40 year old scope

[perrin6]

Looks like a laser cannon !

Would like to see it back with the living if it's not beyond repair.

[perrin6]

I like that idea. An astronomy related garden ornament.

I agree - it would look great with ivy & other climbers over it. You could add an old stone globe and rusty orrery to produce an Astronomer's garden. Plant it with moon daisies and sunflowers etc !

[LukeSkywatcher]

I agree - it would look great with ivy & other climbers over it. You could add an old stone globe and rusty orrery to produce an Astronomer's garden. Plant it with moon daisies and sunflowers etc !

And an old sundial.

Haha now i want to buy an old rusty scope.

[gooseholla]

Or you could wait for a cheap 6 inch mirror and spider set to come up for c. £60 on astro boot. If it all worked, then £90 wouldn't be bad. However, doing it all up, painting etc... probably isn't worth it when good 2nd hand ones come up.

[billhinge]

It's a shame, I hate seeing things like this, personally I'm a sucker for collecting renovation projects aka junk providing it is salvageable. I probably would but I agree it makes no economic sense but sometimes a project is fun in itself, at least you will have something that looks different from todays mass produced stuff - £10-30 whats the difference, haggle

[Gina]

Yes, I think it's fascinating and very rewarding to resurrect something like that. Of course you need the time and a certain amount of money to be able to do it .plus the room and facilities.

[pete_l]

It's a shame, I hate seeing things like this

The thing is, that's the fate of all the telescopes we own. Sooner or later they'll turn into rust-buckets, or just get taken to the tip. It's really just a matter of time.

There just be thousands of old telescopes in peoples garden sheds.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

The thing is, that's the fate of all the telescopes we own. Sooner or later they'll turn into rust-buckets, or just get taken to the tip. It's really just a matter of time.

There just be thousands of old telescopes in peoples garden sheds.

Second law of thermodynamics in action, sadly.

[perrin6]

The thing is, that's the fate of all the telescopes we own. Sooner or later they'll turn into rust-buckets, or just get taken to the tip. It's really just a matter of time.

There just be thousands of old telescopes in peoples garden sheds.

Mine won't - they're made mostly of wood ha ha ! Perhaps scopes could be made of bronze. There was a book and prog sometime ago about how long human artifacts would last if human's dissapeared overnight. I think bronze was the longest lasting - somewhere in the region of a million years I think they said.

[billhinge]

The thing is, that's the fate of all the telescopes we own. Sooner or later they'll turn into rust-buckets, or just get taken to the tip. It's really just a matter of time.

There just be thousands of old telescopes in peoples garden sheds.

Indeed, I made an 8.5" reflector in the 70's from a fullerscopes kit. The home made mount and tube made from an old car axle and thick plastic sewer pipe is still rusting in my parents back garden. Took me years to make that thing, bought the secondary, focuser and eyepieces from my paper round

Much heavier than todays lightweight scopes and mounts

[Gina]

"thick plastic sewer pipe is still rusting in my parents back garden" --- Is it ?

[billhinge]

well no but the car bits are

[Islander]

Mirror recoating will cost you a lot less than £100 if they're in good physical condition (no scrapes or dings). I've just had an 8.75" primary and secondary done and the actual stripping/recoating cost a mere £62 - it'd be less for a 6". Vacuum Coatings in Walthamstow did mine, I found them friendly and helpful and the turnaround for the two mirrors was just over two weeks.

[tonyh66]

Mirror recoating will cost you a lot less than £100 if they're in good physical condition (no scrapes or dings). I've just had an 8.75" primary and secondary done and the actual stripping/recoating cost a mere £62 - it'd be less for a 6". Vacuum Coatings in Walthamstow did mine, I found them friendly and helpful and the turnaround for the two mirrors was just over two weeks.

If you don't mind, could you tell me if the price included the return delivery?

[Islander]

No, I opted for Parcelforce which cost an extra £14. They also use a courier service which is £19 - pointless for me as the local couriers aggregate deliveries so we only see them once or twice a week.

A quick look at their price list suggests that the two mirrors would cost around £50 to recoat.

[perrin6]

Mirror recoating will cost you a lot less than £100 if they're in good physical condition (no scrapes or dings). .

Does recoating cost more if the mirrors damaged then ?

[Islander]

If you're thinking about it, give them a call first - they were very helpful with me. I sent a cheque with the mirrors and they phoned me when they were ready for dispatch, offered me the two services and I paid for the return by card.

They have advice for packing the mirrors safely on their site too.

[Islander]

Does recoating cost more if the mirrors damaged then ?

The recoating is fixed price as far as I can see. I'd imagine that if any damage were to affect the performance significantly, it'd cost to put it right if it was worth doing at all. I'm sure they'd contact you if there were problems.

[nytecam]

Give it a miss - it's totally out of date and worthless ;-(

[Islander]

Tsk, no sense of adventure... :(

[nytecam]

Tsk, no sense of adventure...

Not really - our society has maybe half a dozen 'gifts' in better condition in the scope room that have no takers as mostly impractical in today's market. Ok maybe as a project but 6" f/8 is small on aperture if long and clumsy in length - the equat mount is a nightmare. Maybe a uncoated solar [white light] Newt?

I've done my mirror making decades ago and built half a dozen scopes from 4.5" to 17.5" down the years so I've done my bit for ATM

[Islander]

I've always been a sucker for a project - hence the two ancient BMW bikes in the shed