8923 replies to this topic

[roscoe]

Just delivered today.   I'll spare you another round of "Guess What's In The Box?"

 

An Orion branded Towa 80mm x 1200mm, in excellent condition.  I just barely set it up in the family room, where I've been putting scopes while getting the shop reorganized.

 

 

It IS a family room.... a room for your fine family of scopes!

 

And, that was a wonderful 'one that got away' story!  Joy to both of you!

[Chuck Hards]

Wow, you should consider yourself blessed.  Nice scope, too.  

 

That mount is identical to my daughter's, that came off of a Bushnell 114 scope from the late 80s or early 90s..  Very smooth.  I always refer to it as an EQ3 b/c that's what a scope shop guy called it as he was fitting a head adapter about 20 years ago now.

 

Thanks, I am blessed in more ways than I can possibly count.  My dear wife is the icing on the cake.

 

I've always called that mount an EQ3, myself.  It's identical to the mount that came with the Meade version of this telescope that I also own.  Like an EQ2 on steroids.  The gearing is the same so the same drive motor should work.  That's my next project, adapting an after-market motor to these mounts.  I only have one factory RA AC drive for these mounts, need to motorize the rest.  It's surprisingly good for such a small gear, tracks well and less PE than you would expect.  Hope they all turn out that way.

[BarabinoSr]

Chuck, that's a great find! The scope looks to be mint ! Fits right in with your scope family. 

[Chuck Hards]

Thanks Gary, and that's only about a third of them.  Many more still in the basement and boxed-up.  If I tried to set them all up in one room, there wouldn't be any room to walk between them.

[DocFinance]

I've always called that mount an EQ3, myself.  It's identical to the mount that came with the Meade version of this telescope that I also own.  Like an EQ2 on steroids.  The gearing is the same so the same drive motor should work. 

As I recall, I took that mount head and my Polaris to Gary Hands one afternoon and we went through putting different attachments on them so I could use them with 1/4x20 mounting blocks on scopes.  He even set up one for the Polaris that could be moved about 5 inches or so for balance.  This was a whole lot of years ago, long before ScopeStuff or the other aftermarket folks.

[Terra Nova]

Nice find chuck. Looks like it was seldom, if ever used. A good 3" refractor on a stable GEM is hard to beat!

[starman876]

Nope. It's not the B&L. I am happy with my 4" and smaller refractors. No point in replication. This one is much BIGGER! Bigger than ANY telescope I have. It's around 30 to 32 years old so it qualifies as a classic. And I already have the perfect mount for it, fairly contemporary with the OTA, made by the same maker, in a configuration I like, and heavy-duty enough to handle it. But I won't have it for about a month.

hope it is not a meade SCT.  Every one I had the optics were really soft.

[Terra Nova]

This is one of the good ones, an early one. Kinda like their big ED apo refractor. Most of them were dogs!

[starman876]

This is one of the good ones, an early one. Kinda like their big ED apo refractor. Most of them were dogs!

I hope so Terra. I also had some very early ones.  I gave up on Meade SCT's

Edited by starman876, 27 March 2015 - 11:13 AM.

[Terra Nova]

Well, we will see. I don't have much in it. I got it as an experiment to see if I really wanted something bigger than the three 6" scopes and I didn't get it so much for planetary anyway. I have had a low impression of Meade in the past, but when I got the new 6" Meade SCT ota last year for my birthday, it changed my mind. That thing gives such sharp, contrasy images that you would swear you were looking through a refractor. I got it when they were fire-selling the last of the LX80 stock and am happy I did. I think much of the bad rep on Meades (and Celestron) SCTs was due to poor collimation and insufficient cool down time. I once looked through a Meade 7" Mak and that thing was amazing? It weighs like a **** tank though. All the Meades are on the heavy side tho. My new 6" Meade SCT weighs as much as a C8.

So nothing ventured, nothing gained. If it does'nt live up to my expectations, I can always fall back on my plan and get the C9.25" SCT which will be the about the same length and a tad lighter, and seill work great on the big eq. mount I have.

Edited by terraclarke, 27 March 2015 - 11:26 AM.

[DocFinance]

My 2080 was an Astromart find back in the old days, and I've been very pleased with it.  It has held up well for its age.  It's one of the f6.3 models.  The LX-6 mount was a bear to move around, though, so I stripped it last summer and I'm going to use the scope on my big Meade/Mizar GEM once I can get time to relube the mount.

 

I've seen some "soft" ones from that era, but I've also seen some pretty incredible ones too.  Lotsa sky in a f6 8" scope, even an S/C.  You'll probably be pleased with yours.

Edited by DocFinance, 27 March 2015 - 11:48 AM.

