57 replies to this topic

[GalaxyPiper]

Ok, enough with the, "mine is better than yours" refrain. 

 

Unless someone comes out with a telescope with Dimond lenses,  they all suffer from the same thing, you still have to look though mountains of air.

 

Even with the best telscope, some nights are better than others, and we all hunt for cold, windless, low humidity viewing. 

 

Personally, I think you are all mushy, and I am the best here! At least in my neighborhood.

 

It's not a race remember. Let's not get too heated over equiptment, or you will need to show us you latest optometry records to prove to us its not your own eyes at fault here.

 

Yes, there are better telescopes than others, and many can be improved upon with better lenses, better coatings, better reflective surfaces...with more money.   

Ok then... I just wanted to have an excuse to use a bunch of these emotioncons...

Edited by GalaxyPiper, 09 March 2025 - 03:02 PM.

[VictorMG]

I've seen 826's do awesome on planets. A good newtonian will pretty much blow anything away. Looks at Parks or better yet, Zambuto. Nothing compares to a good newtonian, especially f8's, where spherical abbreviation dissappears.

[VictorMG]

I looked thru three white C's and none were that hot. A C4 , 6 and 10.

[GalaxyPiper]

I invested in a Baader Alan Gee mark II telecompressor flattener reducer for my Celestron C8 years ago, and never looked back as it were.

 

https://www.bhphotov...4ea7c1abcad223f

 

It made the telescope more heightened and faster. Quite impressive.

 

All reflective telescopes can be improved with a coma corrector, and the more serious Amateur should invest in one.

 

So why didn't the manufacturer add this in the mix. One, it did not exist at the time. Later Celestron came up with the f/6.3 corrector to help their product line.

 

You have to remember they were in the telescope selling business, and what they made was the best at the time for a lower cost to the customer.

 

The customer in kind, can then "Soup up" their telescope with this add on. Like a small ford with a super charger add on. The pedestrian vehicle will get you to work, but the super charger will make your weekends more fun.

 

Automatically installing the super charger would increase the price. It's a business, remember. This is where the aftermarket shines with add-on's, just like the automobile industry or any other technical computer system.

 

There is entry level, then increasing levels of elevated participation....

 

That's smart business 101.

Edited by GalaxyPiper, 10 March 2025 - 01:58 PM.

[GalaxyPiper]

And...just so everyone understands. You cannot use the telecompressor inconjuction with the f/6.3 corrector.

It's one or the other...not both. 

[GalaxyPiper]

Here is some testing done from another C.N. post on the Allen gee with a C-11.

 

https://www.cloudyni...telecompressor/

 

I'm starting to get off track here, other than to say, equiptment can always be improved upon.

 

And I am looking forward to see what the C-14 can really do.

 

Bryan

Edited by GalaxyPiper, 10 March 2025 - 10:09 PM.

[John Higbee]

Hi,

 

And thanks for all of this great information.

 

I started this thread awhile back with the hopes of gathering up information on the C14's out there, just as others have done with other telescopes.  I was dragged away to work on another project, refurbishing an orange tube C14, vintage 1980's, in a student observatory.  That work continues, but I'm trying to get back to this as well, and bring all of this information together in some sort of database that everyone can then have access to.  Slow but steady, I guess.

 

I'm putting together a diary of sorts on the work that we did to break down and clean up that old C14.  We're certainly not experts, but I hope that our notes and pictures might help others who might want to try the same thing.  There are others who have done this, of course, and so we're just hoping to add to that knowledgebase.

 

Thanks again for everyone's contributions so far.

 

Ron

Ron - do you have an Excel spreadsheet for the registry yet?  If so, can we access it?  Thanks, John

[navillus]

I ordered my C14 directly from Celestron Pacific on Oct. 25 1976, and I received it Nov. 10, 1976.  The serial number is on a metal plate attached to the base of the mount:   4 219 5  .

 

I paid for the telescope  (no oculars):  $3695.00

"Special Coating"  was an additional :    200.00

"Wedge  !4" was:                                     100.00

 

The colors are the same as those in the photographs posted so far of the early C14s, smooth orange tube with grey trim and grey mount.

 

Visually the scope gave very good images. The mount was fine for visual use but terrible for photography and photometry.  The periodic error was so bad it was impossible to keep up with it using the RA speed adjustments of the mount.

 

Ed Byers advertised in S&T a C14 mount rebuild using one of his high precision drive gear sets.  I visited him in in his shop in Barstow when I was in SoCal for a meeting and decided to order it.  This cured the tracking problem.  Other important improvements were an Ironwood Observatory "Flop Stopper" and an Optec TCF focuser. 

 

Eventually I wanted automatic Go-To pointing.  For this I had to put the Byers modified mount aside and switched to a Bisque Paramount-me.

 

Sometime during all this the scope has been back to Torrance once for a tune up: cleaning, collimation , a little grease here and there.  I'll post a picture of it once it stops raining here (Sonoma county) long enough to roll off the observatory roof. 

 

Phil