Telescope Reviews: Optical Craftsmen

Yeah I got the OMI mirror on the 'mart. Might even be here thursday. Something weird going on with the 'mart. Herb York is no longer running the operation and a lot of us aren't getting our emails in response to our ads. He had written me and I had written him, but neither of us saw an email from one another till I looked him up by name and telephoned him.

I must say that the word I used that got bleeped is not a profane word. My 1936 Webster's has a number of different entries for cr-p and this dictionary, well reputed as a literary dictionary, did not go into the vulgarisms that would appropriately be bleeped. Cr-p in the sense that I was using it probably dates back to the medieval usages: "residues from rendered fat" and "sediments or dregs of beer or ale." Craps games is common and accepted usage. It also used to mean "the gallows." When we say "pigeon cr-p" we are in fact using a polite euphemism so as to avoid saying pigeon s---.

ANYHOW, I researched that after my elementary school teacher said it was an OK word to use in the class room. Which shocked me. That was longer ago than I care to admit, but you already know that I was drooling over Optical Craftsmen at the age of 10. I think the moderators ought to rethink that one. (I hope I didn't use some stronger term; I think not, I am well trained).

Well: some old optics survive and some do not. I think that people who lay out good money for older optics are well advised to buy from people they know and probably to negotiate terms, such as, $300 if the mirror comes back from coating in good shape, and $150 if the mirror comes back in bad shape. Or its your mirror you get it coated and I'll pay you $450 for it with new coatings--if it's still in good shape.

Anyhow I got a good deal even with the bad mirror and the OMI mirror was very well priced. The OMI mirror has 60.85 inches of focal length versus 61.25 for the Optical Craftsmen it is replacing. So I am going to need to *go lower* and will have to get a low profile focuser.

The flotation mirror cell also has some adjustable bolts with springs on the back and I can use those to push it in at least 1/4, and probably 1/2 inch. So odds are high I can outfit this OTA with a moonlite low profile and everything will come to focus.

The fiberglass tube "as is" was pre-drilled for a two inch focuser but fitted with a 1.25 as the "bargain" model. The spider and secondary are also 2" sized.

I can if I choose mess around with the mount and I can also stick it somewhere against the day when I resell everything, but I have to say that the thought of putting the AP900 on the Optical Craftsmen pier is much more attractive than using the old OC. For one thing I will ahve much better control over the optical tube, and zero backlash.

As currently constituted without coatings the scope has 4% reflectivity and could be used as a moon scope with effectively a two inch aperture for light gathering but ten inch resolution. But I think that the OC mirror is going to hold coffee pots. Until it totally fractures and I throw it out.

regards
Greg N

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"Aperture will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no aperture."

featuring selected astrojunk:

bunch o' widefield eyepieces
bunch o' narrowfield eyepieces
couple o' Barlows
couple o' scopes
couple o' mounts
couple o' tripods
and a pier 'n' stuff