613 replies to this topic

[clamchip]

The Optical Craftsmen 8, late 60's model

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[clamchip]

The Optical Craftsmen 8, mid sixties model

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[clamchip]

Pier only being used for a Springfield 6

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[clamchip]

Unitron 4

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[clamchip]

The water heater 10

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[ScottAstroNut]

Those are some awesome scopes!  Pretty versatile mount.  Thanks for sharing.

[clamchip]

I no longer own the D&G and the Unitron. The water heater 10 is about max for the Pacific

Instruments drive, and about max for the mount too.

There is also a minimum payload for the mount, which I feel is around a 4 inch f/15

refractor, this size scope is sluggish to move the telescope around manually and

you can see by the counterweight size and location the mount is not matched to the

telescope.

It is a great mount.

 

Robert

[clamchip]

I took a break from the 5 and changed its focuser and in the mean time I

have been observing with my Edmund 4.

I love the 4, its like going to a expensive restaurant and the waitress custom 

orders from a long list the perfect hamburger just for you, the Edmund 4 is

perfect for me, pretty much the perfect telescope.

 

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[Bomber Bob]

"the Edmund 4 is perfect for me, pretty much the perfect telescope"

 

Listening to you folks got me my two finest refractors.  They couldn't be more different in appearance, or more similar in results.  The 6336 is a pretty integrated system.  The Edmund is a clunky-looking plain Jane, and my all-time favorite telescope.  Two classic long refractors that deliver every time with minimal fuss.

[clamchip]

Heres the Burgess focuser I installed on the Edmund 5.

When I buy a new tube for the Edmund 5 it will be cut to

a longer length and I will use a Edmund focuser.

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Edited by actionhac, 10 January 2016 - 05:37 PM.

[Terra Nova]

Gotta say Robert, as sweet as that focuser is, I do love the Edmund focuser with that rare Edmund objective.

I also think that the UA Unistar is a perfect mount for the Edmund 4" F15.

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Edited by terraclarke, 10 January 2016 - 07:10 PM.

[TOM KIEHL]

 I will use a Edmund focuser.

 

[Chuck Hards]

I've owned a lot of Edmund focusers, both reflector and refractor style, and found the quality to be hit-and-miss.  Only a very few have been smooth, most have been notchy.  It can be a pain at high powers.  Which is a shame since I would prefer to use a period focuser on any old Edmund restoration.  BTW, the same for Jaegers.  The smooth ones are the exceptions in 1.25".  Now, the Edmund 2" focusers and Jaegers 2.7" are a different story.  Those are almost always smooth.

 

YMMV.

[Joe1950]

On my first Edmund 6" f/8, in the spiral paper tube, I had the original, never to be duplicated plastic housing with the shiny chrome 1.25" slide focusing tube and wide red rubber band, push down, pull up focuser. It even came with a locking port for the single vane secondary mirror.

 

It worked! And a twisting motion gave you a slo-mo speed. The focusing tube did a real number on the eyepiece barrels though, being a split metal press fit. But if you adjusted that properly, it was okay. Anyone with a rack and pinion had wealthy parents.

 

I think it was about $5.95. Today it would easily be worth $6.50.

Edited by Joe1950, 11 January 2016 - 10:11 AM.

[Chuck Hards]

I mowed lawns and shoveled snow for that rack & pinion- and the rest of the scope.  With 5 kids and dad in a blue-collar job, we were as far from rich as you could get yet still have a roof.  They bought me my first alt-az 60mm Tasco, when my tastes drifted to Edmund, I was on my own.

 

I loved filling out those order blanks and enclosing money orders purchased with saved quarters, lol.

[Joe1950]

Just joshing Chuck!   My mistake was that I shoveled lawns and mowed snow. I actually didn't even know any wealthy kids. They all probably had Questars. You had to do a lot of lawns and sidewalks for one of those.

 

I had the luxury of living about 20 minutes away from the Edmund factory store. If you couldn't afford what you wanted, the back room of surplus, overruns and odds and ends would surely have something to improvise with.

 

Back then, most of us were in the same boat. Not that way today.

