80 replies to this topic

[Garyth64]

Yep, good idea.  Some of the early Tasco's with their 5x25 finders came with plastic around the tube.  I don't know if any other models had it as well.

 

My Tasco 3TER had black plastic round the finder.

Edited by Garyth64, 15 January 2021 - 09:00 AM.

[Piggyback]

Found a working solution to the straylight problem in my Royal Astro R 74. Bought matte black toned paper at our local hobbystore. Cut to size and length of inner focuser tubing. Inertial strength sufficient to press paper against tubing. No gluing. Tedious work but you get the hang of it. I am extremely happy with the result! Quick daytime checking revealing stunning improvement in contrast. Compare before and after tube pikkies and it becomes obvious.

 

 

 

 

[LukaszLu]

Bought matte black toned paper at our local hobbystore.

Haven't checked the black paper hack yet, but this is exactly what I've counted on. Thanks for sharing!

[LukaszLu]

I finally had a chance to watch the moon today. I was concerned that it would be much more demanding in terms of CA correction than Mars or stars. But in the eyepiece the same thing again - a razor sharp image. Black shadows without traces of CA, overwhelming contrast. It seems that you could almost touch the surface of the moon with your hand! Simply unbelievable ...

 

With a magnification of 120x, the plume-shaped shadow in Archimedes, where you can count the shadows from probably a dozen peaks casting a shadow from the crater rim ... I wonder if I have seen such a spectacle before. Probably yes, but this telescope shows the difference between "looking" and "seeing" that is very well known to the painters and artists. Thanks to this telescope, you can see, not just look.

 

Fears that there is nothing left to discover on the moon turned out to be premature :-)

[Piggyback]

Just finished restoring my 1968 Royal Astro R74 serial No. 870976. Major pita adjusting gear-play and mechanics. Thanks to posters Lukasc, Masvingo, others I was well prepared to avoid a great deal many pitfalls. I am now enjoying a smooth-working equatorial and clean optics. I am missing crosshairs for my 6x30 finder and a few styro inlets for the wooden transport box. I was lucky to find a copy of the Tasco instruction manual by Gormanns in Cologne. He was the factory authorized Tasco importer for Germany. Not sure if Gormanns also sold Royal Astro badged units.

 

Nasty weather prevailing. It's killing me as I can hardly wait for first light!

 

 

On a happy sidenote, I just found this thing locally. Goerz Trieder 9x binoculars. Couldn't resist sharing. 

 

 

Edited by Piggyback, 23 January 2021 - 02:26 AM.

[LukaszLu]

Great news Stefan, I hope you'll enjoy the quality of the optics - it's true magic! I'll tell you that I noticed a strange thing when I looked through this telescope for the first time. It was during the day, the image was distorted because I was looking through the glass in the window, and yet I was struck by the fact that the eye seemed to "stick" to the picture - as if something pulled me to keep looking. Very strange sensation I never experienced before...

 

Unfortunately, I still have problems with smooth movement in the RA axis and I can't really find the reason. I am also looking for a way to recreate the crosshair in the viewfinder - unfortunately I broke it myself trying to remove the cotton fiber that had settled on it after cleaning the eyepiece with a cotton pad ...

 

Beautiful binoculars with a unique rack and pinion mechanism - congratulations! The only question is where to keep it all and show it all ;-)

Edited by LukaszLu, 22 January 2021 - 08:01 AM.