I'm listing this late 1980's 10" F6 Astro Optical Supplies built Dobsonian on behalf of
Gwen Buckle
02 9648 2490
geebuc@tpg.com.au
For those not aware - these telescopes came from a workshop at Clark St , Crows Nest and were manufactured from the early 1960's to early 1990's - a great piece of Australian history.
Gwen is on the Northside of Sydney and this would be pick up only I'd imagine but you need to discuss that.
I'm not sure if that breaks TOS to list but I thought I would help her sell it as she rang me as she was going to put it on Ebay but thought I might be able to help find a more appreciative home. She and her then partner bought it from me in 1991.
Its the same tube assembly as was on the Equatorial Samson mounted version. It looks to be in very good condition. The visual models had a 54mm diagonal mirror, so the obstruction is quite low. There would not be too many F6 Dobs around these days. That F# works very well with most eyepieces. I can remember one night at Ilford one of these 10" dobs was showing a lot more on Jupiter than a 180mmm f7.5 Starfire refractor ( it may have even been this one ?)
There are some eyepieces and Barlow pictured.
The mounts worked pretty well - I designed them and I believe that they were among the first commercial Dobsonian mounts in the world aside from Coulter. The mirror was made by myself. The primary would be 1 5/8" thick Pyrex on an aluminium cast cell. Any of these I have tested much more recently have been very good optically .
The primary mirror apparently needs a recoat after all this time. The tube assembly is not as light as Asian scopes - would not suit a slightly built man or woman, as it has to be lifted onto the mount.
I suggested $700 as a fair price given the quality of the tube assembly and the high quality optics balanced against the primary needing a recoat. This scope would suit a collector as I think it has some historical value. I know there are some people out there who like to collect AOS stuff. I would buy it myself if I didn't have unused scopes everywhere.
PM me if you have any burning questions which Gwen wouldn't be able to answer .