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Posts Made By: Philip Blanda

August 29, 2006 11:48 AM Forum: Astro-Physics

AP-130 ot TEC-140

Posted By Philip Blanda
AP has discontinued production of the 130EDF/EDT scopes. At NEAF this year they showed a 140mm scope on the Mach 1 mount, but is is unclear if that telescope will be put into production. In any case, the interest list for any AP scope in this size is multiple years long so if you want a scope within the year AP is not the way to go, unless you are willing to consider the used marketplace (which is not a bad way to go).

IIRC TEC will be producing a run of the 140 in 2007, so sign up now if you would like one - by all reports it is a fine scope.

Philip

September 8, 2006 02:49 PM Forum: Refractors

TOA130 or NP127

Posted By Philip Blanda
The NP-127 would be better suited to your needs I would think.

1) The NP-127 is 14lbs while the TOA-130 is 22lbs. Since your are mounting these on an M6 alt-az mount, the lighter the tube the better the stability and viewing. The NP-127 might not require a counterweight on the M6 while the TOA-130 almost certainly will

2) Cooldown favors the NP-127, which facilitates the quick look aspect of your setup.

For other people and uses the TOA-130 could be a better choice, but given what you seems to want to do with it, I would think the NP-127 is better for you.

Philip

September 9, 2006 12:28 AM Forum: Off Topic Discussions

Radiation Shielding from Battleships?

Posted By Philip Blanda
What you want is that there organic free range steel. Much better than that pre-1945 steel.

September 19, 2006 07:45 PM Forum: Refractors

Looks like I did it

Posted By Philip Blanda
Congrats! I didn't see that they announced this scope, neat! at f6.5 that's pretty fast for a 6" scope.

September 20, 2006 11:26 PM Forum: Refractors

TMB152/175 v FS152 v TOA150 v AP155 v TEC 160 fluo

Posted By Philip Blanda
Now there is the Legendary 180EDF for sale. 180mm of f/7 oil spaced APO goodness. I think I rememer Roland saying they cost him a few grey hairs to make.

Philip

September 28, 2006 03:02 PM Forum: Refractors

Market Flooded???

Posted By Philip Blanda
To be pedantic, there are no $3,790 5" APO's for sale yet, only the promise of one and prototypes afoot. The biggest unknown is if one will get the same optical and mechanical quality of this APO that one gets out of the current premium 5" units.

There is also the promise of a ~$1,800 5" APO refractor. Does anyone think that this lower cost APO will put the putative $3,790 5" APO out of business?

My guess would be that no, one will not get equivelent optical and mechanical quality from these scopes when they come for sale. I would also guess that they will be worth the money charge for them, giving the amateur a choice as to how much quality they are willing to spend for.

Philip

Timothy McDougall said:
...There are new 5" apo's being offered at unheard of prices($3,790) and 66mm apo's included free with the purchase of 110mm apo's. Can one manufacturer actually get $7000 for a 5" anymore? ...

September 29, 2006 01:34 PM Forum: APM

Re: TMB 152 Out There?

Posted By Philip Blanda
Congrats, it sure looks like one nice telescope! Let us know how you like it.

Philip

David Hawkins said:

I just bought a TMB 180 f/9 EDstar Classic CNC!!! I can't wait.

October 4, 2006 04:51 PM Forum: APM

Apo Color

Posted By Philip Blanda
The colour is most likely from atmospheric refraction as the Moon is traveling pretty low in the sky from northern latitudes these days. A TMB 800/600 lens is very well corrected for colour, so you should see none at 75X.

If you have a reflector handy, try comparing them at the same time. If it is the atmosphere, you'll see it in the reflector too (use same eyepiece type if possible).

Philip

October 9, 2006 03:00 PM Forum: APM

Re: Recommended Maintainence for APM TMB 180

Posted By Philip Blanda
I agree with Mark. There should be no reason to have the lens disassembled unless there is some significant damage to the lens cell or lens! In these triplets the spacing between the lenses and lens alignment is very critical and should only be done by an experienced optician who has access to specialized tools.

Certainly the lens may require a cleaning, typically this would be only the front. I use the method that used to be posted on the Astro-Physics web site - unscented plain klennex tissue, always one wipe then thrown away, moistened in water with a few drops of detergent followed by denatured alcohol followed by acetone. Works like a charm.

Since the design of most modern APO lens is aplanic, meaning they have no coma, they are very forgiving of collimation errors. Given the robustness of the CNC APM tubes, I would bet your scope is in perfect or near perfect collimation. You could always check it yourself with a cheshire and the cells push-pull screws.

I would not see a need to send it out for maintenance unless something is very wrong with it.

Philip

Mark Holden said:
Taking apart the lens to clean between the elements is a pretty serious undertaking, and I doubt anyone would do it unless there was a significant problem.

October 10, 2006 02:40 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Meade being sued for R-C moniker

Posted By Philip Blanda
This report is not about the shareholder suites. I do not have a Pacer account, can one of you (lawer) with one take a look and if the suite was filed?

Philip

Hugh Peck said:

Meade is facing several suits but not from RC Optical. They are on behalf of shareholders and allege stock manipulation.

http://markets.chron.com/chron?Page=Quote&Ticker=MEAD

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