[Terra Nova]

Thanks Doc, I am really looking forward to it for summer out at our dark sky site and also in the back yard. I think with the 2" 99% reflectivity diagonal and 2" eyepieces it should be pretty darned nice. This is the same OTA as the 2120 but with the 90 degree 50mm finder instead of the straight thru.

Edited by terraclarke, 28 March 2015 - 04:12 PM.

[starman876]

I had a couple of the older 10" SCT's and a 12" also, one 8".  Did not matter how many times I tried to align the optics the results were always the same.     On planets they all gave a nice image size, just no detail.   Sure hope you do not get one of those.  On DSO's they are very good as any large aperture scope would be.  Only issue was once again the overall image was very soft.  I have not have that issue with the celestron SCT's I have had.  Maybe I have just been very lucky with the celestron's and unlucky with the Meade's.

[Terra Nova]

Well we'll see. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

[starman876]

Well we'll see. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I hope you get a good one Terra

[twhite]

I had a couple of the older 10" SCT's and a 12" also, one 8".  Did not matter how many times I tried to align the optics the results were always the same.     On planets they all gave a nice image size, just no detail.   Sure hope you do not get one of those.  On DSO's they are very good as any large aperture scope would be.  Only issue was once again the overall image was very soft.  I have not have that issue with the celestron SCT's I have had.  Maybe I have just been very lucky with the celestron's and unlucky with the Meade's.

 

Your experience mirrors mine, unfortunately.  After a particularly bad experience with a brand new 12" some years ago I gave up on Meade products and service and never looked back...

[Terra Nova]

Well this 10" is an early #2120/LX-3 from around 1983-85. Its the one with the special coatings that were analogous to the Celestron Starbright Coatings, not the special silvered coatings which is a plus because the silvered ones were known to break down. These coatings have held up well, and those on this particular scope look to still be in good shape. This model was favorably reviewed by Uncle Rod in his book and he said that the 10" ones were the best of the lot, and optically quite good. This particular one is said to give good images and it is not coming from a flipper. So I will give it a try and withhold judgement until I actually have some empirical evidence on which to judge. I got it for a very good price and I think it well worth the experiment since it already has a dovetail rail on it and I already have an old heavy duty Meade GEM that should handle it just fine. I have plenty of counter-weights for the mount and even a sliding balance weight that can be used for the scope. The nice thing about this is that I have to get absolutely nothing else to make it quite servicable. It can use my 2" 99% dielectric SCT diagonal that I have for my other SCT so it should be fun to play with this summer.

Edited by terraclarke, 28 March 2015 - 09:50 AM.

[photiost]

I think you are going to love the jump in aperture, and setup should not be any more difficult than with your current #152.

 

I remember when I went from my C8 to my first 12.5in, familiar deep-sky objects were not only brighter but even more details could also be seen.   

It was like I was re-discovering them all over again.

 

Congrats.

[Chuck Hards]

Recently found on eBay, a University Optics 11x80mm finder.  I had one of these decades ago and sold it on a telescope, regretted it ever since, so I had to grab this one when I saw it.

 

Of course it's only 11x with the proper eyepiece, which if memory serves is 25mm.  This one came with no diagonal or eyepiece, but I have boxes full of spares.

 

My TO type-2 steel-on-glass filter fit snugly on the cell, so I plopped-in a UO 12mm Ortho and took a peek at the sun today.  One big spot group and a few smaller ones.

 

Because this objective is so fast, the focus sweet spot is very narrow.  There is no depth of field and you have to just nail the focus dead-on.  But it gave a decent solar image in Sunkist orange with the TO, good enough for a quick look in white light.

 

 

These finders came with a tripod block on bottom, so they could be used as stand-alone spotting scopes on your camera tripod.  I put mine on my Manon 600, which effectively turns into a true equatorial mount because you can pivot the center pillar over to match your latitude.  Then objects can be followed by movement of the pan head only, in an east-to-west direction.

 

 

A nice large-aperture, wide-field finder.  It has about the same amount of image distortion as you'd find in a budget 80mm binocular (probably uses a binocular objective).  Similar amount of field curvature and CA.  But not bad for it's price point when it was available.  The 1.25" R&P is a nice convenience.  I forgot to check it for vignetting when I had it out today, but I suspect there would be some with a long focal-length eyepiece.

 

Nice to have one back in my arsenal after all these years, and this one is in very good condition.

[twhite]

Recently found on eBay, a University Optics 11x80mm finder.  I had one of these decades ago and sold it on a telescope, regretted it ever since, so I had to grab this one when I saw it.

 

Of course it's only 11x with the proper eyepiece, which if memory serves is 25mm.  This one came with no diagonal or eyepiece, but I have boxes full of spares.

