5833 replies to this topic

[GreyDay]

This one a amateur decided to chop the stalk and glue the diagonal inside a

4 vane diagonal holder. Moving the focuser became necessary apparently and

cutting off the focuser mount  

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.....

[Kasmos]

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.....

....and bad ideas. 

[clamchip]

Fortunately the other end of the Super Space Conqueror is okay and the UPCO primary looks

pretty nice the UPCO's are fabulous.

If you click on my photo I think you can read the fine print.

 

Edited by clamchip, 25 August 2020 - 06:10 PM.

[67Yosemite]

my neighbor just brought me a Unitron 114 last night.... I observed the moon, Jupiter and Mars last night and other than being dirty and a bit out of align it's in good shape... today I gave it cleaning... it's been pretty neglected but it's going to turn out quite nice I think.... I haven't messed with a refractor since the 1980's

[Senex Bibax]

my neighbor just brought me a Unitron 114 last night.... I observed the moon, Jupiter and Mars last night and other than being dirty and a bit out of align it's in good shape... today I gave it cleaning... it's been pretty neglected but it's going to turn out quite nice I think.... I haven't messed with a refractor since the 1980's

Now that's the kind of neighbor everyone needs

[Defenderslideguitar]

Yes  that was very neighborly...….

 Looks real good in the pics    enjoy

[Kasmos]

It's a beautiful telescope, "won't you be my neighbor?"- MR

[clamchip]

Here's my new Edmund Super Space Conqueror 6 inch f/8 all cleaned

and adjusted ready for the sky show.

As everyone probably knows the Edmund scopes are my favorite and

over the years I've owned lots of them.

Sometimes I get lucky and find a really nice one, but most of the time

these jewels have seen hard times. I don't understand it because they

were expensive new, and you had to order the telescope, meaning you

probably were a somewhat seasoned observer, probably having owned

a scope or two.

This one looks like a train wreck but it's not. I have it adjusted to perfection.

I decided to leave the previous owner's modification for now, I'd like to

try out a 4-vane Edmund. It looks like a Ken Novak diagonal support and

the holder I think is Meade. It is very well installed, the vanes equally spaced 

and the cedar block is carefully made and placed on the tube accurately.

Robert  

 

Edited by clamchip, 26 August 2020 - 05:40 PM.

[tim53]

I forgot this photo showing the 3 mirrors.

Secondary up front, and you can see the tertiary flat on a stalk just in front of

the primary turning the light out the side of the tube to the focuser, you can

see the focuser plastic film canister in this mirror.

This combination of f/5.25 primary, secondary amplification of 5 yields a focal

length of 17-1/2 feet (5334mm)

Unfortunately when Mr Leight rebuilt the telescope he moved the tertiary stalk

out from behind a secondary vane so now there are 6 diffraction spikes.

My guess is hiding the stalk behind a secondary vane may have produced a

bright spike pair out of 4 in the first edition, not very pleasing to the eye. Just

a wild guess on my part. 

Robert

 

IMG_0081.jpg

The truth is that 4-vane spiders produce 8 spikes, not just 4.  The hope is that opposite vanes are aligned such that the spikes from each overlap.  But this is exactly why I prefer 3-vane spiders.  (or curved ones).

 

-Tim.

[Augustus]

Brought home the beast....

 

[Defenderslideguitar]

Nice you got the Big Red Clifford   Coulter home   Your gonna need a bigger boat   shed

Edited by Defenderslideguitar, 27 August 2020 - 07:29 PM.

[oldmanastro]

That Coulter looks as good as new! Congratulations on that acquisition. Reminds me of my former 8" red Coulter with the Tetrad finder.

[Esso2112]

 The new objective arrived today for my 1984 Tak FC-76. Easy swap out.. Just had to unbolt the old cell and replace with the new cell. Collimated it. Had a very quick looks at the moon and it looks very good. Hopefully this weekend I can spend some quality time with her. I got lucky in the end, I have a beautiful early grey Tak with a slightly more modern (1989) multicoated objective.  I’ll post some pictures tomorrow. Still can’t believe I have a 36 year old Tak that looks brand new.  

