74 replies to this topic

[Phteven Chaos]

I took the time to clean the old grease off the top and inside of the mounts tripod base and clean the exterior as well.

Here are the before and after.

I did have to add a little plaster of paris to the level holders as the old plaster that holds the tubes in place had deteriorated and was mostly gone.

Once I finish cleaning and greasing/oiling the mount itself I will grease the tripod base when I am ready to put it back together with the mount.

~Steve~

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[deSitter]

I took the time to clean the old grease off the top and inside of the mounts tripod base and clean the exterior as well.

Here are the before and after.

I did have to add a little plaster of paris to the level holders as the old plaster that holds the tubes in place had deteriorated and was mostly gone.

Once I finish cleaning and greasing/oiling the mount itself I will grease the tripod base when I am ready to put it back together with the mount.

~Steve~

You can touch up those gouges in the hub (why are these so common?!) with some black Testor's matte paint. It's thick enough to hide the gouge while appearing natural to the eye. (I have seen castings so beat up that it appears someone was using it to hammer in tent stakes!)

 

-drl

[Phteven Chaos]

You can touch up those gouges in the hub (why are these so common?!) with some black Testor's matte paint. It's thick enough to hide the gouge while appearing natural to the eye. (I have seen castings so beat up that it appears someone was using it to hammer in tent stakes!)

 

-drl

drl,

Thanks for the tip, I'll get a bottle and give it a try.

Any thoughts on prep?

The excuse for the dings here is the location it was stored and how long.

Here are a couple pics I was texted when I asked for photos of what they were selling.

You can see why this one saw a few dings.

~Steve~

 

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Edited by Phteven Chaos, 12 April 2022 - 04:14 PM.

[CHASLX200]

Many of these older mounts start to chaulk up with age. The black paint will rub off on your hands.

[Phteven Chaos]

Many of these older mounts start to chaulk up with age. The black paint will rub off on your hands.

Nothing like that here considering how it was treated.

[CHASLX200]

Nothing like that here considering how it was treated.

My around 1955 M160 was left on a porch for like 30+ years and was in sad shape. Mount was just like yours but mine had a smooth counter weight shaft.

[deSitter]

drl,

Thanks for the tip, I'll get a bottle and give it a try.

Any thoughts on prep?

The excuse for the dings here is the location it was stored and how long.

Here are a couple pics I was texted when I asked for photos of what they were selling.

You can see why this one saw a few dings.

~Steve~

No prep really needed other than clean it with Windex or the like. Use a very fine tip hair (not nylon) brush and work it in under magnification.

[Phteven Chaos]

You can touch up those gouges in the hub (why are these so common?!) with some black Testor's matte paint. It's thick enough to hide the gouge while appearing natural to the eye. (I have seen castings so beat up that it appears someone was using it to hammer in tent stakes!)

 

-drl

Hey drl,

    I did a "matte black" search on Amazon and came up with the small bottle of Testors Flat Black Enamel but no matte black enamel. There was a bigger bottle of matte black but it was acrylic. Could it have been Semi-Gloss Black Enamel you were thinking of?

Steve

[apfever]

All of my Uni's have been fairly high gloss. I've found this Meguiar's to work crazy nice on all my Uni stuff so far. They just jive together. I've found plenty of similar items that simply showed no results from the Meguiar's at all. The Uni stuff has always responded nicely. I haven't tried the Windex yet that I remember. Maybe I could do a half and half with the Meguiar's and Windex on an old 4" Uni alt/az mount that hasn't been cleaned up in a long time if ever. I need a date on that alt/az too. 

 

Link to Mequiar's results. Start at entry #111.

 

I don't know when during that resto I used the Meguiar's. My restos are never well organized and are chronological only in the crudest of nature. 

Edited by apfever, 22 April 2022 - 06:57 PM.

[deSitter]

Hey drl,

    I did a "matte black" search on Amazon and came up with the small bottle of Testors Flat Black Enamel but no matte black enamel. There was a bigger bottle of matte black but it was acrylic. Could it have been Semi-Gloss Black Enamel you were thinking of?

Steve

Oh no - you're better of with gloss black if no matte is available. The flat black is REALLY flat, none more flatter. Actually good for eyepieces etc. The gloss will "matte out" over time and disappear.

 

-drl

[Phteven Chaos]

Oh no - you're better of with gloss black if no matte is available. The flat black is REALLY flat, none more flatter. Actually good for eyepieces etc. The gloss will "matte out" over time and disappear.

 

-drl

I'm back on the project after a week on Edisto Island, South Carolina and a week recovering from the vacation back at home. lol

I finally got to a hobby shop and picked up a jar of Gloss Black Testors paint and some nice and small camel hair brushes.

Interesting to learn that Testors was bought up by Rustoleum and for some reason they dropped the Matt Black paint.

I also have all the metal hardware for the tropod legs and shelf sand blasted and cleaned.

Tomorrow I'm going to a friends who has a home powder coat setup and they will be getting a nice gloss black finish.

~Steve~

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[Phteven Chaos]

Sunday the 1st I made my way over to my friend's house and we powder coated the tripod parts.

We went with a semi-gloss black powder.

Here is a link to a 19 second video of a shelf bracket being sprayed prior to baking in the over.

 

https://youtu.be/axZX8OpsMBI

 

I've also included 1 pic of some of the parts before they went into the oven and 1 pic of all the parts after they were finished.

I'd never done any powder coating before, it was a fun learning experience.

~Steve~

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[deSitter]

Sunday the 1st I made my way over to my friend's house and we powder coated the tripod parts.

We went with a semi-gloss black powder.

Here is a link to a 19 second video of a shelf bracket being sprayed prior to baking in the over.

