My first book, Making a Refracting Telescope, featured the making of a small refracting telescope from commonly found and inexpensive materials. The telescope had a 48mm diameter achromatic objective lens with a focal length of 450mm and was designed to be used with standard 24.5mm (0.965 inch) diameter eyepieces and accessories. Also included in my first book was a photograph of a 102mm astronomical refracting telescope, constructed using similar materials and techniques. This book, Making a 102 mm Refracting Telescope (Second Edition), is a sequel to my first publication and is concerned with the making of the larger instrument mentioned above. As with my first book, the making of each component is described in detail with step by step instructions, advice, helpful photographs and diagrams.
In this second edition, a new section has been added that fully describes the procedure for replacing the original drawtube focusing assembly with a new focusing unit, a drawtube with a rack and pinion focuser combination.