Alan64

Albeit an open-tube, any Newtonian can benefit nonetheless from the aforementioned enhancement. Such helps to keep the tube cleaner, and may even help to keep ground-based stray-light from illuminating the back of the tube, in deflecting it away. Perhaps ideally, holes should have been drilled out of the cell at those three points, and iron or steel plugs inserted and secured... The plugs could be twice or even thrice the thickness of that portion of the cell, so to increase the mass, and thereby the attraction between the magnets and the cell. However, these magnets are a bit brittle, therefore the force of an attraction can crack or chip the magnets, and when attaching the frame. That's why I had stated, "Perhaps ideally..." But then, the surfaces of the iron or steel plugs could be overlaid with some sort of cushioning to protect the magnets: wood veneer, thin plastic, et al, and epoxied onto the surfaces of the plugs... ...whilst maintaining as flush an installation as possible, and with the surrounding areas. Therefore the iron or steel plugs should be slightly recessed into the cell, and for a snug fit of the frame against same. Had I to do it all over again, I might've pursued that, and further, but then this telescope is not that large. Of course, the frame can also be attached to the cell simply by drilling much smaller holes, and bolting it on. However, the use of magnets is a much more elegant and interesting solution.

But wait a minute; the primary-cell is of aluminum, every last bit, and therefore non-magnetic. How am I supposed to attach that screened frame? Hmm... I had ruined a stainless, and ferrous, steel ruler with acetone... Non-etched that ruler was, but waste not, want not... The primary-cell was masked off, to keep debris from falling into the optical-tube, then the positions of the steel circlets were marked and the paint removed... J-B Weld epoxy was used to secure the circlets in place... Then, the areas round the circlets were touched up with the hammered-black... If the frame is struck, it will pop off. Otherwise, it will not fall off, even when the telescope is pointing at the zenith. The frame grabs onto the cell quite well actually, and is self-centring to a degree.

The final finish; yes, you guessed right, that ubiquitous, glossy, hammered black, and to match the rest... Dare I say, or even so much as think, that that looks as though it were made at the factory overseas.

A piece of a wire clothes-hanger was formed into a circle and taped onto the top of the base I had made, and for the magnets to grab hold whilst I piddled and puttered with the frame... The base was originally made for the primary-mirror when I had blackened its edge round... Before the aluminum side might receive its final finish, the edge of the frame in toto had to be sealed... Two pools of J-B Weld epoxy were mixed, one infused with dust of rosewood(left), and the other plain(right)... That from the plain pool was smoothed onto the edge all round, and to fill every nook and cranny... Then, that infused was applied over that, to entomb the few remaining, and painful, slivers of screening jutting out still, and to add texture to match the final finish... After the epoxy cured, the edge was smoothed just a bit, and primed. Then, the screen was masked off, and for the final finish...

The aluminum component of the frame was primed, and blackened only a bit with satin-black... The bare surface was scored, and for the epoxy. The screen was stapled down along the top edge there... The screen was lifted aside, then the plywood component was laid flat and rendered immobile with toothpicks at three points round... Note the scored surface of the plywood. I had to work fast, as I was using five-minute epoxy... That, my great-great grandmother's iron; a seven-pounder made in Sheffield, England, long ago. It may also make for a rather formidable weapon. I make good use of it at times, during my various and sundry projects. And underneath the iron, a copy of Patrick Moore's "Amateur Astronomy", and to ensure success.

Thin plywood, 3/16", and thin aluminum, 1/16"... I've had these neodymium-magnets for I don't know how long, and had locally... ...but in the end they were too small, not enough "power", not enough "grab", so I ordered larger and thicker ones online... The larger magnets were epoxied into the plywood component of the frame, after holes were drilled out of course. But before that, the frame was sealed and painted where needed... The unpainted area was not sealed, as that's where epoxy will be applied. Within that image, the bare area looks as though it had been shellacked, but no.

In advance, I had ordered two "sheets" of stainless-steel screen, off of eBay, and from China where it's cheaper. I ordered 200-mesh initially, but either on the same day or the following day, just in case, I ordered the coarser 100-mesh. Both arrived in a timely manner... In the end, I went with the 100-mesh, at left, as I could readily feel the air coming out of the other side when air was forced through the screen.

The third light, and the second night out with the telescope collimated... ...nothing to write home about, as the clouds were swirling round. I did manage that afocal-shot at least, and quite dramatic in appearance on second thought. That was the night, July 13th, that a tropical-depression entered my area, the remnants of hurricane "Barry". It had been, only briefly, a category-1. With all of the inclement weather about to unfold, I needed to tend to one last detail of the telescope... I can't have that huge, gaping hole at the back of the telescope, nor the steel-plate that was there originally. I needed something aesthetic, whilst functional, practical.

