Has anyone ever experimented with making your own eyepieces? I just got my first taste of the art and made this 46mm 62 degree AFOV Erfle eyepiece out of two 50mm binocular lenses and half of a 50mm military plossl. It only took a few hours of experimentation and assembly work to put it together. It is three achromatic doublets for six elements and air to glass surfaces, and works really well in my 4" f/10 Celestron refractor. I mean it is almost as sharp at the edge as my 40mm Pentax XL, with a hair more true field of view. I assembled it with ABS plumbing pipes, Protostar flock paper, black silicone adhesive, and a left over 2" aluminum tube from the above mentioned military plossl that I took apart.
See that Gary Russell 42mm SWA in the picture? This Erfle is in another class. The 42mm SWA shows the same apparent field of view but with less true field and more lateral color at the edges. So, buy a Rini Erfle eyepiece kit from Surplus Shack if they have any left, and build your own 2 incher some time. It is a lot of fun!
See that Gary Russell 42mm SWA in the picture? This Erfle is in another class. The 42mm SWA shows the same apparent field of view but with less true field and more lateral color at the edges. So, buy a Rini Erfle eyepiece kit from Surplus Shack if they have any left, and build your own 2 incher some time. It is a lot of fun!
Attached Image:
