the focuser, alignment tube or autocollimator. Some nice pictures and a short review of the holder may be seen in Sky and Telescope magazine, Vol 83, #1, January 1992, page 14. I have built several of these for local amateurs in the Houston area. The overall dimensions are varied as needed to suit the size of the secondary mirror.