Welcome to the DIY-ATM
(Do-It-Yourself-Amateur-Telescope-Making)
SIG
(Special Interest Group)
Forum, for members and friends of the Astronomical Society of Eastern Missouri (ASEM), located in the St.Louis, Missouri, area.

This forum is in support of the DIY-ATM SIG and its meetings and members, where complement discussions, or new discussions, can occur that are related to the DIY construction and modifications of telescopes, such as Coulter dobsonians (of which many are still in use today), and related astronomy gear. Both the meetings and this forum are in the spirit of encouraging amateur astronomers to consider making their own gear, or improvement to their gear, while learning something in the process.

Within this forum one can post questions on how to make or modify astronomy equipment, make suggestions to the same (including discussions of necessary tools and materials), display and describe project success stories (or challenges). In addition, with the owner's permission, photos of completed projects can appear here on the introduction page, to show examples of what can be achieved with some imagination, thought, occasional guidance, courage (with power tools, or maybe a hammer?), and perseverance.

[The photo on the right is of Steve Boerner and his Binocular (parallelogram) mount that supports a pair of 80mm bino's, shown, and complete just before, the last meeting in July 2011]

The moderators request that discussion posts stay on the topic of DIY and ATM construction and modifications, that any new subject or topic be started in a new post (creating a new thread), and that all conversations and replies be made with respect to each other and done so in a civil manner.

Meetings of the DIY-ATM SIG are currently held at the Weldon Springs Interpretive Center, near Hwy 94 and I-64/40, and meeting schedules, that are also found on the ASEM website/calendar, can also be found here, along with meeting agendas.