Good day the car boot...

[baggywrinkle]

Lucky day at the car boot sale in Fordham, Cambridgeshire.

Came across a good condition copy of The Observers Astronomy. Much dated I know but I had it as a copy I owned in the late '60's and I wanted one for a growing collection of vintage astronomy books.  

Of course written by Patrick Moore and when I read it I can hear the stattaco way he spoke. Happy at 2 Quid for the copy.

In addition I came across a very sad Towa 76mm catadioptic. In poor condition with the finder broken but the main optics in seemingly reasonable shape I got it for 8 quid. The seller said it was part of a house clearance.

So this afternoon I stripped it down and cleaned it. Looks like a Bird Jones design, the primary was in good condition and I cleaned the corrector plate. Not easy as it is an awkward construction. Luckily I can use chopsticks and I used those to clean the back of the corrector plate and the EP side of the lens on the viewing side...the chopsticks were used to hold lens tissues....so 20 years in Asia was not an entire waste.

Still trying t work out how they put it together. It came with a 6mm and 20mm Huygens EP's . Both seem pretty rubbish, the 20mm is the better and I might invest in a .965:1.25 converter.

Also provided was a moon filter and one of those extremely horrible sun filters.

It was designed as a table top mount but luckily the base thread fits a standard tripod..

[ronl]

You picked up a couple of very good bargains, it's great stripping down a scope, you

get a good close look at everything, and for £8, you can spend a little more getting it

right, as for the .965 to 1.25 converter you can get one from Astroboot for a couple

of pounds, great find though, hope you have fun tinkering.

[baggywrinkle]

Thanks for the Astroboot tip....

[reddoss]

Lucky day at the car boot sale in Fordham, Cambridgeshire.

Came across a good condition copy of The Observers Astronomy. Much dated I know but I had it as a copy I owned in the late '60's and I wanted one for a growing collection of vintage astronomy books.  

Your post inspired me to go on to e-bay and by a copy of the Observers Book of Astronomy  for 99p  I first had his book aged 11, I can't wait to read it again!!!.

[barkis]

I think your dedication to resurrecting this old telescope will bring the rewards you've earned.

May have been cheap to buy, but you have invested a bit of brass in the labour you have 

provided to make the old Gal. have a bit of pride again.

Let's know how she performs, quite good I would guess.

Ron.

[barkis]

Good stuff in those little Observer Books. They deserve saving from the tip.

Ron.

[ChrisLX200]

I have a 1967 version (6th Edition) of Patrick's The Amateur Astronomer, very interesting to read how things have moved on over the years.

ChrisH

[Lux1]

I owned a similar scope for a while. They perform better with a 1.25 adaptor and some decent eyepieces. They are good for low to medium powers, and for £8 better than some of the rubbish sold on the high street...

[baggywrinkle]

Astro Boot did not have the .965 to 1.25 EP adapter so I ordered yesterday off E-Bay...on my desk this forenoon.

Will try some better EP's if it is clear tonight or tomorrow morning.

[Dave_D]

Lucky day at the car boot sale in Fordham, Cambridgeshire.

In addition I came across a very sad Towa 76mm catadioptic. In poor condition with the finder broken but the main optics in seemingly reasonable shape I got it for 8 quid. The seller said it was part of a house clearance.

my area must be cursed... the only things people round here ever sell are baby clothes and mobile phones. they'll probably end up being the new currency after the zombie apocalypse...

[baggywrinkle]

Tried the wee beasty on some distant objects with a 25mm plossle and the adapter, I think I am going to have to try and collimate it. There are only 3 hexagonal screws to alter the secondary mirror and as this is a sort of bird jones SCT I am a bit unsure how to approach it. There is no adjustment on the main mirror....any ideas folks?

[Lux1]

I collimated mine with a laser collimater and adjusted the secondary mirror. I got it pretty close. It was perfect for quick moon spotting.

[baggywrinkle]

I found a picostar on  Adtroboot which I have ordered. This will be good for this and my 9.25 SCT

[starman1969]

Interesting scope. I hope you can get some use out of it.

[cotterless45]

Our boot fairs are full of stuff that folk don't want or need. Usually just walk around, as neither do we !

Nick.