imhotep
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 02/14/07
Posts: 1429
Loc: Tampa, FL
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Last month I bought a used Orion 80ED that unfortunately incurred some cosmetic damage during shipping. After corresponding with a very honest and cordial seller, I took the tube and hood to my local powder coater for a face-lift. Two coats were applied, translucent red over silver. I also upgraded the focuser to GSO's dual-speed and got the matching dielectric diagonal. The tube is now flocked along with original baffles. In the end I consider the shipping damage to be a happy mistake 
PHOTOS
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Curt
8" F5 Newtonian Astrograph
Orion 80ED CUSTOM
Edmund Optics 4.25" 'Palomar' Newtonian, 1968 vintage
Edited by imhotep (05/23/08 12:00 PM)
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Patricko
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/30/07
Posts: 1532
Loc: SE New Mexico USA
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Very Nice!
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Clear skies,
Patrick
INTERNATIONAL DARK SKY ASSOCIATION
60MM TELESCOPE CLUB!
"You can always have better, but will you ever be happy with what you have?" - Me, myself, and I
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zjc26138
Postmaster
Reged: 02/24/05
Posts: 5246
Loc: Mingo Junction, Ohio and Morga...
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Beautiful looking scope. 
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Custom AR5
Stellarvue 80/9D
Bosma Goto Mount
Clear, dark skies everywhere,
-Zachary
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Darren B
sage
Reged: 05/02/05
Posts: 226
Loc: Poole, Dorset UK
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Looks cool.
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Darren
WO ZS80FD 10th AV with Vixen Porta Mount
Skywatcher Equinox 66ED
William Optics 7x50
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DaveJ
sage
Reged: 01/07/05
Posts: 331
Loc: NE Ohio
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Quote:
I took the tube and hood to my local powder coater for a face-lift. Two coats were applied, translucent red over silver.
Could I ask how much the powder coating cost? It makes a beautiful finish!
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Dave Jessie
Outreach Events
Scopes: TEC 140(#407), 12" LX200GPS, C11, M102ED, PST
Mounts: CGE, Meade LXD650, Voyager
Binoviewers: Denk IIs w/Denk R-1 PxS diagonal
Eyepieces: Naglers, 6E, 10E, 13E & 17E, 2 sets of Sheldon Faworski Orthos
Dew Prevention: DewBuster controller + Dew-Not Strips
Binoculars: Canon 15x50IS
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jason_milani
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 09/03/04
Posts: 1734
Loc: Northeast Ohio
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Very nice!
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Celestron C-14
Celestron C-8
Celestron C-5
Orion/Vixen ED114SS APO
William Optics Megrez 72mm ED
Celestron CGE mount
Discmount DM-4
Mallincam Hyper Color Plus
Baader UV/IR Modded Canon 40D
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gewehr43
sage
Reged: 07/07/06
Posts: 356
Loc: Albuquerque, New Mexico
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Sharp looking scope!
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Daniel Z
10" Meade Starfinder on CI700
SV85S Apo on LXD500B
34mm Celestron Axiom
22T4 Nagler
13T6 Nagler
6.7mm Meade UWA
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Scott Beith
SRF
Reged: 11/26/03
Posts: 37129
Loc: Frederick, MD
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Very nice looking scope.
It looks like it was worth the effort to fancy it up a bit. 
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  SLAP Observer (TMB130SS, SV102V, SV80ED)
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -- Edmund Burke.
"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -- George Orwell
"The measure of a man’s greatness is not determined by what he accomplishes for himself, but by what he accomplishes for others.” -- Some Bald Guy
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imhotep
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 02/14/07
Posts: 1429
Loc: Tampa, FL
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Thanks everyone for the kind words.
Quote:
Could I ask how much the powder coating cost? It makes a beautiful finish!
I called first to describe the tubes and get a ballpark figure. Everything depended on whether they could shoot over the existing paint or have to strip it off first. I was quoted $50 if they could shoot over it and around $100 if they had to strip. This is about what I had expected.
Upon seeing the tubes in person the shop guy told me they would have to strip them first but that the price would be much lower than quoted. It could be that I didn't describe them very well and he was picturing something larger. The total cost came to $64.
This experience has had a profound impact upon future ATM projects that I hope to complete. I imagine I could have a 10" or 12" OD tube from Hastings powder-coated by the same shop for mabye $200 or less. They had plenty of swatches to pick from
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Curt
8" F5 Newtonian Astrograph
Orion 80ED CUSTOM
Edmund Optics 4.25" 'Palomar' Newtonian, 1968 vintage
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Icarus
super member
Reged: 05/05/07
Posts: 150
Loc: Sioux Falls, SD
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That is fantastic!
