11 replies to this topic

[starfinder123123]

I bought some cheap diagonal on amazon to use on my classic Lafayette 60 mm but it is bad. I see 4 Jupiter in the eyepiece when I use it. I tried different eyepieces, but it is same.  This is what I bought:

 

https://www.amazon.c..._fed_asin_title

 

Does anyone know of any of these, not too expensive, that will work as intended?

[Aaron Small]

Expensive is relative.  I got some .965x1.25" pieces from ScopeStuff many years ago.  I just checked and he still seems to have it available.  https://www.scopestuff.com/ss_eda9.htm

Edited by Aaron Small, 19 December 2024 - 09:07 PM.

[jgraham]

+1

 

That’s the one that I use (ScopeStuff).

[starfinder123123]

Expensive is relative.  I got some .965x1.25" pieces from ScopeStuff many years ago.  I just checked and he still seems to have it available.  https://www.scopestuff.com/ss_eda9.htm

$34 is good price. I meant if it is $100+ forget about it.

Thank you.

[vtornado]

I bought one a long time ago from telescope warehouse.  It worked well.

[Astrokg]

You could fit a prism into the cheap diagonal, I did that successfully. I was a fairly easy job. The prism was glued in place with a piece on thin wood either side. Just make sure nothing touches the hypotenuse of the prism. Worked very well and like many old 0.96 diagonal prisms used to be.

[ericb760]

I bought some cheap diagonal on amazon to use on my classic Lafayette 60 mm but it is bad. I see 4 Jupiter in the eyepiece when I use it. I tried different eyepieces, but it is same.  This is what I bought:

 

https://www.amazon.c..._fed_asin_title

 

Does anyone know of any of these, not too expensive, that will work as intended?

I did the same this with my first .965 scope. It isn't a "first surface" mirror like it's supposed to be. It's just a regular piece of mirror that they put in there. I bought this hybrid diagonal from Scopehed1 on ebay. It's cheap plastic but it works.

[davidmcgo]

Higher end solution, if you have a Baader T2 diagonal, you can get an inexpensive 0.965” camera adapter and use that as the nose of the diagonal.

 

Dave

[starfinder123123]

I did the same this with my first .965 scope. It isn't a "first surface" mirror like it's supposed to be. It's just a regular piece of mirror that they put in there. I bought this hybrid diagonal from Scopehed1 on ebay. It's cheap plastic but it works.

I got it. This is for me nephew, I got him a 60 mm telescope and this will make it easier for him to observe and I will send him some of my old eyepieces.

Thanks for this.

[starfinder123123]

Just an update that this diagonal works and it serves the purpose. And the price is right.

[BillinBallard]

A 1.25/.965 diagonal is by far the best improvement we can make to any of our vintage 60mm refractors. 

[scout]

A 1.25/.965 diagonal is by far the best improvement we can make to any of our vintage 60mm refractors. 

They're good for eyepieces up until 20mm to sometimes 25mm. But a 32mm Plossl or wide angle 24mm 68° will often vignette the image in a hybrid diagonal.

 

The ideal solution is to use a 1.25mm visual back that threads into the drawtube like a M36 x 0.75 Vixen or similar thread adapter.

 

Not all vintage refractors have a drawtube wide enough or with the correct threads, so the hybrid adapter must be used.