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Chuck Faranda
super member
Reged: 03/31/07
Posts: 146
Loc: Florida
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Thanks Brian!!! I look forward to you posting the PDF of the ads. 
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Regards,
Chuck Faranda
See my vintage scopes at http://ccdastro.com/vintage.html
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magic612
professor emeritus
Reged: 09/30/08
Posts: 561
Loc: Somewhere south of Chicago, IL
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Wow!! Great research Brian! And thank you - no doubt that took quite a bit of time to go through and compile all that info. It will certainly be appreciated as a great reference for others looking for information about the age of some of the Sears telescopes. I, for one, GREATLY appreciate it - now I can narrow down the time-frame for when my scope was made. 
Again, thanks and great job!! 
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- Celestron C8+, Orion 90mm f/10, Orion ST-80, 5" f/8 Dob, 127mm f/9.4 refractor, 114mm f/8 on DS GoTo, 60mm Sears 6333-A, 127mm f4.4 refractor lens (current project), 12" f/5 mirror (future project)
- Orion Vista 10x50s (5 deg), Sears #6207 7x35 (7 deg), Jason #138 Statesman 7x35 (11.5 deg)
Yes, I'm addicted to telescopes and binoculars. I am getting help. Every time I look at the heavens, it helps.
http://www.eyesonthesky.com
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nytewind1
journeyman
Reged: 02/26/09
Posts: 5
Loc: Mooresville, NC
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Not a problem! It was a real blast from the past going through those. I even recognized the catalog page that I had stared at so often before Christmas hoping I would get it from 'Santa'! LOL FA/WN 1971. My dad purchased it at the local Sears store so mine may have been manufactured in 71. I have the PDFs ready but will need some advice on were to send them so that all may benefit from this? Some aren't the greatest due to either poor imaging when microfilmed or printing through old reader and printer but all are fairly legible. Just let me know!
Enjoy!
Brian G
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Chuck Faranda
super member
Reged: 03/31/07
Posts: 146
Loc: Florida
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Great, thanks Brian!! Robert Provin's site would be a good home http://geogdata.csun.edu/~voltaire/classics/
You can contact him directly from his personal site
http://geogdata.csun.edu/~voltaire/
In the mean time, can you email (chuck(at)ccdastro(dot)net) me the PDF? It sometimes takes a week or 2 for stuff to get posted to Robert's site.
Thanks again
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Regards,
Chuck Faranda
See my vintage scopes at http://ccdastro.com/vintage.html
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magic612
professor emeritus
Reged: 09/30/08
Posts: 561
Loc: Somewhere south of Chicago, IL
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So despite the full Moon last night, I took the 60mm Sears out last night. All in all, I was surprised at the number of deep sky objects I could see. Sure, I was using an Orion 25mm Plossl through a .965" / 1.25" hybrid diagonal, and I poached the 6x30 finder off my SCT to use instead of the original Sears (which for some reason has some horrible CA issues - I'm thinking a lens might have been moved or reversed or something). But I split some easy double stars (Eta Cassiopeia, Gamma Delphinus) with the 25mm and a 10mm Plossls, saw NGC457, NGC225 and suspected M103 with averted vision - not bad for a 60mm scope under "red" light pollution skies at full Moon!
One problem I did have was the focuser. The "rough" focuser tube - which I had to clean off when I purchased it due to the sticky gunk that was on it - was a little loose under the cool weather conditions last night, and kept wanting to slide down. Apparently it contracted 'just enough' and me removing the old sticky grease previously causes it to become sloppy at 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Any good ideas on solving that one? All I have laying around is some moly grease for auto / motorcycle use.
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- Celestron C8+, Orion 90mm f/10, Orion ST-80, 5" f/8 Dob, 127mm f/9.4 refractor, 114mm f/8 on DS GoTo, 60mm Sears 6333-A, 127mm f4.4 refractor lens (current project), 12" f/5 mirror (future project)
- Orion Vista 10x50s (5 deg), Sears #6207 7x35 (7 deg), Jason #138 Statesman 7x35 (11.5 deg)
Yes, I'm addicted to telescopes and binoculars. I am getting help. Every time I look at the heavens, it helps.
http://www.eyesonthesky.com
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magic612
professor emeritus
Reged: 09/30/08
Posts: 561
Loc: Somewhere south of Chicago, IL
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Any ideas from anyone on the rough focuser tube issue?
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- Celestron C8+, Orion 90mm f/10, Orion ST-80, 5" f/8 Dob, 127mm f/9.4 refractor, 114mm f/8 on DS GoTo, 60mm Sears 6333-A, 127mm f4.4 refractor lens (current project), 12" f/5 mirror (future project)
- Orion Vista 10x50s (5 deg), Sears #6207 7x35 (7 deg), Jason #138 Statesman 7x35 (11.5 deg)
Yes, I'm addicted to telescopes and binoculars. I am getting help. Every time I look at the heavens, it helps.
http://www.eyesonthesky.com
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nytewind1
journeyman
Reged: 02/26/09
Posts: 5
Loc: Mooresville, NC
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I can't give you a good answer to the focuser issue unless I remove mine and see how its assembled. Mine moves in and out with a minimum of effort and stays in place with a .965-to-1.24" diagonal and 1.25 eyepiece. I don't see any grease on it when I draw it all the way out. I'll have to look.
Brian G.
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magic612
professor emeritus
Reged: 09/30/08
Posts: 561
Loc: Somewhere south of Chicago, IL
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Mine stayed in place when it was warmer and drier. It didn't start doing this until I took it out on a cooler evening when there was some humidity in the air. Just wondering if there was an easy solution - or any solution - that I can apply. At the moment, I just put a piece of clear Scotch-brand Long Term Storage tape (since it removes pretty cleanly). That's given it enough extra diameter to stay in place for now, but I don't want to use that as a long-term solution either.
