16 replies to this topic

[Astronomy4You]

A few days ago I picked up the Mayflower 60mm I found in a Big Bear Antique shop. I put it together last night and gave it first light tonight.

 

First about the scope, When I opened it up and put it together, I was really surprised as to the good shape it was in, there are a couple of small dents on the OTA, and some paint scraped from the finder scope where the screws go,  but everything else is almost brand new condition.  and everything appeared to be in the box. The Dew shield even had it's original cardboard wrapping around it. 

 

It came with a prism diagonal, terrestrial diagonal, 2x Barlow, 4 eyepieces all Huygens (20mm, 12.5mm, 6mm and 4mm), Screw in the eyepiece Moon and Sun Filters, 6x finder scope.

 

I was surprised to find out that the mount was both Eq and Alt-Az.This is pretty cool for a 50+ year old scope. The wood for the tripod is in good shape and the accessory tray gives some support to the tripod. The Slow motion controls are in great shape. 

 

The front lens is clean, though it seems to be missing the tiny spacers between the two objective lenses. I don't know if those are a newer thing and this scope never had them, or if sometime in the murky past someone tried to clean the objective and lost them.

 

I took it out tonight to see how it did on the moon and planets. In short, my ES 127 ED has nothing to worry about. this won't be replacing it anytime soon. 

 

Once I aligned the finder scope (which has no reticle BTW), the narrow field of view made for some hunting to get objects in the FOV. Once I got the Moon in the scope, I was greeted to a fuzzy hard to focus image. I think the diagonal and eyepieces are probably filthy and in dire need of cleaning.

 

I finally got the moon in focus and it looked okay. About how I remember my 9 year old self seeing it so many decades past. In the 20mm the Moon almost filled the FOV. I didn't notice any CA (at F/15 I'd have been surprised to) but the inside and outside focus images seemed to have some kind of a honeycomb or netting over them. I'd never seen anything like it. Could be dirty optics, or???

 

The I was able to make out some craters and central peaks in some craters, but not a lot of detail, the image looked kind of soft.

 

The next target was  Jupiter, and I could make out a white orb and small dots next to it, but I never really got a sharp image, and I saw no bands. Mars was similar to Jupiter. when I moved to Saturn, I was actually able to see the ring around it. It was still soft and in the 20mm small.

 

I'll probably not use this very much, it was more a nostalgia purchase since my first scope was a Tasco 60mm on an Alt-Az mount. Looking though the Mayflower was a trip through the past and got me thinking that I must have really been into astronomy for such poor views to hold my attention as they did back then. It's no wonder that I had so much trouble getting people to observe with me back then.

 

If anyone has any thoughts as to what could be causing the weird out of focus images I'm all ears. 

 

I'll give the prism and eyepieces and the finder a cleaning and see if that helps. 

 

Here's a few pictures  of the assembled scope and accessories.

 

 

 

 

 

[badback]

I think you are correct in that the two objective lenses are missing the three

tiny spacers between them. You also need to be sure that the two objective

lenses are in proper order. Here's a pic that may help. There are only four

placement possibilities.

Actually there's eight if one were to place the flat side of the flint against the

crown but we won't be doing that. Oh, no, no,no.

Pic #1 is correct. The arrow is the direction of the light coming in from the front.

 

Unless your lenses were poor replacements I suspect that once you add

spacers and get them sequenced correctly all will be clear in Dinkerscopeville..

 

Oh, by the way, she's a real beauty. Nice score!

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Edited by badback, 16 June 2016 - 02:57 AM.

[rolo]

Sounds like there's something wrong with the scope. I suspect the objective may be incorrectly oriented as mentioned above.

[Terra Nova]

Either one element or the entire objective has been flipped. The loss of the spacers will also degrade the image but nit to the extent and in the way that you describe. When you take the objective out of the cell, closely examine the frosted edges. there should be an 'X', 'V', or 'W' shape hand scrawled with a pencil or china marker across the two elements (the 'X' or 'V' or 'W' will take shape when the two elements are in alignment). The elements need to be properly fit (convex curve of the crown to the concave curve of the flint), and rotated into alignment. (The flint and crown curvatures should 'match'). Use some 3 mil aluminum foil tape (sold in the HVAC section of Lowes or Home Depot) to cut three small spacers (about 1/8" square). Once the optical elements are cleaned, spaced, properly oriented, and aligned, you might want to put a tiny tab of scotch tape across the edge on two sides so they don't slip out of alignment. Put the assembled lens back in the cell by resting it on an eyepiece pedistal and dropping the cell over it, taking care not to touch the optics with your bare finger. When you put the retaining ring back in the cell, be sure not to overtighten it and pinch the optics. (The len should be just ever so slightly loose.) Put it back together and you will be amazed at just how sharp the views really are. With good eyepieces you will be astounded at how much you can see on Jupiter and Saturn with a good 60mm lens. Congratulations on your find. You have a beautiful instrument!