This is where I oft set up, over here across the "pond", and in order to have a good view of the southern part of the sky... Now, the afocal shots I take these days are with an older camera, from 2002, and with a whopping four mega-pixels. As twilight was falling, the Moon at 33x... That was with the Vixen 30mm NPL Plossl, suggested to me by our Mr. Huntley in lieu of the Baader 32mm Plossl, and quite good; above average I'd say. This is the Celestron 4mm Symmetrical-Ramsden(?) that came bundled with the kit... With entry-level kit-eyepieces such as these, they oft end up being socked away in a bureau, or given away. I won't be socking or giving this one away. That 4mm produces a power of 250x with this telescope. What you are about to see absolutely and utterly floored yours truly... As night fell and progressed, I popped that 4mm into the Bird, and aimed the questionable pairing at the Moon. Again, the mount used was that small alt-azimuth. As a result, at 250x, the image shook and struggled to steady enough for an easy shot through the eyepiece. But then I set the shutter of the camera at 1/45th of a second... I couldn't eliminate all of the instability of the mount, even during that merer fraction of a second. In addition, the raw image was quite dim, so I brightened and sharpened it to match what I saw moments before with my eye. But what I saw with my eye was a tack-sharp view at that power. Again, floored I was upon the event. I then thought, "I'm not going to be able to top that tonight", so I packed it up, but not before observing Jupiter with the 4mm as well. Again, the sight defied what was to be expected ordinarily. That kit-4mm is even better than my Tani 4mm orthoscopic, dare I think, and will be regularly used from here on out, even with my other telescopes, absolutely!

My first attempt at collimating was successful, and in using the sight-tube. I felt that I had gotten it nigh bang-on before taking it out to test. First, with the corrector/doublet removed, I centred the secondary-mirror directly under the focusser... ...then finalised the collimation... The secondary-offsetting appears to be correct for a native f/3.3 to f/4 parabola; if only it were a parabola that is. The view through the collimation-cap... Next up, the second, yet collimated, light...

During the telescope's first-light last June, and before its renovation and collimation, the few objects I observed were blurry and almost doubled. At the time, the telescope was mounted upon my smallest alt-azimuth, an Explore Scientific "Twilight Nano"... Both the telescope and mount are most compact, and therefore make for a compact kit as shown. That was its first-light, and afterwards I was utterly in the dark as to what would be revealed later. For the telescope's collimation, after having renovated and reassembled it, I was inspired to finally restore my Tectron sight-tube which had been fouled during a fire many years before. It was certainly usable, but sooted on the inside. I decided to clean it up, and as a result the original cross-hairs bought it. For replacements, I used the bronze wire, not that of brass shown there as well as it was too slim, but I didn't want brass hairs in any event... As it was, I had to reduce the diameter further, but only a little... With that done, I could at last collimate the telescope. Practically every "Bird Jones" collimation tutorial out there suggests, nay, demands the use of a laser-collimator... ...what absolute and utter nonsense.

The telescope was, at long last, reassembled. I use stainless-steel hardware on the outside of all of my telescopes; and that zinc-plated on the inside, sanded and blackened. Portions of the stainless are occasionally sanded and blackened as well, if they find their merry way into the telescope. In this instance however, I had used the original hardware, but added blackened zinc-plated lock-washers... Even though the hardware is blackened prior to installing, they must be touched up, re-blackened, afterwards. At those areas where two strips of flocking met, the lock-washers at those junctures tried and did tear into the flocking. I had to remove all of the hardware, removed the flocking from those small areas, and blackened them instead. The primary-cell required only two strips of aluminum-foil tape round, and for a snug fit onto the optical-tube. Again, the cowling required four; no rhyme nor reason in that. This is the only instance in which the telescope will appear mounted onto its bundled CG-2(EQ-1)... That's about as OEM as it's going to get, in that I had renovated that mount beforehand. Again, the mount will not be used with this telescope. It's only for my smallest of telescopes, and with a wee motor-drive attached. I do have just one last bit of blackening to perform: the tips of the primary-cell's adjustment bolts... I neglected to do that at the time, but it will be righted, eventually. As you can see, the telescope was left with a rather large, gaping hole there at the back.

