Good quality 30mm finder

[A McEwan]

Hi,

I'm looking for a nice vintagey good quality 30mm finderscope for my Pentax J80. It came with a non-original 6x30 RA finder which is ok but I prefer to match the scope with a nice white straight-through of good quality if poss.

Thing is, I've been offered the creme de la creme of 30mm finders - a Tal focusable 6x30 brand new, but it's a few mm too wide for the Pentax's bracket. The bracket with the Tal finder will not match the Pentax scope of course... so frustrating!

Anyone have any good recommendations?

Thanks,

Ant

[iwatkins]

Hi Ant,

William Optics do a white straight though 6x30 but might not be retro enough.

Takahashi do an all white 6x30 but I bet it isn't cheap.

Cheers

Ian

[nightfisher]

Could you not mount the tal finder on a small metal plate then mount the whole set up on the pentax

[A McEwan]

Thanks Ian.

Jules, well, I really want to keep the Pentax as original as possible. Until I find an original Pentax 6x30 finder (very unlikely) I'd rather not be drilling holes in the tube if I'm going to regret them later on! I've already done some restoration work on the tube...

I wonder if there's anyone that could copy the Pentax bracket but make the ring in which the finderscope sits of a slightly larger diameter? Then I could use the Tal finder and be very happy.

Ant

[nightfisher]

can you post a picture of the pentax bracket?

[A McEwan]

Lol - done!

[nightfisher]

maybe your best bet would be a wanted add on the cloudy nights section, i have seen that type before but proper rare, i think i might have seen it on a really old japanese tasco!!

[A McEwan]

Yep, I've put an ad up on there and will wait now and see.

Ant

[Peter Drew]

How many mm too large is the Tal finder?

[A McEwan]

About 6-7mm I think. I can check accurately when I get home.

Ant

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

[John]

PM Sent Ant.

[A McEwan]

Hi again.

I was recommended a company called Epsilon Telescopes, who were able to manufacture specialist parts for astronomers and might be able to make a finder bracket for me, but sadly have heard back from them today that they are closing down their business.

Does anyone else have any companies in mind that could make for me a bracket to match the Pentax one in terms of style and footprint, but with a ring large enough to hold the Tal finderscope?

With thanks,

Ant

[A McEwan]

After some searching I got some recommendations to have a bracket made for me by a new company called Astrotec Limited. I contacted the proprieter, a chap called Graham, and showed him some pics of my problem. He encouraged me to send off the original bracket and the Tal gear so that he could work something up for me.

A few days later I got some pictures sent to me of the bracket he'd produced. It was similar in design to the original Pentax one, but sized so that it would take the Tal 6x30 finderscope and adjustment screws.

It arrived the other day and fits onto the scope perfectly. It's a little larger in scale than the original, but it does a good job of holding the finderscope. Painted black to match the focuser, it fits the scope's looks well. Some of the paint may have been a bit tacky when it was sent out, as some small pieces of tissue paper were bonded to it, buit other than that it does exactly what I wanted it to and Graham was very quick and made a nice item.

The Tal finder is, of course, just perfect. Must be one of the best 30mm finders out there with it's easy to use helical focus mechanism and superb build quality.

Ant

[nightfisher]

Looking good Ant, i have the same finder on my 100rs but i looking at fitting a skywatcher 9x50 r/a as i find this one so much easier to use, trouble is it means drilling the ota

[A McEwan]

Thanks. The pic also shows new "Racing Style" aluminium focusing knobs and a Telescope Service 36.4mm - T2 - 1.25" compression ring adapter set for a sturdier grip on eyepieces and diagonals. I have a similar setup on my 90mm f14.4 too and it really does take away that niggling worry about whether the diagonal andeyepiece is going to drop out at any time!

Ant

[John]

Thats a great result Ant.

Puts the finshing touch on a lovely classic refractor