[Diego]

I have a 60mm Eikow and it gives great views of Jupiter & Mars. Jupitier shows many cloud belts and I'm sure the GRS is not out of reach (haven't had the luck of seeing it yet).

 

As others have already commented if the spacers are missing or the lens is flipped then that is the main issue, or the objective is not the original. These old classics have very decent optics.

 

Hope you can sort it out. Good Luck!

[rogue river art]

I have a 60mm  915 Mayflower and I can see the bands of Jupiter just fine. Like others I believe you have issues with the objective lens. 

[Astronomy4You]

Thanks for the advice.  I picked up the tape,  but do I actually stick it to one lens,  or just place it there?

 

Also,  there's a pencil mark on the edge of each lens,  and opposite the pencil mark is 3 diagonal lines.  If I align the pencil mark,  the three lines don't align,  and vice versa.

 

See the pictures.  Which way should I align them? 

 

 

[Stargoat]

See marked up photo of your objective lenses for the correct orientation.

 

The spacers for this type of objective are found glued to the inside of the Flint lens.

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Edited by Stargoat, 17 June 2016 - 12:25 AM.

[Astronomy4You]

See marked up photo of your objective lenses for the correct orientation.

 

The spacers for this type of objective are found glued to the inside of the Flint lens.

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you! That made a huge difference.  It now works like I hoped it would.  I got good views of The Moon, Saturn,  and  even Mars was more than a small blur.  

 

With the 6.4mm ep I was just able to see the Cassini Division on Saturn.  

 

Mars showed dark and light areas,  but that was all the detail I could see. 

 

I am very happy with the scope now. 

[Terra Nova]

Great! I figured that was all it needed. Glad you were able to get it fixed. It will be a great little addition to your astronomy family.

[SloMoe]

Morning, in one of your pic's, the one with the filters, under no circumstance use the "Sun" filter, the magnified light from the sun will super heat the glass of the filter, it will crack and permit direct magnified sunlight to enter your eye, in an instant you will be permanently blinded.

Do not leave that sun filter laying around, destroy it, 

[SloMoe]

if you doubt me here's a link:

https://www.cloudyni...ce-sun-filters/

 

It's a pinned topic at the TOP of our forum. 

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Edited by Mike W., 20 April 2019 - 08:22 AM.

[Astronomy4You]

 

 

 

Morning, in one of your pic's, the one with the filters, under no circumstance use the "Sun" filter, the magnified light from the sun will super heat the glass of the filter, it will crack and permit direct magnified sunlight to enter your eye, in an instant you will be permanently blinded.

Do not leave that sun filter laying around, destroy it, 

 

 

if you doubt me here's a link:

https://www.cloudyni...ce-sun-filters/

 

It's a pinned topic at the TOP of our forum. 

 

Mike,

 

Thanks for the warning, however, I'm well aware of the dangers of the screw in sun filter, and would never use it. I had one on my old 60mm Tasco refractor back in the 1970s and knew even back then to never use it. I'm not getting rid of it however as it is part of the complete set. 

[Russell Smith]

Nice to see you could correct the objective issue.
It's a beautiful telescope.

[ccwemyss]

I realize this is an old topic, but I'm curious as to whether you also got the objective collimated and the focuser aligned after you got the elements aligned and the spacers in. Your last description of the views sounded like it might still need some adjustment. The AOC optics should deliver excellent detail.  

 

Chip W. 

[rcwolpert]

That’s a beautiful Mayflower! Everyone I’ve owned has had superior optics. Glad to hear the objective had been corrected.

[Astronomy4You]

I realize this is an old topic, but I'm curious as to whether you also got the objective collimated and the focuser aligned after you got the elements aligned and the spacers in. Your last description of the views sounded like it might still need some adjustment. The AOC optics should deliver excellent detail.  

 

Chip W. 

Chip, the last time I had it out the views were pretty good. Unfortunately I don't get much of a chance to get it out these days.