[BigC]

On a different note the GW Tasco 9te-5 arrived in huge box padded with some brown paper. Free to flop about and fully assembled. Objective cell crossthreaded(corrected). OTA installed backwards on yoke mount,which seems common mistake(corrected).One leg split but fixable.Peep sights bent over.
Included H 12.5 a bit dirty but daytime view appears excellent.
$9 for scope,$21 shipping,handling and sales tax.
But it's a classic!!

[Augustus]

Nice you got the Big Red Clifford   Coulter home   Your gonna need a bigger boat   shed

Yeah, I'm going to be referring to it as Clifford the Big Red Dob from now on.

 

It is impractical, I have two bigger scopes that are far more useful and convenient, I know the thermals suck, I know the mirror cell is not great, the focuser is 1.25" only and the thing clocks in at 120 pounds (more than double my 14.7" and an appreciable chunk of the weight of the 24") but I feel like everybody just parts these Coulters out these days, and for public outreach it'll do just fine and make a hell of a splash doing so. 

[clamchip]

I call mine 'Big Red' the best way to move it around is with a hand truck, works

great:

https://www.harborfr...ruck-62775.html

 

Robert

[Russell Smith]

Yeah, I'm going to be referring to it as Clifford the Big Red Dob from now on.

 

It is impractical, I have two bigger scopes that are far more useful and convenient, I know the thermals suck, I know the mirror cell is not great, the focuser is 1.25" only and the thing clocks in at 120 pounds (more than double my 14.7" and an appreciable chunk of the weight of the 24") but I feel like everybody just parts these Coulters out these days, and for public outreach it'll do just fine and make a hell of a splash doing so. 

For sure a classic.  And you sound so jazzed. 

Congrats. 

[AstroKerr]

<bump>

[Matty S]

So I scored the Tasco 9vr today for $50 from a local flipper who got it from some sort of auction (estate, I assume).

He's a reseller of all goods so didn't really know much about scopes. Tried to sell me a Galileo frac at the same time, I declined.

Told him a little about the Tasco but he wasn't really interested, just trying to make a buck. All good.

Anyway here's a few pics of the little guy after a cursory cleanup. Everything seems to be there. The glass showed a few smudges which cleaned right up to sparkling new with a couple of Zeiss wipes. Daytime views were sharp and crisp. I absolutely love this little one! Perfect companion to the little Starblast petzval for stargazing with a friend.

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[Russell Smith]

Well you did today

[UnitronCollector]

Today, well you did.

[Piaget]

Matty , great grab , those are such fine little scopes.

[RalphMeisterTigerMan]

I really would like to know. How many vintage/classic/highly-desirable telescopes are found on Ebay, Craigslist etc. And how many are found by complete accident just by putting out a "cold-call" wanted ad. It's amazing how many classic telescope owners who haven't really thought about selling that old scope "just taking up space and gathering dust" will think twice when they see a wanted ad just out of the blue?

 

It does happen, btw.

 

Clear skies!

RalphMeisterTigerMan

[LDW47]

So I scored the Tasco 9vr today for $50 from a local flipper who got it from some sort of auction (estate, I assume).

He's a reseller of all goods so didn't really know much about scopes. Tried to sell me a Galileo frac at the same time, I declined.

Told him a little about the Tasco but he wasn't really interested, just trying to make a buck. All good.

Anyway here's a few pics of the little guy after a cursory cleanup. Everything seems to be there. The glass showed a few smudges which cleaned right up to sparkling new with a couple of Zeiss wipes. Daytime views were sharp and crisp. I absolutely love this little one! Perfect companion to the little Starblast petzval for stargazing with a friend.

Lucky guy ! I love my 9vr.

[Terra Nova]

Here’s the Meade 395 (90mm x 1000mm) OTA that I recently acquired. It arrived in close to mint condition. I just happened to have a nice Meade 8x50 finder in just the right color scheme.

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Edited by Terra Nova, 13 September 2020 - 10:22 AM.