Posts Made By: Alan Thometz

Salem Distributing has excellent customer service. Gugolz pitch is highly regarded.

Shopping for a new pyrex blank. Reasonable quote from Glass Fab. Anyone have experience with them?
Also...anyone made/used mirror in 20" range with BVC from ASM?
Thanks in advance for help.

Anyone aware of a manufacturer who can make rotating rings in the size range of say, 25-28" ID for observatory mounted newtonian equatorial soon under construction? Would prefer to avoid rotatable upper cage assembly due to collimation difficulties, if possible.

A year or two ago I ordered a 16" coude mask from the internet for Foucault testing but can't find him now. Club member wants his 12.5" mirror tested and would prefer just to have the mask made...anyone have his website or another who can supply the same thing. Can calculate and cut it myself but wanting to take the lazy way out..also think it may be more accurate.
Thanks in advance...
Alan Thometz

ST-8/CFW-8, IR/clear + IDAS LPS filters (backyard), 8"f/5 Newtonian (mirror self-made) on G-11, Billings MT.

Friend of mine just bought the Meade 5" refractor on LXD75 mount. Mount stopped working quickly..."motor error" message...but scope is also soft on planets and he was disappointed with image.
Used 9mm Nagler to star test out of focus. With filters (green, red, yellow) result is all the same: inside focus rings are crisp but diffraction image is out of round, flat spot on one side and overall oval. Out of focus rings are very indistinct, no contrast, barely visible, but diffraction image more round. I've star tested a handful of scopes (reflectors) and the difference in image in and out of focus seems enormous compared to those.
Without filter, violet is outside rings when inside focus, with rings uniformly yellow. Outside focus, a violet core is present with the outside rings yellow.
Does it make sense to mask it down to a 4"...big turned down edge possible?
Seeing was not great. Could not see in-focus rings.
He bought it from OPT but they apparently just ship it directly from Meade factory...?margins not high enough for this scope.
With this info, any idea what problem is....should he send scope back too? Can a pinched lens do this much? I know the achromat won't handle violet well, but the loss of contrast out of focus seems excessive, ?chromatic aberration also?

Friend of mine brought his brand new Meade 5" refractor on LXD75 mount, what a big problem already.
This is my understanding of the problem... Bought it from OPT, but ships direct from Meade factory. 2nd time out, he gets a "motor error" message, mount electronics are dead. Using it manually, it's obviously not very crisp like it should be. So we put color filters in and a 9mm eyepiece...not super high power...diffraction image (out of focus) is oval, (same straight thru without diag), with a flat spot on the side. Rings are very contrasty inside-focus, but outside they are obliterated, just a blob. All eyepieces show the same. Fair bit of color on anything bright...although it is after all an achromat. Equipment reviews are much better than this scope is acting.
He called Meade...they'll fix it 4 weeks. Says OPT has 30 day warranty.
He then called OPT...they're mad about 30 day warranty claim, no such thing. I believe they say it's basically Meade's problem. He didn't spend the $170 to have OPT personally inspect it themselves...but would it have been caught? And should he have to pay an extra $170 to have a scope shipped that just works?
This guy used the thing twice, not two years.
Am I alone in thinking OPT and/or Meade should be embarassed to have sold this thing and should just replace it?

This is one of the most strikingly beautiful scopes I have ever seen.

I tried the curved vain spider in the past on a 10" f/7 Newtonian. The theory is to spread the diffraction all over the field rather than concentrating it in the spikes. I didn't really like the result, and I thought I could tell the difference. There seemed to be less contrast, higher background brightness somehow. Not sure this makes sense...just subjectively didn't like the result. Ended up putting the four vane back on.

My few experiences with Newport= >