65 replies to this topic

[apfever]

I probably won't get back here till the weekend. I don't want to do a bunch of fill ins. I have to figure out paint since the mount parts look like they will hold their paint while the leg hardware failed miserably. The hub and hardware went through the exact same treatment together, soak and scrub. The hardware is bare, it all came off.  The finish on the hub is rejuvenated!   

 

Different stroke for classic folks. I like SLG for wood that looks untouched, abused, and exposed for 50 or 60 years. Like the rest of this scope.

This slather is the second one from this morning. I slopped them good and wrapped them up yesterday for an overnighter.  Tomorrow they will get laid out on an expanded steel patio table and left in the breezy shade to dry till this weekend. SLG usually doesn't hinder a final coat after several days (maybe a week or two if thick), but I intend to rub in a hand oil like Tung. I'll have to see what I have. The SLG and Tung type finish should welcome each other nicely by this weekend. Hopefully I'll have paint on the hardware in a day or two.  Meanwhile I'll dink around with the mount and OTA repairs. 

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Edited by apfever, 15 August 2023 - 02:34 PM.

[apfever]

There is nothing wrong with those bananas. I get them to this stage then freeze them. They are a trick part of my work out power shakes. The trick part is banana potassium. Milk, carrot, banana, egg, OJ, peanut butter, and less than one scoop of protein powder.  No tuna, never worked. There is also the Monolux objective in the photo but it isn't as catchy as the gross bananas. 

 

Fluids before heat. I poured the acetone on the edge of the frozen objective to see if it would track clean around the splotch. It did. I expected to have to soak the lens. The lens would fit inside a sun tea jar so I could seal it against evaporation.  The splotch began softening in seconds, more acetone, more wiggle, and the achro split safely in about 30 seconds. I didn't dribble too much in the sun tea jar. I'll wash the jar. Come for a visit, hot day, have a tea, you'll never detect which jar. I forgot already. More objective cleaning to be done. Woo Hoo. I'm off to the bar. I'll post the final evil eye exam this afternoon. 

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Edited by apfever, 18 August 2023 - 02:19 PM.

[deSitter]

There is nothing wrong with those bananas. I get them to this stage then freeze them. They are a trick part of my work out power shakes. The trick part is banana potassium. Milk, carrot, banana, egg, OJ, peanut butter, and less than one scoop of protein powder.  No tuna, never worked. There is also the Monolux objective in the photo but it isn't as catchy as the gross bananas. 

 

Fluids before heat. I poured the acetone on the edge of the frozen objective to see if it would track clean around the splotch. It did. I expected to have to soak the lens. The lens would fit inside a sun tea jar so I could seal it against evaporation.  The splotch began softening in seconds, more acetone, more wiggle, and the achro split safely in about 30 seconds. I didn't dribble too much in the sun tea jar. I'll wash the jar. Come for a visit, hot day, have a tea, you'll never detect which jar. I forgot already. More objective cleaning to be done. Woo Hoo. I'm off to the bar. I'll post the final evil eye exam this afternoon. 

That's good news!

 

-drl

[rayden68]

Congratulations! what a nice telescope! You don't see those on every street corner. Would love to bust a few double stars with that! I would probably not use 800X though

[apfever]

Today I found a replacement cell for the cracked one. Interest here didn't take long to rejuvenate. I just now confirmed the lens using some trees between 300 and 400 yards away. It is 63" from lens center to focal plane of the eyepiece (junction of tail stock and draw tube). Good focus on tree branches with what is still a horrible filthy lens and epitome of a gunked up .965" Rini.  I also have a "ridiculously straight" replacement focuser pinion shaft. I also have some other extra parts. Ohhhhhhh, another nice dew shield. 

I knew this would happen sooner or later. I had all the replacement parts here originally and didn't know it. I didn't make the association till some recent posts and interactions. Too many trees for me to see the forest of parts. 

 

It is right at 68" from end of dew shield to end of eyepiece at focus as shown. David G. has always recommended testing optics to see if further work is warranted on the rest of a scope. This was the time to check the glass for at least being correct in nature.  The other OTA is just a regular ol' 80mm F15 normal drab single tube run of the mill vintage scope. 

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Edited by apfever, 16 February 2024 - 08:43 PM.

[apfever]

Well I'm hyped. I just made a power shake (entry #52) with Rock Star hyper drink and already have the mount parts in diesel for soaking.  The JB repaired threads on the tube worked like a charm. There was substantial repair work on threads besides the JB reclamation. This scope took a bad fall. I've never gone through all the issues here, just the bad ones. 

[jragsdale]

Looking good! I need to get my 4384 out again soon.

[apfever]

Were the coil windings on these chrome plated or regular steel?  Mine came plated with brown oxide, not to be mistaken for black oxide.  They also have bent tips at the mount attachments. The top flop is untouched. The bottom flop was brushed to remove excess oxide before going into the tube with rust dissolver. 