This cap is quite substantial, like the cowling it mates with itself. It has an aperture-stop, and 43mm in diameter; however... Then, what would that be reduced down to, 35mm? ...a 35mm f/29 apochromat; smashing. Oh well, it is what it is, and what 'twill be for all time, forever and ever. In that event, I'll make the best of it... ...sanded(left), and washed(right). Then blackened... I made an extra-wide gap between two of the six tabs, for the lone stalk, and per the aperture-stop's preferred position. In addition, the tabs' corners were rounded and smoothed with 100% acetone and an artists' brush. Other areas worked were smoothed as well. Self-adhesive hard-felt, and a narrow strip of flocking to seal(arrowed), were installed all round... As expected, it fits like a glove. This is the keeper for the aperture-stop's cap. I call it the cap-keeper... The cap never did want to stay on, so I applied a strip of flocking all round. Too tight, so I removed half of the flocking round; perfect.

The Bird's dust-cap. Every bird needs a dust-cap... I can't have those locking-tabs scratching up my lovely finish...

Indeed, many are skeptical as to its viability; that is, as it arrives from the factory. However, I have read many reviews of this telescope, and, surprisingly, quite a few folks love it. Theirs must've been collimated upon arrival, is my best guess.

It certainly was shiny down there... ...and grey... ...but no longer... Get to work.

The edge of the primary-mirror was blackened, including that ground sliver right round the reflective surface... Oh dear, it looks as though I blackened it too much. This is interesting, and as though a Ronchi pattern is visible... In the end, I wanted a slightly wider gap betwixt the clips and the mirror... ...so I added a bit of aluminum-tape to the spacers. The final gap round... The primary-cell and mirror completed... That's a flash-shot of course, and where you can see every bit of dust and what-not.

The primary-mirror was centre-spotted... Oops, that's not right. Let's try that again... Still not there, I'm afraid. Bingo!

The black silicone, the residue, was cleaned off of the rubber-clips, and their hardware was sanded and blackened where needed... I elected not to use the lock-washers in the end. Let's see what we've got... Aluminum spacers were crafted, and blackened... ...much better.

A bit of what I have left... ...of my stock of English walnut. The sides of the walnut blocks were shellacked, to seal, and then epoxied into place. Here, I applied black art-paper to the top of each... Leather... ...and from which I had initially made a coverlet for the table of my phonograph... Waste not, want not...

The next step was to prime and blacken selected areas of the two components of the primary-cell, for utterly dead to stray-light it must be made. First, the two components were sanded down. Also, excess molding-marks were ground away... You can also see where I had removed the paint, and for something special, there on the right. For what might those be? Hee-hee... 1... ...2... ...3! Aren't those lovely? Nice 'n' dead they are.

The primary-cell of this Bird is not like others so much. Strange it is compared to the others I've seen... The rubber-grommets were removed, and never to be seen again... Life's too short for that horrendous and horrid. I ran across a description of these heavy-duty springs when researching replacements for the grommets... ...and for only $5 at my local big-box hardware. Of those viable, I chose the stainless-steel, and highlighted here... Out of two of those, I fashioned three... I had also gotten replacement adjustment- and locking-bolts for the cell... Here, one of the new springs compared to one of the rubber-grommets... The ease in collimating was much improved, to say the least.

The hind end of the Bird... The primary-mirror, I can't see its backside. How is it supposed to "breathe", to acclimate? At first I thought that that in the center was of naugahyde or other plastic. But no, it is of painted steel, with the glossy hammered-black of the rest of the exterior trims, and as that used for mail-boxes. The first step was to remove the cell... Hmm, rubber-grommets for springs... "À la réflexion, je ne vais pas avoir les œillets en caoutchouc avec le boeuf bourguignon." To get at the mystery of that plug, I had to remove the mirror's three clips. I was almost afraid to look... What is that...stuff? It turned out to be black-silicone, and all round the mirror... The mystery was then revealed, and in all its "glory"... Needless to say, that plate with its rubber blocks was history.

The secondary-mirror and its holder... I can't say I'm fond of its build. I couldn't remove the mirror after removing its "retaining" clip. It's glued in no doubt. Also, I don't care for the collective height of that screw-head and washer, as that can potentially intrude into the light-path, and do bad things. The stoned edge(what I could see of it) of the mirror, and its holder, were matte-blackened; glamour shot... I used another screw for the clip, reduced the thickness of its head, and discarded the washer entirely... This, rather... For greater ease whilst collimating, a white-nylon washer was epoxied onto the back of the stalk... ...and for the tips of the three set-screws to bear against; and to try to dig into it. The set-screws were replaced with set-bolts... The larger, spring-loaded center-screw was also replaced, to restrict and tighten the mirror's tiltability. My thinking on that being that once set in position it would be less likely to get thrown out... It's less rounded than the original. At that point the cowling with its secondary-mirror was completed... Note the aluminum-tape shimming the cowling where it slips onto the tube. Four layers it took in the end, and for a snug fit.

Actually, we need none of our telescopes. It's quite another thing in wanting one however...