 

https://youtu.be/axZX8OpsMBI

 

I've also included 1 pic of some of the parts before they went into the oven and 1 pic of all the parts after they were finished.

I'd never done any powder coating before, it was a fun learning experience.

~Steve~

Rustoleum Satin Black is just wonderful paint, and it's a great match for larger components. I have used it for many parts including counterweights, and they are all still unscratched and silky black.

 

-drl

[apfever]

I had some time Saturday and I used it to straighten the counter weight rod, declination clamp rod and the declination slow motion rod.

They were all bent when I purchased the telescope and they straightened out nicely, sorry no pics.

I also made a repair to the tripod leg tip that had suffered some rust damage.

I had made a small plug from an old 1/4-20 bolt to fill the missing end and give me a nice base to weld on without melting the thin metal the tip is made of.

I think it turned out good, (see before and after pics attached), and should work just fine.

I put together a short video of the repair as well.

https://youtu.be/ozmQ5ozXFOc

Consider putting a weep hole in that repaired tip. Find out how it goes on so the hole can be placed on the back side. Get the hole as far down as possible. All my Unitron tips have (had) a weep hole at the bottom to let out moisture. Otherwise you have a water trap.  You would probably never have a problem considering the quality of your work inside and out unless you live very damp or get accidental water exposure. I tend to look at these vintage scopes in terms of multiple generations past myself, at least equal to what they have already lived. That may be slightly extreme.  

 

Go to entry 59 and 60 in this link. It's where I mentioned the weep holes.

Leg Link

[Phteven Chaos]

Consider putting a weep hole in that repaired tip. Find out how it goes on so the hole can be placed on the back side. Get the hole as far down as possible. All my Unitron tips have (had) a weep hole at the bottom to let out moisture. Otherwise you have a water trap.  You would probably never have a problem considering the quality of your work inside and out unless you live very damp or get accidental water exposure. I tend to look at these vintage scopes in terms of multiple generations past myself, at least equal to what they have already lived. That may be slightly extreme.  

 

Go to entry 59 and 60 in this link. It's where I mentioned the weep holes.

Leg Link

Thanks for the comments and advice.

I did look over your thread and a few things I noticed looking at your pics were:

The end of the tripod wood that goes into the leg tips on the legs in your pics is pristine compared to what I have to work with.

My legs have significant wood loss from how it had been stored, there was a lot of decayed wood gunk inside the tips when they were removed.

I also noticed that your tips have a slight angle to them most likely from wear while in contact with the ground when in use.

That may or may not be why there is a weep hole.

2 of my tips showed even less wear than yours and had no holes before powder coating and are now covered with powder coat.

I am planning to use an epoxy to fill the tips before inserting the legs.

It should cure and hold the tips on and I will drill new screw holes afterward.

The nice thing about the 3 holes in each tip is they can be rotated 180° and the holes are now over "fresh" wood for the new holes.

Like you I hope to get this scope to a point where when I'm done with it maybe it will see another 66 years of use.

~Steve~

[Phteven Chaos]

You can touch up those gouges in the hub (why are these so common?!) with some black Testors matte paint. It's thick enough to hide the gouge while appearing natural to the eye. (I have seen castings so beat up that it appears someone was using it to hammer in tent stakes!)

 

-drl

I had a little time last Sunday so I touched up the nicks and scrapes on the tripod hub.

I used a pick to get off loose paint around the nicks and scrapes along with the oxidation underneath.

I wiped it all down with Paint Prep using Q-Tips then touched everything up with a fine tipped Camel Hair brush and Testors Gloss Black paint.

I'm happy with how it turned out.

I still have the underside to do and then I'll work on finishing the tripod legs by re-attaching the tips.

Thanks for your help., Steve.

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[Dave Trott]

Looking very nice, Steve!

[shredder1656]

Impressive work!  Good job!

[Phteven Chaos]

It has been just over a month since my last update.

Sorry, I've been real busy here with outside stuff.

I have been able to squeeze in some work on the tripod here and there though.

 

Here come a few posts to catch you up.

 

The powder coated shelf brackets were installed on the shelf.

The powder coated shelf mounts were installed on the legs.

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[Phteven Chaos]

The tripod tips were a little loose due to the wood underneath having deteriorated leaving them smaller than original.

To make up the size difference I decided to attach the tips to the legs with an epoxy resin.

This would allow the gaps between the tips and legs to be filled and keep any future moisture out.

 

I started with making a holder for the tips then masking off the tips and the finished area of the lower legs.

I mixed up some epoxy, poured it into a tip and then put in the leg.

I propped the leg up and let it stand and cure for 24 hours before I started on the next leg.

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[Phteven Chaos]

With the masking tape off the leg ends looked great.

 

Next up was drilling new holes for new brass screws for the tips.

I had to drill new holes as the old screws were steel and had rusted and the holes were questionable.

I had rotated each tip 180° before epoxying them into place so the screw holes in the tip were over undrilled wood.

I screwed each tip into place with 3 new brass screws.

 

The legs are officially done!

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Edited by Phteven Chaos, 22 June 2022 - 09:53 PM.

[Phteven Chaos]

Just a closeup of the tip ends of the legs.

The legs and shelf came a long way from where they were when I got the telescope and I'm very happy with how they turned out.

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Edited by Phteven Chaos, 22 June 2022 - 01:59 PM.

[deSitter]

Nice gams! What a dish!

 

-drl

[Dave Trott]

This is one FINE looking restoration!! Nice work, Steve!

[Phteven Chaos]

Nice gams! What a dish!

 

-drl

 

This is one FINE looking restoration!! Nice work, Steve!

Thanks for the kind words guys.