Edited by Joe1950, 11 January 2016 - 10:41 AM.

[Terra Nova]

I've owned a lot of Edmund focusers, both reflector and refractor style, and found the quality to be hit-and-miss.  Only a very few have been smooth, most have been notchy.  It can be a pain at high powers.  Which is a shame since I would prefer to use a period focuser on any old Edmund restoration.  BTW, the same for Jaegers.  The smooth ones are the exceptions in 1.25".  Now, the Edmund 2" focusers and Jaegers 2.7" are a different story.  Those are almost always smooth.

I have to say though Chuck, that those larger diameter, heavy knurled brass focuser knobs that are now on my 4" Edmund's otherwise stock focuser have helped tremendously to render its action smooth and precise.

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[Joe1950]

Brass?. Those look like the 24K solid gold Tak-Televue custom focusing knobs! Wow.

 

I made money with some of my friends in landscaping. Whenever we had a job of putting down sod, the foreman was always yelling, "Green side UP!"

 

Even today, retired from an illustrious 45 year career in newspaper publishing, the last 10 of which flushed everything due to the internet destroying the print media (but, that's how it works) I have a part-time job as a crossing guard to have a few beans to spend. Froze at the corner this morning and will so this afternoon.

 

Ya do what ya gotta do.

Edited by Joe1950, 11 January 2016 - 01:17 PM.

[clamchip]

I'm still not sure which finder is for the Edmund 5.

Today I made a platform for the Edmund "7-Power".

My idea is it can mount to the main tube with double

stick foam squares like a Telrad, or zip-ties, to avoid

drilling holes until your mind is made up.

The Edmund "7-power" finder is another oldie, going way

back to the mid-fifties.

Available originally as a straight through, and later as a 90

degree, it can be ether simply by sliding the objective and

using the diagonal or not using it.

Weight as shown in the photo is 1lb.1oz.

Rings were not supplied with the finder and Edmund

recommended the #50,075 rings, which the shown here.

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[clamchip]

I bent the aluminum in the vise by squeezing it between male and

female pieces of wood. Countersunk the screws to provide a

flat surface.

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[clamchip]

Here's the Edmund "Deluxe" and the Edmund "7-Power", both

are serious posibilities for the "Edmund 5".

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Edited by actionhac, 23 January 2016 - 06:48 PM.

[Chuck Hards]

Robert, those old Edmund finders are cool.  I have three of each of those, as well as several of the Japanese 23mm finder used on the Palomar Jr.  I'll dig them out for pics soon.  That black "7 power" is interesting because it takes 23mm microscope eyepieces.  Even the diagonal is microscope size.  Two of mine are the straight-through configuration, one is the right angle.  The only difference is that the objective is shoved halfway down the barrel on the right-angle version.  It's at the end of the tube on the straight-through version.

 

We have a second refrigerator in the basement, I've had this stuck on there with a magnet for some time.

 

 

Here's another Edmund blast from the past.  I finally decided to set up a real optical bench when I chanced upon a hefty, straight piece of aluminum extrusion at work that was being scrapped-out.  It's a former rail from a Delta Uni-Fence and will be perfect for a basement optical bench, with this little guy on the end.   I won't have to determine precise focal lengths using outdoor targets at infinity anymore, along with other uses.  Wish I had two of them, I could make a binocular collimator.  

 

 

 

 

[clamchip]

Wow that is extremely cool Chuck. I have seen that gun sight many times in Edmund

literature but yours is the first time in the flesh, other than one of Sam Brown's illustrations.

The Edmund "7-power" was standard equipment on only one Edmund telescope as

far as I know and that scope was the 1950's "6 inch Reflector" as seen here in this photo.

When this telescope became the "Super Space Conqueror" in the 1960's the standard finder

on this model was changed to the 6x23mm "6X" finder.

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Edited by actionhac, 24 January 2016 - 01:25 AM.

[Joe1950]

Bird's eye view.

[photiost]

Here's the Edmund "Deluxe" and the Edmund "7-Power", both

are serious posibilities for the "Edmund 5".

 

Thanks for posting this.

 

I have a very similar finder but could not figure out its age or which scope it was originally on.

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