DIY 4" Refractor

[Anil]

Hi all, my refractor had first light on saturday. image was crisp & clear, moon & juipiter looked awesome with sharp details without coma. I am using CARTON f/13 achromat in a alluminium 4"tube, still lot of work to complete. Next step is to powdercoat the exterior & paint the inside of the tube with dull black paint, fabricate and install the wooden baffles. Due cap is made of 5" pvc tube. More detailed pictures in my next post.


Clear skies,
Anil

[dannat]

Anil, great looking scope - what colour powdercoating are you going for?

is the tube heavy?

Welcome to IIS

[Anil]

Thanks Daniel, planning to go for siemens grey for OTA & dull black sand finish for
lens cell & due shield, looks really good. OTA with saddle weighs approx 6 kg's, it's quite heavy.

Anil

[seeker372011]

looks like an awesome project

will watch with interest as you progress

and welcome to IIS

[Garyh]

Looks like it will be a nice looking scope Anil!
Don`t forget it give the focuser some nice Aluminum knurled knobs as well ;) to match the nice machine work!
cheers

[Anil]

Thanks for comments.....
I shall consider Garyh's idea on Aluminum knurled knobs for focusser, that should really look nice.

Powdercoated pictures OTA

[miketheobscure]

Awesome work - I haven't been following this, but what happened to the rest of the original scope?

- Mike

[Garyh]

Looks very nice! I like the idea of the handle!

[Omaroo]

Looks great Anil. Well done! I, too, like the idea of the handle. Don't know why every scope doesn't have one designed in. :thumbsup:

[Anil]

Hi Mike, i bought the lens through Cloudy Night classifieds last january.
Still few CARTON objectives & 4"mirrors are for sale, this guy is also selling tube assembly & cradle, all from original Carton scope.

These objectives were made in Japan by Carton during mid 80"s. Carton also made very good mounts
For fans of long focal ratio refractors, these Cartons are highly recommended and well worth seeking out on the used market.

Here is the review: http://www.scopereviews.com/page1j.html#6



Anil

[xelasnave]

Hi there Anil that is a most interesting project you have undertaken.
The scope looks very exciting.
It is nice of you to share your experience with us.
Welcome to IIS and hope you can present us with some reports upon your observing experiences.

alex

[miketheobscure]

Ta - been thinking about getting a d&g lens assembly & building a scope around it myself. Thanks for the post.

- Mike

[Anil]

Initially lens was tested in a pvc tube, it came damaged during shipping :(
But results are quite good after masking a black paper around the damaged area. Scope rendered crisp images of moon & jupiter :)

[Anil]

Pic 1. Dueshield development.
Pic 2. Taping lens holder, cradle base plate & painting dull black.
Pic 3. Baffle ring calculation.
Pic 4. Wooden baffles.

[Anil]

Pic 1. Dueshield test (before powdercoating)
Pic 2. Fully loaded OTA

Daylight closeup shots will be added soon...............

[AlexN]

That looks like it would have been a fun project! Do let us know how the scope performs!

[anj026]

Good Work Anil,
I like seeing home made refractors. They are a lot of fun.

[Anil]

Here is the handle design which i have planned, existing one will be removed.


Anil

[Glenhuon]

Nice job Anil. :thumbsup:
I've made 3 refractors with Surplus Shed objectives, turned out very well. I used one of those Cloudy Nights Carton cells for the 80mm to replace the original plastic housing as I had trouble with coma on that one. Something very pleasing about observing through a scope you have constructed yourself.

Cheers
Bill

[Anil]

Here is the new handle design....


Anil

[Anil]

Pictures of moon shot on my 3CCD video camara through my 4" refractor telescope

[[1ponders]]

Fantastic effort Anil. I've only just spotted this thread. While I can't comment on the Carton 4" lens, I have a 60mm f/7 Carton refractor that was released here in Australia during Halley's Comets last visit. It is a top little scope. I'm ashamed to say though it's been relegated to the lowly position of guidescope. :ashamed:

[Anil]

Hi all, i tested my refractor on CASTOR doubles. The most conspicuous stars are a pair of nearly equally bright stars. This close double stars make challenging subjects for small & medium size telescopes, great magnification is required to separate the pair. I did split with a 26mm plossel , but with 7mm celestron orthoscopic the view was splendid, with great separation.


Moon picture through my refractor

[bojan]

This looks very sharp and no CA.. at least it is not visible on this 800x600 image.
Where did you get this lens?
It seems to be very good :-)
And, this is superbly done DIY project :-)

[Anil]

Thanks bojan for the comments, i bought this Achromat through Cloudy Night Reviews classifieds last year. I am quite satisfied with my DIY efort, had grat views of jupiter, saturn, moon & few challenging close double stars. This Achromat was prduced by CARTON OPTICAL COMPANY, Japan in late 1980's

Day pictures of my scope:

[renormalised]

Damn fine piece of kit there, Anil:)

All it needs to top it off is a dual axis drive and it'll be seriously cool:D

[Anil]

Hi, actually mount came with RA drive & hand controller (made by GSO), works beautifully for visual use but useless for Astrophotography :(


Anil

[stringscope]

Congratulations. Very nice job Anil :thumbsup:

A real classic scope.

Cheers,

[renormalised]

Need a more accurate drive, then. The mount looks a little like an EQ2 (need a heavier mount, really)... just wondering where you could get a half decent RA and DEC drive??. Can't think of any, offhand.

[Anil]

This mount holds the wight of OTA (8kg's) & counter weights (5kg's) total of 13 kg's (26 pounds)....thats too much for a small mount, but it's quite regid.

eBay & cloudy night sites are best place to hunt for a decent RA and DEC drives, but it may not match your mount. MEADE LXD 75 mount is good for Astrophotography work, it has great reviews.


Anil