 

 

The tube is 3/4" PVC. Both floppies fit inside with the tips staggered. The first two fluid fills were exhausted by the amount of rust. The third soak ran clearer. I also flexed the flops in Evapo to open the windings and get the fluid inside. That was followed by scrubbing, soft Barkeepers Friend, CLR, other things, and finally some metal polish. It would take a buffer wheel to shine up the windings due to the dull texture. I might. 

 

 

 

Then there's THIS Guy! 

 

The grey stain left by EvapoRust is tenacious.  I didn't want to go as aggressive as the wire wheel on the grinder. All the follow up scrubbing was to remove the grey stain.

Edited by apfever, 19 February 2024 - 05:22 PM.

[apfever]

I don't know if this was factory damage from holding the coil while the tip was installed, or if it was after damage. I don't think these tips are always installed straight. I found a nut (M8X1.25) that closely matched the winding, and cut the nut in half through two points. This gave me a flat side of the nut to press with later on. The cut edges of the threads were lightly chamfered to avoid snagging. I used an adjustable V wrench to hold the nut pieces in place. This tool let me keep tension on the nut while working it through the bad section several times. A LOT of times. ALWAYS turn the nut so the winding is under compression. You don't want to expand the winding open by turning the wrong way. 

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[apfever]

I don't know the official name of these but I have a set of them. This is probably the first time I've used one, at least in a very long time. 

 

 

 

Nope, didn't over bend it, didn't hurt it. These cycled between bending and compressing. The bottom part of the split nut is held up with a rod that I hit hard with a hammer to help set the metal. I think this can all be done with a regular vice. Clamp the ferrule in a soft jaw, pull the other end of the floppy as far as you can comfortably in the direction you need to go, then press hard with a massaging action close to the ferrule. I used a regular vice for the final tuning. 

 

The compression part is tricky and hazardous. You will have a worse kink or even destroy the floppy if it kinks over hard while undergoing compression. I drilled a half hole in the side of one 2X4 to support the floppy in all directions, then clamped it Hard with the other 2X4. Choke the tip as far down as possible to start, brace your press if there is slop in the ram, tighten the 2X4 squeeze as you shove the floppy down the 2X4 till you reach the ferrule. This helped but would also restore some bend. The final step is straightening in a vice with side pushing. 

Notice how the coil has completely compressed. It won't stay that way but this helped.

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Edited by apfever, 19 February 2024 - 06:15 PM.

[apfever]

First picture: The top one is done, the bottom one needs more.

Second picture: This where I called it good on straightening the tips.

Third:  Maintaining the split nut. The coil was so bad it was hard on the split nut to begin with. 

 

I was wondering how some electrical shrink wrap might look at the junctions. Two layers might help support this location where most bends occur. I'd start with a shorter piece that laps the ferrule and winding, then a slightly longer piece over top to give a double support with a single layer showing.  The coil would keep them from creeping. Opinions?

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Edited by apfever, 19 February 2024 - 06:29 PM.

[apfever]

Here they are with a short set, exact same style fittings, ends, knobs, hardware. This brings up another subject. I'm OK with pairing things up now so another subject coming up as a set works, even helps. 

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[deSitter]

First picture: The top one is done, the bottom one needs more.

Second picture: This where I called it good on straightening the tips.

Third:  Maintaining the split nut. The coil was so bad it was hard on the split nut to begin with. 

 

I was wondering how some electrical shrink wrap might look at the junctions. Two layers might help support this location where most bends occur. I'd start with a shorter piece that laps the ferrule and winding, then a slightly longer piece over top to give a double support with a single layer showing.  The coil would keep them from creeping. Opinions?

You are better than I am. I just write this off as a design flaw that can't be fixed. Plastic booties - not good IMO!

 

-drl

[apfever]

The glass. This matched up well and was very stable even with rotation relative between the glass. I will be starting with a 0.003" custom foil tape elegant curved spacer/blockout on the meal size clam chowder combo area. The green pointer is placed in the folded up napkin with the end kind of fluffed out. I got used to the pointer in one hand and visualizing only through the camera.  It's great to dump the camera and watch the pattern while moving the glass around. The image doesn't change much, pretty stable. 

 

The initial start had the center of rings just off the edge of the glass. All adjustments were within 0.0015" of start. The original spacers spacers that came with it are 0.005" thick and did not give much of a diffraction pattern. 

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[apfever]

These turned out with and without flash. Four of the six masking tape buffers in the cell. Three of the tape buffers continue out across the retaining lip so the glass is sitting on three spaced tape spots. 

 

So what is the deal with blackening the edges? The one and only mark is a happy spot, not critical. I don't have room for a paint pen layer. I do have room for stain, known as indelible marker, known in the horror scenes as the....Sharpie.  Why not, why?  I did one that I figured wouldn't hurt to do here.  

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[apfever]

The fittings are the same manufacture, different finish, all interchangeable along with focuser parts. The 80mm has always been a nice glass.  

 

The thick wall aluminum pipe is to custom turn a heat shrink collar to fix the cracked green central cell body.  The crack can be seen just right of center, at the top of the cell.  The OTA tube on the left has not been cleaned up yet, but will be along with the mount. Like manufacturers. 

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