88 replies to this topic

[Tommeeto]

The previous photo was Yours from post #55, I just made notes on it, because it's the best photo of this part that I found. Here's mine, I tried to make as detailed photos, as possible.

 

The story of the telescope is that it was bought mainly for phisical-astronomical extra classes. After the political system changed, the classes was cancelled. And somehow my grandmom, who was a teacher, came into posesion of the telescope. Then one of the students borrowed it, and after returning it was inoper. There is no image trough eyepiece, just blurry light and debris. 

 

 

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[Tommeeto]

 

Here's the closeup.

 

 

and another one

 

50x eyepiece is badly scratched. 

 

 

[Tommeeto]

Some very old certificate.

Edited by Tommeeto, 01 February 2023 - 12:49 PM.

[DAVIDG]

" There is no image through  eyepiece, just blurry light and debris."   Since these scope was used by students there is good chance someone got curious and took it apart and assembled it wrong. I have seen this happen may times with other telescopes.

     It looks like you focuser the telescope  by the black knob on the top of the tube ?   If so you should see the mirror moving  when you turn the knob. I can see a scratch on the paint on the back of the scope  near one of the two  small holes  near the edge of the back. Those  holes  are for a  spanner wrench to unscrew the back plate which hold the mirror.  Since the paint is scratched that tell me that scope  was disassembled and maybe for  attempt to fix the focusing mechanism and this maybe why  you can't get an image ? 

   Since the 50x eyepiece has damaged and the scratch looks to be on the inside, that indicates too me that the eyepiece most likely wasdisassembled and  there is good chance that is now assembled wrong. This may also be why you can't an image.  Other messages in this thread state  you focus the eyepiece by turned it and it now can be fulling turned in one direction and jammed which can be another reason why it won't come to focus. 

   By the way these telescope were offered for sale in US by Jaegers in the mid 1970's

 

                         - Dave 

Edited by DAVIDG, 01 February 2023 - 01:22 PM.

[Ben Bajorek]

The previous photo was Yours from post #55, I just made notes on it, because it's the best photo of this part that I found. Here's mine, I tried to make as detailed photos, as possible.

 

The story of the telescope is that it was bought mainly for phisical-astronomical extra classes. After the political system changed, the classes was cancelled. And somehow my grandmom, who was a teacher, came into posesion of the telescope. Then one of the students borrowed it, and after returning it was inoper. There is no image trough eyepiece, just blurry light and debris. 

OK, I see what's going on.  Somehow the black baffle tube has become unscrewed from the telescope.  The eyepiece collet clamp is attached to the end of this baffle tube.  By gripping the black tube with one hand and turning the chrome ring of the eyepiece collet clamp counter clockwise you should be able to loosen the eyepiece collet clamp enough to insert one of your eyepieces.  You need to screw the baffle tube back into the telescope tight enough so that it doesn't loosen up when you focus the eyepieces.  Tell me if this works for you, I will help with you through this problem.

 

What part of Poland did your Grandmother teach?  Some of my relatives came from a town called Jaslo in southern Poland back in the 19th Century, that's why I have a Polish name.  Sorry to say my Polish language skills are pretty limited.  I know the word for jelly donuts, Paczki.  We have a good Polish bakery in the neighborhood, I have eaten many a paczek over the years.

Edited by Ben Bajorek, 01 February 2023 - 05:10 PM.

[LukaszLu]

Speaking off-topic let's explain, that a donut looks different in Poland from what you know in America - it's called "pączek" and it does not have a central hole (so you're not able to use it for collimation) ! :-)

 

As for this mac - be careful if you buy it remotely, without looking closely. It happens that the metallised surface swells and cracks at the edges of the mirror, which is not always visible in the offer photos.

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Edited by LukaszLu, 02 February 2023 - 01:40 PM.

[LukaszLu]

Let me return to this thread since it turned into a kind of review dedicated to the PZO T50x70 and show an unusual copy that I recently managed to find. Its uniqueness lies, of course, in the beautiful, turquoise color of the textured varnish. I've never seen one like this before, so I didn't think long and bought it right away.

 

I think that this color is a complete accident, not a deliberate decision of the manufacturer. In those days, Poland lacked everything. So the producers used whatever was at hand. There was no silver, graphite or cream paint? Did they find turquoise paint anywhere? Well, they painted it turquoise - that's what production looked like under real socialism...

 

It is also quite rare that the telescope is accompanied by an original tripod. The latter, however, is a standard PZO geodetic tripod, so you can easily buy it by searching advertisements for the sale of old wooden tripods in Poland. This one seems to be very well preserved, it definitely needs cleaning, but maybe I will avoid replacing the varnish.

 

The mirror is in a decent condition, although you can see the first symptoms of aluminum detachment. The 92x eyepiece and solar screen are missing. But who would care with that color!

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[LukaszLu]

A few more pics...

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[Steve_M_M]

Check this out....  https://www.cloudyni...elmak-70mm-mak/

[LukaszLu]

Thanks, of course it is to be expected that some batch of telescopes in this color was made. It seems to me that this color is too rare to be considered a deliberate decision. But of course, I don't know what it really was like, I can only guess remembering the realities of the time. Constantly improvising due to the permanent lack of everything was the norm at the time. But even if someone signed the decision that the telescopes are to be turquoise at some point, I still like this color :-)

[Steve_M_M]

I like the color too!

 

Here in the US, this seems to be the predominate color.  I have had 3 PZO 70mm scopes pass through my hands over the past 40 years and all were green

[LukaszLu]

It seems to me that the version with slow motion controls was intended for export - probably mainly to the USA. Perhaps this production was actually painted in this turquoise color, used more or less accidentally also in production for public schools.

 

My version was actually used as a school telescope. There are traces of handwriting on the arm of the fork-handle, which was probably the so-called "inventory number", proving that the equipment was owned by a state institution. There are no slow motion controls, so it does not come from a batch intended for export. The former owner received it from her grandfather, who was a physics teacher.

Edited by LukaszLu, 28 August 2023 - 09:09 PM.

[LukaszLu]

I think I know where this color came from. Such paint was used in the production of the PZO L40x64 scope. In this case, it was one of the standard ways of painting, very common:

 

 

[LukaszLu]

I have just completed renovation work on PZO T50x70. 4 layers of traditional polish (dewaxed shellac dissolved in spirit) and two layers of yacht varnish to make the varnish layer resistant to water gave me a bit of a hard time, it all took quite a long time and now I understand why traditional furniture polish is so expensive. Well, the effect was worth the effort. I will try to take more photos and show off the shine I achieved on the wood :-)

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Edited by LukaszLu, 12 September 2023 - 07:19 PM.