TASCO 7TE

I am headed to the Texas Star Party. This is pretty new to me. I pulled out my grandfathers telescope. It is a TASCO 7TE from the 70's or early 80's It has all the parts and is in very good shape but it is missing the eye piece adapter. It is part number 20 in the manual. I saw one other post from a guy several years ago looking for one. Can anybody tell me what I could use instead to make this scope work? The back of the telescoping tube has a thread on the inside that measures 1.15 inches. Into that is a short black plastic piece that fits that thread and has in it a thread of just under 1 inch. It looks like this piece is some kind of adapter that he bought to put other eye pieces into but nothing seems to fit it. I have the Barlow 2x multiplier but that is an accessory that is not used all the time, right?

Would like to get this old girl working

Hi Stewart,

I'm not an expert on the 7TE, but might be able to help a little. Japanese eyepieces from that era had an outer diameter of 0.965 inch which sounds a lot like the "just under 1 inch" you mention. Do your eyepieces have 0.965 inch or 1.25 inch outer diameter? Just wondered if this is part of the problem.

Yes, the "Barlow 2x multiplier" is just an accessory that is used part of the time. Maybe not often in that scope.

If you have 0.965 inch eyepieces, and simply need a holder for them, you could try this for a quick fix: Somewhere there you should have a "diagonal prism" which is part 7 in the manual. I was looking at the manual in this ad:
http://www.astromart.com/classifieds/printerdetails.asp?classified_id=754613
You could wrap a some turns of masking tape around the chrome plated 0.965 inch end of the diagonal prism, and then sort of "thread" that into the end of the 1.15 inch focusing tube (part 19 in the manual). If you get the right amount of tape on the diagonal prism, it will sort of catch in the threads inside the focusing tube and hold securely. I've done this on some other scopes from that era that were missing the same part. Then you can put your 0.965 inch eyepieces into the diagonal prism, and observe normally.

You might also check whether part 20 might be there somewhere, but threaded into something else. For example, it might be threaded into part 5 the "erecting prism."

I think that part will be hard to find, but someone probably has one in their junk box somewhere. Someone more familiar with that scope might be able to suggest a modern replacement part. Perhaps Vixen or Borg has a similar part that will fit. You might also check with Don Rothman at
http://astronomy-mall.com/astro.parts.outlet/

- John B.