Posts Made By: daniel gillis

I have recently purchased a Vixen fluorite 102 refractor. I am wondering what its age might be. The tube is in very good shape with one scratch on the dew shield. The focuser is 1 1/4" (some slop present), the dew shield has Fluorite decals, the finder bracket is located on the tube, the lens cell has 6 push pull bolts, and there is a Vixen FL102 Super Polaris label on the tube.

I have not been able to star test yet (waiting for mount). There is something making a subtle rattling sound when the scope is moved. Does not seem to be the focuser or the lens cell. Lens look fine as far as visual inspection goes. I do not see anything obviously wrong like loose spacers -- any experience with this would be appreciated.

Thanks

I have recently purchased an older (about 1985) Vixen fluorite. The images are very good with the diffraction patterns on either side of focus very close to identical once the scope cools down. There is some color present as sparkles with bright stars in turbulence and a little color fringing of defraction patterns outside of focus.

My question. The lenses in the lens' mount have a little "play" in them. They literally move a little when the scope is moved--I have heard a clicking sound and have seen the movement in daylight while looking at the objective. Is this normal for an older Vixen? I can not see anything in the images affected by this looseness.

Thanks,
Daniel

Hello,

I have an older 12.5" Parks newtonian mirror that has an excellent figure. But its coatings are starting to wear thin around the edges. The poor old thing is also quite dirty. Yes, it had a bath about 8 months ago (with distilled water, tap plus a drop of Ivory soap, and a final rinse of distilled water). The other day it was out with a bunch of new Obsessions--besides being dwarfed by them its mirror looked awful next to theirs during daylight.

In this regard I recently ran across an article on the web about some type of cleaning solution used by some restorers of an antique scope. The article described just brushing the solution on, letting it dry, and peeling it off. Supposedly the authors believed this was the best way to clean optics without placing any pressure on the surface. The solution is nontoxic and readily available at most pharmacies. For the life of me, I can not find the article or remember the name of the product. Any ideas???

This sounded good for cleaning uncoated refractor objectives which I have plus maybe my reflector mirror.

Thanks

Hello all,

I have a Parks 12.5" mirror that can give wonderful planetary views. However, it is 2" thick--thus taking awhile to come to thermal equilibrium even with active cooling. I was wondering whether anyone has ever heard of grinding the backend of an existing mirror down to decrease its thickness? I wager that minor concerns like cracking or scratching the top surface prohibit such an idea, but I thought I would ask.

Thanks

Marcial I tried to respond to your e-mail in response to one of my Astromart listings, but your e-mail bounced back. I also tried the internal Astromart message system, but you are not listed under the name given on Astromart.

The trade did sound interesting.

Daniel

Hello,

I have a new atm dob with 40" diameter oversized altitude bearings--something like the new 18" Obsession's altitude bearings but larger. Eventually I would like to mount optical encoders. No real center to mount to and direct rolling off the altitude bearing results in a great many turns of the encoder for even small real altitude movement. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Daniel

I recieved a 21" 2005mm focal length sandwich mirror from Mr. Fullum earlier this year. I have only in the last month really been able to start to observe using the mirror in my ultralight-minimalist homemade dob.

The views the mirror have provided thus far are wonderful to say the least. Both deep sky and high power planetary images yield nothing to other high end mirrors I have used in the past. All this in a lighter weight, rigid, fast cooling mirror design.

Thanks Normand for the ideal 21" mirror

Hello,

I am a visual observer; however, my daughter is getting into digital photography as a possible major. She has been told by an instructor and by fellow students that she will be at a disadvantage in processing images by using her plain IBM laptop rather than a Mac.

I thought that I would seek out some wisdom from the folks that give the rest of us such wonderful images.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Daniel

Hello,

I have had fairly good use with an inclinometer (US Digital model) as an altitude encoder for my 20" dob.

I have wondered if an inclinometer and some sort of digital compass could be used for my 8" Portaball?

Thanks,
Daniel

Hello,

I admittedly goofed it seems.

I mailed off an item (not real expensive, but still) to someone on Astromart before receiving payment.

I have since not heard anything from them including the promised payment. I have tried many e-mails and left a message on their cell.

I am reluctant to rate them low since they can turn around and rap my rating that I have builtup over time. Their rating is only a single purchase.

Any suggestions?

Thanks for reading.