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Antares "Vixen Spec" 105mm f/14.3
Celestron 102mm f/9.8 - GSO 10:1 Crayford
Kasai 80mm f/11.25
Orion 203mm f/4.9 Reflector
Atlas EQ-G Mount/ADM Losmandy Saddle adapter/GPS/GoTo Controller
SkyView Pro Mount - TrueTrack Single Axis Drive
Baader Genuine Orthoscopics 5mm,6mm,7mm,9mm,12.5mm,18mm
TeleVue 2" 2x Powermate
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LLEEGE
Running out of Oxygen
Reged: 03/03/05
Posts: 9050
Loc: Cloud-chester,NY
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Thats looks great! Wonder if they'll do my 140EDF 
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"Okay! You draw the straws. I'm-a taking the parachute."
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cheepnis
super member
Reged: 02/16/08
Posts: 277
Loc: Columbus, OH
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Dude! Sweet!
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"...through the transitive nightfall of diamonds"
A big fan of the used equipment market.
Current philosophy.... If I buy something new from China, it will be made of silk, bamboo or panda bears.
Orange Tube C8 (1978?) orig Fork Mount
Ultima 8 OTA on Celestar Deluxe
C80-ED on Nexstar SLT
NELM in my backyard like 4 on a GOOD night 
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bsim
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 01/04/08
Posts: 1051
Loc: New York City
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Absolutely beautiful.
Edited by bsim (05/23/08 03:56 PM)
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digitaldave
sage
Reged: 04/23/06
Posts: 269
Loc: Stevenage, UK
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Curt,
That's a really nice paint job! Makes me think that I should get the Skywatcher version (the UK price for the OTA has just dropped quite a bit) and get the standard gold replaced with something else...
Dave.
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Chris Schroeder
Postmaster
Reged: 12/11/04
Posts: 6552
Loc: N.E. WI Sky Glow
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There's just something about a shiny red scope 
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Chris
Mallincam Color Hyper Plus
10" DSH with SC DSC, CPC 800 XLT
M110 Doublet ED, AT 102Achro, ZS80FD 10th Anniv, ZS66SD, PST
CG5-AGT, EZ-Touch, Voyager
POD XL3 http://POD.SchroederCity.com
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imhotep
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 02/14/07
Posts: 1429
Loc: Tampa, FL
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Quote:
Thats looks great! Wonder if they'll do my 140EDF
Quote:
Makes me think that I should get the Skywatcher version (the UK price for the OTA has just dropped quite a bit) and get the standard gold replaced with something else...
It may be as simple as a quick google search for powder coaters in your area. I got lucky with this exact phrase and found two places within a 20-minute drive of my home. BUT, if that doesn't turn up anything you might try searching for custom motorcycle shops or automotive painters. The shop that did my 80ED specializes in bike parts but they had all sorts of other projects going on. When I walked up they were carrying a huge metal spiral staircase out onto the front lawn that had just been coated white.
Let me know if you need any further convincing to make your refractor one-of-a-kind
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Curt
8" F5 Newtonian Astrograph
Orion 80ED CUSTOM
Edmund Optics 4.25" 'Palomar' Newtonian, 1968 vintage
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Chris G
Post Laureate
Reged: 08/12/04
Posts: 4244
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That's beautiful and a good performer as well.
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"Ain't nothin' Human 'bout the Human Race"
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imhotep
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 02/14/07
Posts: 1429
Loc: Tampa, FL
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Quote:
There's just something about a shiny red scope
I can see you're a bit biased 
My fascination with this color goes way back to the first time I ever saw anodized aluminum. The part happened to be red and I thought it was the coolest thing since sliced bread. Over the next couple of months I'm building an 8" astrograph that will be black with red anodized accents all over it, such as the bottom half of the mirror-plate, collimation knobs, moonlight focuser, etc. The 80ED will be riding shotgun on a ADM plate if all goes according to plan so I wanted it to compliment the big dog.
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Curt
8" F5 Newtonian Astrograph
Orion 80ED CUSTOM
Edmund Optics 4.25" 'Palomar' Newtonian, 1968 vintage
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Scott Beith
SRF
Reged: 11/26/03
Posts: 37129
Loc: Frederick, MD
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I had powdercoating done on my Harley and it gave a beautiful and bulletproof coating to the metal.
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SLAP Observer (TMB130SS, SV102V, SV80ED)
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -- Edmund Burke.
"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -- George Orwell
"The measure of a man’s greatness is not determined by what he accomplishes for himself, but by what he accomplishes for others.” -- Some Bald Guy
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David Pavlich
Postmaster
Reged: 05/18/05
Posts: 8648
Loc: Mandeville, LA USA 30.22 X 90....
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Nice job, indeed!
David
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Proud Member; PAS NOLA,
"If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be called research..."
A. Einstein
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