10 replies to this topic

[westchesterastro]

I am purchasing a complete used Orion OTA with a 6 f/8 mirror for $20 from someone in my astronomy club, so I can use the tube for the Dobsonian I'm building.

 

Any ideas what to do with the optics? I don't really want to build a new telescope around used Orion optics but I think I could put them to use for something. I have a 3D printer and I was looking at 3D printed telescope designs but they were all small refractors or they were f/5.

 

Any other ideas?

 

Thanks,

Eli Goldfine

[Zygmo]

Sure. Send it to me. I will put it to good use!!

[NinePlanets]

I bought a 6" F/8 mirror from Orion circa 1998 and it was excellent. I wouldn't discard it because it was "used". It may very well be better than a "new" one.

[TOMDEY]

Seriously --- just give it to someone who will build it into a telescope now... not some hypothetical "someday", but now. Then wait six months. If he hasn't turned it into a working telescope that he uses... never give him anything again --- not even an inheritance.   Tom

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Edited by TOMDEY, 16 March 2025 - 06:19 PM.

[Dale Eason]

From my experience with several Orion scopes of that period they are excellent mirrors.   So the odds are you will be making a worse telescope than it was.  What you are proposing is just about the opposite of what most people do.  That is dispose of the tube and build a new scope around the optics that was in it.  Just sounds funny to do it the other way.  Keep the optics with the tube that you will then rebuild into your dob is what I would do.

[westchesterastro]

I think I may have miswritten what I had meant... I want to keep the mirrors and work on some sort of astronomy-related project around it but not necessarily a telescope since I am already building one. I don't want to use it for the telescope I'm currently building because I'm already almost done making the mirror for it.

 

Thanks for all the help so far.

[geovermont]

One possibility would be to use the Orion mirrors to make a very compact travel telescope that breaks down into a very small package, although an f/8 isn't usually what people use for that. Definitely bring the optics to the Springfield Telescope Makers the next time you are up there and we can put them on the tester--you'll then know what the quality of the primary is.

Good luck!

George Springston, STM member

Edited by geovermont, 16 March 2025 - 07:18 PM.

[plunk111]

You might try making a solar projecting scope...

 

Pat

[luxo II]

f/8 is pretty common for 6" mirrors, for a few reasons.

 

Never mind the 3D printing bit, that seems to be an un-necessary constraint when there are perfectly good ways to turn this into a useable scope using conventional hardware.

Edited by luxo II, 16 March 2025 - 08:57 PM.

[geovermont]

Maybe your best repurposing may be to build a very simple Dobsonian scope with the mirrors and give it to someone who would like a telescope but cannot afford it. Or maybe there is a school astronomy club nearby that could use another instrument to use at events.

[AlamoBob]

When I bought an old Coulter for the glass, the secondary turned out to be junk.  That is now being used as a paper-weight.