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Posts Made By: Chris Brown

November 28, 2006 08:35 PM Forum: Maksutovs

Bausch and Lomb model 3000 80mm Maksutov?

Posted By Chris Brown

Any info, input would be appreciated!
Chris Brown

November 23, 2007 05:17 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

New use for DS-2000 mount

Posted By Chris Brown

Well, I never did get the hang of Go-To, with my single arm DS-2000 mount...
Even with an Orion Starblast OTA mounted, the accuracy left much to be desired, and it only deteriorated as the night went on.
Before I could train the drives and connect a good battery to it, the 8 AA batteries leaked into the housing! No more Go-To!
I decided that it would make a good manual Alt-Az mount, so I unbolted the lower housing and removed the AZ motor, thereby freeing up the base!
I reassembled the unit, adjusted it for tension, and now it works (manually) very smoothly!
BTW, the altitude bearing is easily adjusted by the side knob...
The unit is now a very good "grab-and-go" unit, can be carried with one hand, and is alot easier to deal with than the Starblasts' original EQ-1, which is overkill on the f/4 OTA...
Hope this helps someone...
BTW, does anyone else out there have one of these burned-out DS-2000 mounts? Id like to send one to my nephew, who is a little confounded by the EQ-1 I sent him!
8) Chris

December 2, 2007 04:19 AM Forum: Eyepieces

Zeiss microscope eyepiece in an Orion Starblast!

Posted By Chris Brown

I was lucky enough to secure a Carl Zeiss microscope eyepiece on E-bay to try in my telescope!
I had heard that it could be done, and I bidded up a staggering $12.00 on a 12.5x Zeiss eyepiece with a very scratched barrel, which was barely visible in the hazy pic, and I won!
What I recieved was a VERY heavy eyepiece, about as tall as a 25mm plossl, but very narrow, a loose fit in a .965 focuser!
The Markings show a neat "Carl Zeiss" emblem, which looks like 1/2 of a cheese wheel, and below that, the words, West Germany.
On the other side, it reads Kpl W 12.5x and a little picture of tiny eyeglasses!
I was surprised at the top lens, which is about as wide as a 25mm plossl (I was expecting a peep hole!), and the lens has a purple coating, and is concave!
A few round hose washers brought the barrel up to 1.25 inches, and I tried it out on my most eyepiece-picky telescope, a Starblast 4.5 inch f/4 reflector...
First, I tried to get it's actual magnification, which I figured at around 32x, making this eyepiece around 14mm focal length, if thats the right term...
Anyway, after looking at M44, Albiero, and M57, I found that this eyepiece compares almost exactly to my 15mm Orion Expanse!
The Expance gathers slightly more light (M57 was slightly more obvious in the expanse), and the colors of Albiero are nearly identical in both eyepieces, as are the nice round stars.
The Zeiss has a slightly wider FOV, maybe 68 degrees, but it is wasted, due to the coma evident at around 70% out, compared to the Orion, which doesn't bend the stars to at least 85-90% out of center! Surprisingly, eye relief is identical, but the eyepieces are not parafocal.
I'd like to try this eyepiece on my ETX-90, which can still produce a nice image with a plastic bottle cap for an eyepiece!
I never thought I would own a Zeiss anything, but it looks like it's gonna make a pretty good wide field eyepiece.
Anyone else try a microscope eyepiece in thier telescope?
Chris

