Custom Refractor telescopes

[davdjr]

Hi, I am trying to help my old man buy a telescope and know absolutly nothing about them. He wants me to find a company that makes custom made modern refractor telescopes with an aperture of no less than 150-152mm or six inches, although he says 8 inches would be optimal. I am having a hard time find any such company and hope maybe some of you find folks might know of someone. Also, for the life of me I can not convince him there are lots of reputable but larger companies that have such telescopes, must be custom made. Thank you for your time and any help you provide!

[John]

There maybe other companies that do this but Istar seem to be getting a lot of positive attention at the moment:

http://www.istar-optical.com/

Their scopes range from 4 to 10 inches.

[umadog]

Are you sure you mean a refactor? If so, I think he's pulling your leg. An 8" refractor will most likely require an observatory (unless it's a very unusual folded design) and will cost at least $10k (possibly much more). There are no larger companies that produce such telescopes. All will be small companies and any such telescope will be a custom build to one degree or another. This is what I'm talking about:

http://www.optcorp.com/product.aspx?pid=8037&src=goog (retails at $167,000)

http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/3376134/Main/3376134

http://platypusart.com/wetherell/sculpture_greatwetherellrefractor.html

http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/4861803/Main/4857889

[umadog]

Edit: What I'm saying is that I'd expect someone in the market for such a scope would already know where to look and would already own several telescopes. See what I mean?

[Qualia]

Wow. Beautiful looking telescopes. It's a shame I'll never be able to own one.

[Keiran]

Welcome to the forum, and im sure you will find all of the imformation you need right here.

Most scopes of this size, from reputable companies will normally be custom made to an extent. It will have its optics polished to suite perfectly.

Have a look at this site:

http://www.astro-physics.com/index.htm?products/products

Hope that helps

Keiran

[lestergibson]

An 8" refractor??? Man, thats going to be a heavy scope!!

[DirkSteele]

Assuming you actually mean refractor and not reflector, APM Telescopes produce Apo refractors with outstanding optics at that size and larger, and they are custom made to order at that size, however they will set you back far in excess of $10,000.

[John]

An 8" refractor??? Man, thats going to be a heavy scope!!

Certainly is. I was considering an Istar 5" F/12 with the R30 objective lens. The tube assembly weighed around 30 llbs which would be too much for my mounts, given the long tube length. Shame as it was a wonderful looking scope and beautifully put together.

[ronin]

Sorry but either he does not know the present quality of telescopes or he is having you on a bit. A 6" refractor will weigh a lot and even if an 6" apo triplet will be between 1.2 and 1.5 meters long. An achro from Istar will be 1.5 to 2 meters long.

Both will cost you several thousand pounds, both will require a good mount, again you are looking at around a thousand for this alone.

Think Peak 2 Valley take Istar lens and make a scope out of them. Although good they are still an achro and a "mass produced" apo from a manufactirer will perform better.

[ronin]

Sorry, see you are in Alaska.

Ignore the Peak 2 Valley reference they are based in the UK. Not sure who may use Istar lens in the US, but also look up D&G lens as they are a US lens producer. Possibly joing Cloudy Nights and ask on there.

Better still convince him to get a 5 or 6 inch ED scope of f/7 or f/8 from one of the decent manufacturers. Contact Astronomica for help as they seem one of the most mentioned US retailers.

[umadog]

I think you mean Astronomics?

[DirkSteele]

As another potential US based retailer to consider, even from the UK, I have found Oceanside Photo and Telescope (OPT Corp) a pleasure to deal with.

[E621Keith]

First of all, is he serious and does he know what he is talking about? Does he want an Apo or an achromat? An 8" refractor is a big scope and people who buy them generally know what they are getting. A refractors of this size will be made to order. Very few optical house are capable of fabricating an apo objective this size and the amount of technology involved means it will be made by a reasonably large and well established company. Currently I think only Takahashi in Japan and LZOS in Russia (sold through APM Germany) has the capability of producing an 8"+ apo objective. There are more choices for achromat, but the market for large refractors is very small. People who have that kind of money generally go for giant dob for visual or an exotic CAT and substantial mount for AP.

What mount does he have at the moment. A 8" refractors will need a substantial mount and those mounts aren't small either.

[johninderby]

APM in Germany ship to the US and they build refractors up to 20" to order, but they're very serious money.

Nice 8" achro

http://www.apm-telescopes.net/en/Telescopes-/Refracting-Telescopes-OTA/Achromates/APM-Designed-203/1800-Fraunhofer-Refractor-.html

John

[John]

...........An achro from Istar will be 1.5 to 2 meters long.

Both will cost you several thousand pounds, both will require a good mount, again you are looking at around a thousand for this alone.

I was quoted £1,300 for a 5" F/12 Istar refractor using the new R30 objective lens. I didn't think that was too bad actually. Of course you have to be a refractor nut to think that !.

[DirkSteele]

Nice 8" achro

http://www.apm-teles...Refractor-.html

John

I would love to get my hands on the 8" F7 Apo version of that scope. A bargain at €34,990

[JamesM]

Hi and welcome to the forum. Reading your opening post several times, I understand why your father might not want an 'off the shelf' type of scope and would like something a bit special or particular to his needs and if there is a healthy budget available then why not!. It seems that both you and your father aren't experienced enough to know what choices to make so I would suggest that perhaps both of you could have a read of this website to help you get started and as a minimum in order to inform yourselves of the different types of scopes and their different advantages/disadvantages. After that please come back to us here and we will be in a better position to advise you further.

Clear skies for now and enjoy the forum.

James

[ollypenrice]

It would be silly to buy a custom made telescope for no good reason. The only good reason would be that you wanted a particular feature or optical configuration. If you want a good normal spec instrument you should buy it from someone who makes them regularly and has perfected them. There are small firms like TEC who make stunning refractors and have them sorted an de bugged.

Olly