restoring a towa 80mm

[nightfisher]

Having bought the old towa 80mm f15 a few weeks back as a bit of a project, i figured i should run a thread regarding its restoration/ upgrades, so far i have stripped it down, cleaned the optics, i have followed the excellent advice offered by philj, and removed the clam shell mount from the tripod and fitted that to a dove tail bar.

The latest stage is the OTA tube and dew shield has gone to a professional paint shop to be repainted in white (including dew shield, vixen 80 style), so nothing more to do for a week now

[A McEwan]

So now it's tumbleweed time, eh?

Good time to memorise lists of double stars, in preparation...

Ant

[nightfisher]

At this stage i dont know if it will be a keeper or not, but i could do with learning a few doubles, other than alcor and mizor

[nightfisher]

As an update, i got the OTA back from the paint shop, john did a superb job, spraying both the tube and dew shield in mercedes white, giving it the vixen look

[philj]

Very swish Jules, I see you got the ep adapter sorted

Now get out there and take a look at Mars you wont regret it, give it plenty of time to cool and then just up the mag on a good night, you will be amazed at what you willsee. I have fond memories of the last oppossition I had just completed my Towa and used it regularly viewing Mars.

Philj

[nightfisher]

Very swish Jules, I see you got the ep adapter sorted

Now get out there and take a look at Mars you wont regret it, give it plenty of time to cool and then just up the mag on a good night, you will be amazed at what you willsee. I have fond memories of the last oppossition I had just completed my Towa and used it regularly viewing Mars.

Philj

cheers Phil, eyepiece holder not really sorted, managed to wedge it in with some sticky tape around the nose piece, really hate to say it but looks like i am gonna have to quit on this project and look for a new owner for it! trying to get some cash together for a new camera, and so far its looking like a £300 canon

[johninderby]

Shame about the eyepiece holder as it's looking so good otherwise.

Must be someone somewhere with the appropriate bit sitting around.

John

[nightfisher]

Shame about the eyepiece holder as it's looking so good otherwise.

Must be someone somewhere with the appropriate bit sitting around.

John

problem is, some previous owner removed the visual back from the focuser, i was planning on getting a crawmach focuser that will sort it, but due to other commitments i have to put that on hold, maybe even sell the towa

[Leo.A]

If it has the same size tube as my 80mm Tasco (900mm focal length is the only difference I'm aware of) the biggest problem with fitting the crayford focuser is finding a suitable sized adaptor to go between the focuser and tube. My focuser has a 97mm OD and I need an adaptor down to 79.4mm to fit inside the tube. I purchased the William Optics focuser for my tasco but the only local engineer hasn't had time to turn up my adaptor and the scope is still sitting in pieces. I have however managed to knock up some baffles for it and one day...

I'm in the process of trying to get the funds together for a set of Vixen eyepieces for the 1.25" holder instead of the original .96" units.

Were you to consider keeping the scope, the lens unit from a Vixen 80mm fits in with a minor modification and improves the image quality tenfold (at least). I did the mod courtesy of my insurance company many years ago after I bumped the scope and chipped the original lens.

There's a lot to be said for itemised insurance on the scope for any location.