old, but like new refractor

[Uplooker]

Well done Jules on the new scope. As others have said, it looks a beaut!

Sorry about earlier, phone battery died.

Ian

[nightfisher]

Wel, i got a couple of quick looks with this old 3", all was not well, at high power i was getting some thing giving a "partial eclipse" in the eyepiece, on investigation i found the original baffles still fitted to the draw tube, seeing as it was designed for .0965 ep`s they would have been okay, but as its converted for 1.25, they were blocking some of the view and have now been tapped out, also the draw tube was rather like chrome inside, so while it was out of the focuser,i flocked it to darken it off.

Another mod i have done is make a longer dew shield, using an old 3ltr coke bottle and some white sticky backed plastic, with black flocking inside, this is flexible, removable and adds no real extra weight to the tube, pics to follow

[philj]

Looking good Jules, looks especially elegant with the long shield

[nightfisher]

Just had a quick look at the moon with this 76mm, 9mm ortho at x138 and really sharp, stunning view

[ollypenrice]

Longer and thinner than Naomi Campbell...

Olly

[John]

Looks great Jules

One question if I may - did you need to remove the baffles in the draw tube ?.

If the light cone has not changed and the tube is not any shorter I would have thought they could have stayed put ?

The light cone will be very small in diameter towards the eyepiece end of an F/16 scope I'd have thought.

I guess it won't do any harm though and maybe my understanding of optics is a bit muddled

[nightfisher]

Looks great Jules

One question if I may - did you need to remove the baffles in the draw tube ?.

If the light cone has not changed and the tube is not any shorter I would have thought they could have stayed put ?

The light cone will be very small in diameter towards the eyepiece end of an F/16 scope I'd have thought.

I guess it won't do any harm though and maybe my understanding of optics is a bit muddled

John, im sure your understanding of optics are spot on, i had a problem with the view at the eyepiece showing a slight "eclipse, removing the baffles and flocking the draw tube seems to have sorted the problem, it was giving superb views till the nasty cloud rolled in again

[John]

John, im sure your understanding of optics are spot on, i had a problem with the view at the eyepiece showing a slight "eclipse, removing the baffles and flocking the draw tube seems to have sorted the problem, it was giving superb views till the nasty cloud rolled in again

If it works then thats great

It has been known for baffles to be set in the wrong place by the manufacturer or with older scopes I guess they could slip or skew so that they intersect the light cone.

I must get my old Tasco 60mm F/13 dusted down and show it some starlight again. It would sit very well on the AZ-4 if I could rig up some tube rings and a dovetail for it

[nightfisher]

I managed an hour or so under the stars with the old girl last night, Luna surface was stunning, really sharp and high contrast, the mountain ranges near the terminator where proper peaks!

Not as good as i had expected on Jupiter, best view of this was with a 15mm BST but still very nice, got a hint of the E star in the trapezium and a split on Rigel, plus Alcor/Mizar. Tried for the pup in Sirius but no luck