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- Celestron C8+, Orion 90mm f/10, Orion ST-80, 5" f/8 Dob, 127mm f/9.4 refractor, 114mm f/8 on DS GoTo, 60mm Sears 6333-A, 127mm f4.4 refractor lens (current project), 12" f/5 mirror (future project)
- Orion Vista 10x50s (5 deg), Sears #6207 7x35 (7 deg), Jason #138 Statesman 7x35 (11.5 deg)
Yes, I'm addicted to telescopes and binoculars. I am getting help. Every time I look at the heavens, it helps.
http://www.eyesonthesky.com
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turtle86
professor emeritus
Reged: 10/09/06
Posts: 718
Loc: Red Sox Nation
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I used to have the alt-az version of that scope when I was a grade school in the late 1960's. I distinctly remember that tiny solar filter. I used it, not knowing any better, and it worked fine. No way I'd use a filter like that now!
Quote:
So perusing Craigslist for inexpensive 60mm refractors for a project I'm working on, when I happened across this Sears Discoverer 60mm refractor, model 6333-A. At first I wasn't interested, but the more I thought about having a 60mm f/15 refractor, I started to like the idea more and more. PLUS, the gentleman selling it wasn't asking for much, and it looked pretty complete.
Turns out, it was about 97% complete! (See update/correction below.)
I think just about everything is there. All three eyepieces, barlow, sun screen, moon filter, sun filter (YIKES! the little kind), full tripod with eyepiece holder AND tension chain, accessory tray light, equatorial mount WITH slow motion controls, wood box with styrofoam and finderscope - such as it is. Oh yes, and TWO instruction manuals.
Ah, yes... the finderscope. That's the 3% missing part. The focuser tube of that is, well... missing. (See update/correction below.) The eyepiece is there, the tube/lens is there, and the bracket is there, but not the focuser tube. Though considering how complete the whole thing is, I'm not complaining!!!
Since I just got it earlier today, I haven't looked at the night sky yet, but the views I did of some far away trees with both the 20mm Kellner (included) and my own 25mm Plossl with a .965" to 1.25" diagonal I still had laying around showed some VERY crisp views, and with no discernible chromatic aberration. Even the included barlow - which does have two chips on the lens - gives pretty darn decent views, as the chips are on the edge of the lens and not in the center, fortunately. (I didn't even try the 9mm or 4mm eyepieces, as they look like the typical teensy exit pupil eyepieces included in most inexpensive scopes sold today.) Views looked nice through my Orion 14mm EPIC eyepiece, and my 25mm Kellner with a barlow was very nice indeed!
Anyway, I took some pictures in case anyone else happens across one of these and is interested in what they may be missing or have. Any questions, ask away - and of course, if you happen to have a finder focuser tube for one of these things that you don't need, I'd sure be interested in it!
Oh, and the price was unbeatable!
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BarabinoSr
sage
Reged: 11/17/05
Posts: 330
Loc: Slidell La
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Hi Magic! The scope you have may predate back to the late 60's to early to mid-1970's or later.That equatorial mounting is the same as the one on my Jason Model#313 Discoverer 60mm f/15(Towa),though the legs of my scope are stained dark brown and wood.I remember seeing some Sears scopes in the Sears & Roebuck Department Stores sporting goods section of the old New Orleans store back in that time and some of those had the colors like your scope and came with this mount.Also, the Model #313 Jason was displayed in the former Leonard Krower Dept.Store as well as in their catalog in December 1971 in New Orleans from where I bought my Jason Model 280 Constellation 60mm alt-azimuth scope in late 1971.BTW Great Scope!G
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12"GSO f/5.3" Newtonian Reflector 10" Meade LX-50 Fork Mounted Schmidt-Cassegrain
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6" Konus f/8 Refractor,Yulin 5"f/9 refractor,
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90mm Meade f/11 refractor,Tasco 10TE 76mm 1200mm f/l Refractor
60mm TASCO 7TE-5 1000mm f/16.7 Refractor 60mm TASCO 9TE 700mm f/l refractor
60mm TASCO 9TE-0 710mm f/l Refractor 50mm-TASCO 6TE-5 600mm f/l Refractor
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magic612
professor emeritus
Reged: 09/30/08
Posts: 561
Loc: Somewhere south of Chicago, IL
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Hey turtle - yeah, I didn't figure using that little sun filter would be such a great idea... 
Barabino - I think my scope is from the 70-72 era. At the end of page one of this thread, nytewind1 did some great research and found out when this model was sold. He indicated that the wooden-leg versions - like mine is - were sold in that time frame. Metal legs were standard the other years it was sold, apparently.
I'm glad to have narrowed down it's general production timeframe. It is a nice little scope - and I continue to be amazed at all the deep sky objects such a little aperture will show, even under my "red" light pollution conditions. Pretty cool, and I'm glad I found it!
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- Celestron C8+, Orion 90mm f/10, Orion ST-80, 5" f/8 Dob, 127mm f/9.4 refractor, 114mm f/8 on DS GoTo, 60mm Sears 6333-A, 127mm f4.4 refractor lens (current project), 12" f/5 mirror (future project)
- Orion Vista 10x50s (5 deg), Sears #6207 7x35 (7 deg), Jason #138 Statesman 7x35 (11.5 deg)
Yes, I'm addicted to telescopes and binoculars. I am getting help. Every time I look at the heavens, it helps.
http://www.eyesonthesky.com
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