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What to do with an old 12" reflector?

jmark2001

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jmark2001

jmark2001

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I am a beginner who has been tinkering with a little 4.5" Orion reflector. I have managed to find some stars, galaxies, and most all the planets despite the light pollution in my front yard. I have enjoyed using it. Now someone gave me an old 12" (very large!) reflector telescope, but I don't have a stand/mount for it. I managed to clean the mirrors, put the thing back together, collimate, and stand the thing straight up just so I could look through it and make sure it worked. I am just wondering if it is worth building / buying a mount (Dob or EQ?) or should I just sell the mirror and other pieces and buy something more reasonably sized. Keep in mind, this telescope cost me nothing... but I don't want to spend a bunch on a mount if the telescope is WORTH Nothing. I do have a truck, which is what one would need to haul this thing around!

Any advice would be much appreciated.

JMark

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Astro_Baby

Astro_Baby

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Well an Eq6 is unlikley to handle it, weight will be one problem but the bigger one will be length. Its a longish tube and in my opnion the EQ6 is really beyond its limit with the Skywather 300p tube on ut which is a good deal shorter.

Turn it into a Dob I guess OR try and find an old EQ mount like one of the old meades or Broadhursts. Dob would be cheaper.

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jmark2001

jmark2001

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How are the mirrors on it? any scratches or chips?.

The scope is old, as are the mirrors, so I don't know how "reflective" they still are, but they are not scratched or chipped, except for perhaps a small place or two along the edge where the clamps hold the main mirror. I washed them in the bathtub with warm water and a small amount of ivory dish soap. They came out looking VERY bright, water rolled right off. They looked good to me, but I am new at this. They set wrapped up in an old cloth for probably a year or two until I decided to put the thing back together a few weeks ago.

I don't know where this scope came from originally, but my dad had it in his garage for probably 20 years. He gave it to me, so I thought I would see if I could get it working. He actually has a mount and stand, but it's custom made at a machine shop, out of solid steel. I bet it weighs 300lbs or more. There's no way I am going to haul that around. It would certainly be sturdy and steady though!

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John

John

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Difficult to tell from the photo but it looks a bit like an old Parks (USA company) 12.5" F/6 optical tube. The upper tube ring and the focuser look familiar from photos I have in an old Parks catalogue.

They were quality instruments and cost a lot of money. A home build dobsonian mount would be by far the most feasible option to mount the scope.

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LukeSkywatcher

LukeSkywatcher

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The scope is old, as are the mirrors, so I don't know how "reflective" they still are, but they are not scratched or chipped, except for perhaps a small place or two along the edge where the clamps hold the main mirror.

They sound fine.

The scope is as tall as the door on tha garage so i'm guessing its 7-8ft long.

Wow that really is a beast.

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umadog

umadog

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Sounds good. Looks like an f/6. It's not so large, really (take it to a star party and you'll see what mean!). If you have a truck it's a piece of cake. Definitely you can build a Dobsonian mount for the thing. You may be able to get the pieces cut for you by Dobstuff (Google them).

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umadog

umadog

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Should be pretty straightforward. Get yourself to Home Depot and get hold of some 3/4" Plywood. It should be sufficient for the base. There's a chance it'll need side-braces like the Orion Dobs have (go look at them on their website) but hopefully it won't. You can design without braces and add them if needed. I suggest you get hold of Kriege's book ("The Dobsonian Telescope") a lot of it won't be directly relevant (since much of it is aimed at truss Dobs) but you'll learn a lot. There are instructions for an 8" (IIRC) solid-tube at the end, so you could modify those. For the bearings you could do what Teeter is doing with his solid tubes: http://www.teeterstelescopes.com/catalog_sts.html I'm thinking of the box arrangement around the tube. Another option (quicker) would be strap them on with steel straps. If you have a local club (bound to) you could head over there and see if there are any amateur builders with shop facilities. This could save you loads of money and time. Well worth checking out. Also, you could ask on the ATM section on Cloudy Nights. There are more US people there so you may get better advice on which stores to check out for parts, etc.

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jmark2001

jmark2001

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Hey Guys,

Just wanted to take a moment to thank you for the inspiration and encouragement to build the Dob mount. It's not totally finished (still needs some sanding and finishing) but it was good enough I took the old scope out last night and gave it a try. Even in the bright Atlanta suburb, I had a blast looking at Jupiter, M31, Pleiades, etc. Now I'm wondering if I should send the mirrors off to be refinished. How much difference would THAT make?

Once I finish the mount, I'll post some pictures . . . then start on building a couple of steps. I fell off the 5 gallon bucket at least once last night!

Thanks again for the advice and encouragement,

Mark

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neil phillips

neil phillips

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The scope is old, as are the mirrors, so I don't know how "reflective" they still are, but they are not scratched or chipped, except for perhaps a small place or two along the edge where the clamps hold the main mirror. I washed them in the bathtub with warm water and a small amount of ivory dish soap. They came out looking VERY bright, water rolled right off. They looked good to me, but I am new at this. They set wrapped up in an old cloth for probably a year or two until I decided to put the thing back together a few weeks ago.

I don't know where this scope came from originally, but my dad had it in his garage for probably 20 years. He gave it to me, so I thought I would see if I could get it working. He actually has a mount and stand, but it's custom made at a machine shop, out of solid steel. I bet it weighs 300lbs or more. There's no way I am going to haul that around. It would certainly be sturdy and steady though!

Hi you should have rinsed the mirrors down with distilled water aftewr cleaning limescale can fog the mirrors over time otherwise. If you get the mirrors reacoated ytou have a monster planetary scope right there probably

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jmark2001

jmark2001

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Hi you should have rinsed the mirrors down with distilled water aftewr cleaning limescale can fog the mirrors over time otherwise. If you get the mirrors reacoated ytou have a monster planetary scope right there probably

So is it too late now? Should I pull the mirrors back out to wash and rinse with distilled water? Is there any way to guage if they are still ok? Or is it pretty much a given fact that if they are 25 or 30 years old, they need to be recoated?

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