 

My TO type-2 steel-on-glass filter fit snugly on the cell, so I plopped-in a UO 12mm Ortho and took a peek at the sun today.  One big spot group and a few smaller ones.

 

Because this objective is so fast, the focus sweet spot is very narrow.  There is no depth of field and you have to just nail the focus dead-on.  But it gave a decent solar image in Sunkist orange with the TO, good enough for a quick look in white light.

 

 

 

These finders came with a tripod block on bottom, so they could be used as stand-alone spotting scopes on your camera tripod.  I put mine on my Manon 600, which effectively turns into a true equatorial mount because you can pivot the center pillar over to match your latitude.  Then objects can be followed by movement of the pan head only, in an east-to-west direction.

 

 

 

A nice large-aperture, wide-field finder.  It has about the same amount of image distortion as you'd find in a budget 80mm binocular (probably uses a binocular objective).  Similar amount of field curvature and CA.  But not bad for it's price point when it was available.  The 1.25" R&P is a nice convenience.  I forgot to check it for vignetting when I had it out today, but I suspect there would be some with a long focal-length eyepiece.

 

Nice to have one back in my arsenal after all these years, and this one is in very good condition.

 

So you're the one who outbid me on that.  Curses!

 

I have one of these on the rocker box of my 18" dob as a finder/widefield reference scope and it's a very decent scope indeed.  I agree that it's probably a 80mm bino objective put into a tube and labeled as a finder, but it does a nice job with a classic 20mm Erfle.

Edited by twhite, 28 March 2015 - 08:47 PM.

[Chuck Hards]

 

Recently found on eBay, a University Optics 11x80mm finder.  I had one of these decades ago and sold it on a telescope, regretted it ever since, so I had to grab this one when I saw it.

 

So you're the one who outbid me on that.  Curses!

 

 

Outbid you?  Not at all.

 

I used Buy It Now.

 

[twhite]

 

 

Recently found on eBay, a University Optics 11x80mm finder.  I had one of these decades ago and sold it on a telescope, regretted it ever since, so I had to grab this one when I saw it.

 

So you're the one who outbid me on that.  Curses!

 

 

Outbid you?  Not at all.

 

I used Buy It Now.

 

 

 

That's right.  I had it in my watch list and then it was gone.

 

/curses, still...

[Chuck Hards]

It's such a nice telescope.  I'm going to name it "Tony".

 

[Jim Curry]

[Chuck Hards]

The remainder of the parts for the Criterion 4" Deluxe Dynascope arrived Saturday, so I've started assembling it and checking things out.

 

 

Notice that it's on a Criterion pedestal.  The pedestal and legs are from my spare parts stores.  What I bought was everything from the post cap on up.   The seller had already converted the tripod into a lamp, and sold it a while ago.  It was not recoverable.

 

A lamp!  A freakin' LAMP!  I'm still shaking my head over that. 

 

Everything else is there except eyepieces.  Optics are in great shape, focuser is smooth with a straight pinion shaft.  Finder is in good shape with cross-hairs intact and straight.  The clock-drive works.  The DEC gearing is smooth.  The main tube is in great shape, only a few small scratches.

 

I'm counting myself lucky that I got to it before it was parted-out further, and the seller was willing to make me a package deal after I'd already purchased the rotating rings, focuser, and mirror/cell/end rings.

All the focuser needs is for the drawtubes to be polished.  I might do that tonight.  The black wrinkle paint on the focuser housing is nearly flawless.  One finder bracket adjustment screw was missing, but I had a spare on-hand.

 

 

When I saw the 3-digit serial number on Tom Keihl's masterfully-restored example, I was sure that not many of these were made, taking into account the fact that you just don't see a lot of them.  I was a bit surprised to see the serial number on this one, indicating that well over 2,000 of them were made.

 

 

So here's my plan.

 

This will get a full cosmetic restoration, meaning paint where needed, and metal polishing.  For the time being, it will remain on the Criterion pedestal.  The moonlander feet are cool anyway.

 

Tom has generously taken the time to produce a set of drawings for me, of all the stock tripod components.  I will be making patterns to have the leg tips and tripod hub cast in aluminum.  The legs themselves are oak, and the legs attach to the hubs with bent sheet-metal brackets formed on a bending break.  I'll probably use stainless steel for those since I have a supply of stainless of the proper thickness on-hand.

 

I can't thank Tom enough for taking the time to draw the components up for me.

 

My intention is to make a reproduction tripod that looks exactly like the stock Criterion tripod.

 

I'm still amazed that this ended-up in my care, since not many people would be inclined to reproduce the factory tripod, or even have a spare Criterion pedestal on-hand.  Glad I saved it from ending up as separate pieces, on shelves scattered across the country, or in some ATM Frankenscope mashup.  It needs to be preserved.