Is there an advantage to making ones own telescope

[Delberty]

And by making I mean grinding and polishing lenses, and if you are grinding and polishing lenses that someone else made why not skip this and start with molten glass.  Me I would just buy a rig completed as I do not have time to make a telescope.  So is there an advantage to being independent versus interdependent.  Remember that you could also be independent and make your own silicon chips as well but that this is not possible, so is there an advantage to making a telescope?

[studiot]

18 minutes ago, Delberty said:

And by making I mean grinding and polishing lenses, and if you are grinding and polishing lenses that someone else made why not skip this and start with molten glass.  Me I would just buy a rig completed as I do not have time to make a telescope.  So is there an advantage to being independent versus interdependent.  Remember that you could also be independent and make your own silicon chips as well but that this is not possible, so is there an advantage to making a telescope?

Cost?

My brother (a Mechanical Engineer) made one a few years back for his own interest, in addition to buying one.

I remember my secondary school in the 1960s also had a collective project to do this, run by the Arts teacher who had amateur astronomy as a hobby.

[Delberty]

6 minutes ago, studiot said:

Cost?

My brother (a Mechanical Engineer) made one a few years back for his own interest, in addition to buying one.

I remember my secondary school in the 1960s also had a collective project to do this, run by the Arts teacher who had amateur astronomy as a hobby.

Did your brother grind and polish the glass and mirror elements?  

[studiot]

I think my brother had a kit, but I don't know all the details.

The school project definitely did process their own grinding and polishing (I did not participate).

[John Cuthber]

A commercial manufacturer will grind the mirror until it is "good enough". An amateur will grind it until it is "as good as possible".

 

That's an advantage.

 

[swansont]

A commercial manufacturer makes things that meet spec. You can buy better optics, as long as you are willing to pay. If not, then you have to invest your own time.

[Danijel Gorupec]

Personal satisfaction that some people feel when they are building something with their own hands; includes the satisfaction of learning in the process. All other reasons being of lesser importance, imo. So if you don't feel excited with the idea of building a telescope on your own, it is perfectly reasonable to just buy one.

The price is almost never a valid reason. If you don't have enough money, finding a paid job would be a less work/time-intensive way to obtain the telescope.

The only exception would be if you want to work on something so specific that it is not possible to find a proper tool on the market. Then you will build one even if you don't enjoy doing it.