Oddie Refractor .......Like old times......

[Kunama]

In a desperate bid to remember my younger days I went to Mt.Stromlo today and spent some quality time with Tim Wetherell's beautiful Oddie II Refractor, it was like stepping back to the late 70s when I first spent some time with the original Oddie.

I stood there with my Nikon like a kid in a candy store, trying to work out how it would fit into the back of my BMW 635CSi, alas it was never going to happen so I took a lot of photographs instead.

Then I felt that pull to the dark side, merely admiring Tim's craft was not enough so I carefully removed the Dust cap and placed it quietly down and walked the metres to the focuser and although it could only see trees on a faraway hill, the feeling was pure magic.

I replaced the cap as carefully as I could and oriented it so the writing was now the correct way up and my day was complete.

Had to tell someone .............. but just keep it between us ........OK ;)

[dannat]

Where are the pics man?

[Kunama]

Sorry, I have them in the camera in Canberra but all my cables are in Jindabyne :sadeyes::sadeyes:
Pics on Thursday

[mithrandir]

Have a look here (http://platypusart.com/wetherell/sculpture_oddie2.html).

[ourkind]

Suscribed to thread. I really want to see those pictures Matt and thanks Andrew for posting that link, what a beautiful piece of hardware, it's all class.

[Larryp]

What a beautiful instrument! Thanks for posting, Andrew.

[MattT]

Do you mean the Oddie II is back on the original mount, on the site of the old one or is it sitting on a pedestal still? I'll be up there in a shot if it's back on the mount!
There is another Oddie refractor at Canberra Grammar School. A 4.5" refractor that is sitting in a shed in storage according to a nephew that goes there. Wonder if it's worth making the school an offer to take it off their hands? What would a modern school do with an old bit of junk like that?:P
The good Dr Tim has done great stuff up on Mt Stromlo...the old days....
Matt

[Kunama]

It is still on the temporary stand, the mount restoration is still underway and my guess is it will take a bit of time due to the damage it suffered in the fires.

Just a quick look:

[Kunama]

and the other end ..................

[Kunama]

A real diagonal and eyepiece looks like this:

its bigger than my Thermos flask :eyepop:

[Retrograde]

Wow -what a beautiful intrument. Thanks for sharing!

[FlashDrive]

Wow !! ... that is just beautiful ..!!

Jindabyne ...was there not long ago ....nice country ... sorry if I'm a little off topic ..!!

Flash ..!!

[Wavytone]

The 4.5" at Canberra Grammar is far from being junk. With a friend, I was responsible for restoring it to fully working condition in 1972-3. Initially we found the objective and some pieces in a chemistry lab, and after hunting around found everything except eyepieces, cleaned it all up and got it working. The drive was a weight-driven clockwork affair with a governor, basically a miniature version of the old 9" burnt in the fire at Stromlo. The school built a tall wooden tripod and a roll-off shed up behind the dormitories, which is I think what you're referring to; basically the front opens wide and the whole thing rolls back to reveal the scope.

It should be ready to use - roll the shed back, wind up the drive weight, release the governor and its ready to observe - assuming it is still polar-aligned (unlikely). Last time I saw it, it was a beautiful thing, the mount was polished yellow phosphor-bronze, the setting circles had incredibly fine inlaid silver steel Verniers allowing positions to be set quite accurately, gleaming white tube etc. We had added some cork sleeves in the draw tube to hold 1.25" eyepieces, too.

Optically it was perfect, though given it's current location its only suitable for looking at the planets and the moon.

I doubt they'd ever part with it, it was donated to the school by Oddie in the early 1900's and it has a signed Thomas Cooke f/15 objective, quite a valuable piece and worth several thousand as an antique alone. Oddie used it in Melbourne in the 1800's then in NSW (before the ACT existed) to do the site survey leading to his selection of Mt Stromlo for the 9" refractor.