December 16, 2007 03:12 AM Forum: Reflectors

Unlocking the power on an Orion Starblast OTA

Posted By Chris Brown

I always thought my Starblast (114mm, f/4) was limited to about 130-160x, but I started juggling eyepieces using an Orion Tri-mag 3x Barlow, and was amazed by the results!
First, my Carl Zeiss KPL microscope eyepiece, which is a coma monster at about 32x, is magically transformed into a wonderful, wide-angle, long eye-relief gem with zero coma at 96x! Orion's nebula is a sea-gull, with a wide trap split!
I then tried my OU Zoom at max mag (8.4), for 160.7x on Mars, and was rewarded with a clean, if small orange ball with traces of blue here and there.
Tonight, I used my Orion highlight plossl 6.3 with barlow for an unrealistic (on an f/4 system) 214x!
Lots of focusing was required, but I got a crystal clear image! The crater ridges were very sharp, with excellent detail!
Pushing it farther, I installed my Vixen 5mm Ortho (270x!)which proved to dim the image somewhat(!!) Focusing was super critical, and I never got the focus correct. Who makes a 2-speed for this telescope?
I know the moon on a good night will absorb alot of power from any telescope, but I had no idea this telescope could do this on any night!
It reminds me of my ETX-90, the image doesn't soften with power, it just gets dimmer and dimmer...
I know there are other Starblast owners out there, how do you get high powers from this OTA?
Chris

January 29, 2008 06:11 AM Forum: Meade

In defense of Meade...

Posted By Chris Brown

In light of the posts about Meade quality, I feel I must come to thier defense, at least as far as optical quality is concerned...
I was not surprised to see that thier ETX line of telescopes had dodged the optical quality portion of the bashings.
These telescopes have a large, loyal following, despite quirky drives, limited aperture, and plastic components!
Todd Gross wrote that his ETX-90 had the best optics of any compound telescope he had seen!
My ETX-90 M is also blessed with excellent optics...it splits Castor and E-Lyra easily before it gets to 80x, seems to find a shadow transit every time I point it at Jupiter, and on the best nights, it typically runs out of light on solar system objects before it degrades it's image, usually around 180x-200x.
The ETX-125 OTA I had was even better!
I could use 190x on an average night, and better nights had me using 200-300x on Saturn, which would show a pale yellow ball, and a razor-sharp Cassini division. I once had this OTA mounted to a pier designed for a reflector at a star party. The adults had to pearch on thier knees to look through it, due to the low eyepiece height. All through the night, I noticed the same people kept coming back, despite scuffing thier knees, just for another look! Like the 90, this telescope would run out of light before it would break down, usually north of 300x!
BTW, the eyepieces I used were standard Orion Plossls, in 12.5mm, 10mm, 7.5mm sizes, and a Vixen 7mm Ortho, along with circle-T 9mm and 6mm Orthos, nothing too fancy...
My claims are not unique, just read some observation reports on the ETX (mighty) sight...seems the 105mm also is an exceptional optical instrument.
All this, of course, is just MHO, but I have owned, sold, and looked through alot of telescopes (too), and I have to admit that the one telescope I could never part with is my little ETX-90...
Chris

April 25, 2008 04:47 AM Forum: Telescope Making

White glue on Velcro.

Posted By Chris Brown

I found this works very well...
I have a refractor, which needed a red-dot finder, and there was no way to bolt the finder to the OTA...
Double-sided tape had excessive play, and the adhesive was marginal...
I found some velcro at the hardware store, male and female strips in a roll, with excellent adhesive!
I mounted the finder to the OTA, and there was still excessive play at the Velcro contact area, so I seperated the Velcro halfs, and put some Elmers white glue onto the velcro contact area.
After drying overnight, I found that the Velcro bond was very solid!
No give at all!
My red-dot holds alignment perfectly, and won't budge when I turn on the illuminator!
I doubt that it will be easy to seperate the Velcro halfs now, but it is a very strong bond, and BTW, the Red dot finder I attached to my Vixen OTA was in fact a Vixen all metal red-dot finder!
I now intend to mount one of my plastic red-dot finders (which is half the weight of the Vixen finder!) to my 7x50 binos!
Advantages:
Super strong bond
Better adhesive than double sided tape
Twice as thick as double sided tape
Dis-advantages
Will no longer come apart!
I hope this helps someone...
Chris Brown

May 6, 2008 02:46 PM Forum: Astro Binoculars

Prince 10x50 binos.

Posted By Chris Brown

Hello!
Please, I need some advice...
Im considering buying some 10x50 binos with Prince coated lenses, they are reported to have been made in Japan in the 1960's.
I have not seen them, but the only markings are "Prince coated lenses"
Any help is appreciated...
Thanks!
Chris

August 13, 2008 11:34 PM Forum: Reflectors

Taking bets?

