What to do with an old 12" reflector?

[8kids]

How does the mirror compare with your 4.5" reflector? If the 12" looks ok visually, no pitting or peeled coatings I'd leave it alone and enjoy the views. Like many on this forum I have made a dob mount for a newtonian scope and have been blown away with the views. I just have the expensive job of buying good quality eyepieces but I reckon I've got plenty of time, the stars aren't going anywhere.

[Rihard]

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

Aperture is KING: Get/Build some sort of dob mount and be mesmerised by the views given by such a big tube!

[zedds]

Nice!! Good luck with the mount. Let us know how you get on with sone nice pics.

[brantuk]

I was gonna say it's rubbish and I'll take it off your hands for £50 plus petrol - then I saw your location so pickup is a none starter. lol

It will be a smashing little project to build a dob base and you'll have a fantastic scope virtually for free. I'd suggest a re-wash of the mirror followed by a distilled water rinse just to avoid any fogging. Once it's built you'll be able to compare the views with other similar sized dobs to judge if it needs the mirrors re-coating (eg at a star party or local astro group).

Looking forward to your first light report - loads of luck with it

[Stevp]

How about some work in progress pictures? After reading this thread i'd love to see what you've done.

[Chris]

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!

The mirror sounds like its probably good, if you've washed it using tap water you may get water marks from calcium deposits, to avoid this in future you can use de-ionised water to rinse the mirror off after soaking in slightly soapy tap water.

Chris

[jmark2001]

How about some work in progress pictures? After reading this thread i'd love to see what you've done.

I'm not the best carpenter in the world, but attached are some pictures of what I came up with. I painted most of it because the wood was not so good, but I made the altitude bearings out of a nice quality plywood, so I am considering just a clear finish for them. Just can't bring myself to paint over the nice wood grain.

[Stevp]

Excellent! Have you the chance to take it for a test drive?

[perrin6]

A 12 inch reflector, sounds like this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship (It's a great size and can take you places you never knew existed).

[nightfisher]

Looking very good

[jmark2001]

Excellent! Have you the chance to take it for a test drive?

Only in my front yard. The Atlanta light pollution is bad, so I can't see anything that requires dark skies, but Jupiter looks awesome. I hope to take it out to some darker skies soon, perhaps at a star party so I can compare and get a better idea if the mirrors are performing as they should.

Also, now that I have built the first mount, there are already a few things I think I could do better if I built another one. This never ends, does it? Y'all should warn a beginner about stuff like this. ;-)

Thanks again for all the advice.

Mark

[Stevp]

I bet the difference between Jupiter in your 4.5" and 12" is immense! Stretching my math brain at this time of night, thats about 8 times more light, right?

[Herbig]

I'm sure you will find it well worth the effort!