I have been away from IIS while we have finished building an apartment onto our house for my mother. All finished now so I am back to astronomy. BTW her front courtyard has turned out to be nicely sheltered spot for observing!
Next ATM project to to refurbish an old Canberra Astro Soc Tasco 114mm Newt on a wobbly GEM mount into a more robust unit that can be used by "little people" at public viewing nights and as a hire scope for the intoductory group.
Progress to date:
Mount has been removed in disgrace and will be returned to the CAS equipment officer for burial.
0.965" focuser has been replaced with a cut down Celestron 1.25" unit I had spare.
Tube cradle and altitude bearings fabricated.
Tube internal flocking completed. Exterior covered in a patterned cloth and waiting Estapol coating. Getting the cloth smooth was a bit tricky.
About 2 hrs work so far.
Second hand eyepiece set has ben acquired, in part through IIS. Many thanks Darren. These are Synta WA ep's suitable for use while wearing glasses and do an excellent job @ F7.8.
To do:
Red dot finder.
Dob rocker box and base.
Eyepiece box.
Star Atlas holder. Also convert "The Southern Sky Guide" star atlas from glue to wire binding.
Write Instruction Manual.
Ian, you've answered your own question and then some. A Dob mount is the key to getting some use out of these cheap Newts. I presume your Tasco has the thick contrast killer spider vanes. If so then tossing them out and replacing with something more delicate might help improve the views a lot.
Sounds like your having fun there Ian. You just taught me something about the 114 Tasco's, i didn't know they had a smaller focuser, i thought they all had the 1.25". how old would the Tasco be that you are doing up.???
Sounds like your having fun there Ian. You just taught me something about the 114 Tasco's, i didn't know they had a smaller focuser, i thought they all had the 1.25". how old would the Tasco be that you are doing up.???
A mate of mine "Stargazer" has a Tasco 114 that has a .965mm barrel. Reasonable views through it too for a 4" scope.
Ooh, is it one like this? If so, I have the same scope and was thinking of converting it to a dob for my 5 year old. The mount is a nightmare to use. I'd love to see any photos you have of what you've done with it . I've always found that apart from the mount, it's a suprisingly nice telescope to look through.
I haven't got a 6mm (got a 4mm & a 9mm). More info? I'm interested ...
Probably made in the 60s by Swift, similar ones were also made by Vixen technically its a modified Kellner or achromatic Ramsden. I think it was designed down to a price.....
But its got a shiny barrel and light grey domed end that holds the lenses.
The eye lens is about 6mm in diameter. Good condition no fungus or scratches on what little glass there is, Ill post a piccie over the w/e.
Ive also got an adapter for it to be used with even older style focuser that took threaded eyepieces that screwed into a separate push in drawtube. - collectors item honest
I wonder how many of us started out with one of these scopes? This is the same as my first scope of 30+ years ago.
I believe this one I am moding was donated to CAS. I have no idea how old the scope is but it has had a hard life with plenty of bumps. I shoud have taken a "before" photo but I have been so pushed for time I missed this step. However, before I started, it looked the same as the one in Twokids photo (except somewhat bumped and bruised).
The limited star testing I have done to date indicates is quite OK up to 100X or so. I am doing this rebuild on the cheap so I am leaving the secondary spider alone. Having said that, if cost were no consideration, I would love to fit a Protostar curved vane secondary support just for fun.
WRT focuser size, I have noted later model versions of this scope are fitted with a 1.25" focuser. Anyone know when the changeover occured?
Progress to date.
I have applied 2 coats of Estapol to the cloth covering the tube. The first coat soaked right into the fabric, however it is so humid here at present the second coat is proving very slow to dry.
I will probably get the mount well under way this weekend and hopefully some pics.
The ep height should be just over 1 metre so it should be just the right size for little people.
I have applied 2 coats of Estapol to the cloth covering the tube. The first coat soaked right into the fabric, however it is so humid here at present the second coat is proving very slow to dry.
I've been dying to find it a good home.
Hmm ... I haven't got a 6mm (got a 4mm & a 9mm). More info? I'm interested ...