Posted By Chris Brown

My 3rd Orion mystery ad arrived yesterday...
I think the new reflector could be one of two designs...
1. Truss-tube 16 inch...
2. 14 inch truss or tube dob...
Comments?
CB

February 22, 2009 03:52 PM Forum: Reflectors

"Bargain websight "bargain!

Posted By Chris Brown

It read;
"For sale, celestron telescope 114x900mm $25.00"
Last time I investigated an ad like this, it was a Tasco Luminova, but I was able to use the EQ mount for my 7x50s...cool!
This time, I called the guy (right down the street), and he said that some other guy looked through it, couldn't see anything, and left. He also said it came with one eyepiece.
I told a friend at work about it, as he wanted a bigger telescope than his 70mm refractor. I told him that it might be junk, but he gambled the $25.00 anyway.
Yesterday, I drove the 3 miles to pick it up. The first thing I saw, to my delight, were a set of wooden tripod legs!(do you know where this is going?)
Yup, a C 4.5, Made in Japan by Vixen, on a Polaris eq!
It had light rust on some of the knobs, and the mirrors were filthy, but everything moved freely, only thing missing was the finderscope, though the stalk was still there. The secondary was out of alignment (I could adjust the screws with my fingers!) which scared the last buyer off!
BTW, the single eyepiece included turned out to be a celestron 20mm japan kellner, sitting on an Ultima Barlow!
I took it home, it cleaned up nicely (as did the eyepieces), only one small spec of bad coating on the primary.
Saturn was still sharp at 150x, but this telescope takes alot of back focus! Some of my eyepieces wont come to focus,including the 20mm Kellner, which explains the barlow!
My friend will be thrilled! The last reflector he bought was at costco, and he gave it away after fiddling with it (unsucessfully) for a month!
Keep watching "Bargain websight"!
wink Chris

April 4, 2010 04:09 AM Forum: AstroMart FAQ

I've come full circle...

Posted By Chris Brown

I first found out about Astromart from Ed Ting, who wrote, "Don't get addicted to it!",LOL!!
At the time, I had two Telescopes, an XT8, and an ETX-90 M, plus a few eyepieces...
It's been about ten years, now, and I still have the same two telescopes, but thanks to Amart, I got to try many great OTAs, including an Orion 130st, an ETX 125, which I traded straight across for a completely NIB Starblast EQ with tripod(Great trade?), then a few 114 reflectors, followed by a nice Celestron / Vixen 80mm refractor with tripod...
They are all gone, now. Returned from where they came, on Astromart.
I also scored some great eyepieces (celestron/vixen 16mm erfle, anything with an Or. brand), and a few wide fields...I left some good ones to Amart (4, 10.5, and 7mm Meade RG!) and I found out that if an eyepiece was in a tobacco enviornment, it smells like it forever.
I got to use an early GO-TO mount, and I kept the Meade AC powered EQ for my XT8 OTA.
I also donated eyepieces and diagonals to needy parties, and I bought so many barlows, that I would give them to my friends, along with thier first telescopes, which I also found on Astromart!
The people here are great! I made many new friends, was convinced to give up prized possessions to deserving patrons, and never regretted it!
Of all my countless transactions, I was almost scammed just once, but I caught it in time...
Through the forums, I found countless fantastic backdrops for my computer, showed friends the wonders of the night sky, and found out that I have a LOOOOOOOONG way to go in this fantastic and subtly intricate hobby.
I'd like to continue, and the modest price to continue, a fantastic bargain, but In this strange new world, I found that Im running out of time and money to spend on equipment, for now...
It's a good time for me to take a break, I don't need the distraction of great deals on cool astronomy stuff, and I really don't need to hear my wife ask me why I spent $50.00 on something called an "ortho", when the girls need cabinets in thier room!
Im going to go down a different road now, which is to use my equipment to it's full potential, and hone my own skills along the way.
Astromart has been a godsend to me, but I am easily distracted by it.
It is all too easy to upgrade, downgrade, sidegrade, etc...while all the while, I should be looking at the stars.
Thanks to all I have encountered, a great bunch for sure...
When I finally get my $#!t together, I will return...
Kindest regards,
Chris Brown