Carboot scope!

[johnbaz]

Hi all

I ventured to a local bootsale this morning due to the nice warm weather and bought a strange old scope!

It's probably only fit for the bin as there's a stain on the object lens, It seems like moisture has found it's way between the lenses!, Also It seems that the eyepiece lenses are 1" dia, I've looked on flreabay and can't find a single one!! 
It also has no mount!!

 

So, Have I wasted the fiver that I paid for it?

 

PS, Also bought a couple of binoculars too!! 

 

Cheers, John 

 

[johnbaz]

Forgot to say, The scope is around 47" long with a 3" object lens..

[nightfisher]

Its a Circle K f16.5 sold under the Prinz label, the lens will clean up and you can buy tube rings from TS in germany, in fact i might have a tube cradle that might fit it, start of by cleaning the optics before spending any money, when taking the glass out make a note of the orientation (seek advise if in doubt)

[johnbaz]

1 minute ago, nightfisher said:

Its a Circle K f16.5 sold under the Prinz label, the lens will clean up and you can buy tube rings from TS in germany, in fact i might have a tube cradle that might fit it, start of by cleaning the optics before spending any money, when taking the glass out make a note of the orientation (seek advise if in doubt)

Cheers JUles, I'll have a go, Have to go out shortly to fit curtain poles at my sons house so it may be later in the week!


Regards, John 

[Chris]

I have one of these, the Japanese optics will be excellent once you take care of the moisture. As Jules has mentioned just mark the orientation of the doublet lens if removing to clean. 

Mine has the optical tube, craddle, mount, wooden box, and eyepieces etc but cost 80 quid, so a fiver for the optical tube assembly sounds good, even a tenner would have been good

The eyepieces are 0.965" which is what they all used to be back in the day. Now days they are 1.25" and 2".   

There are some 0.965" eyepieces for sale here, about half way down the page:

http://www.astroboot.co.uk/AstroBoot

You can also buy 0.965-1.25" adapters or diagonals to allow the use of more modern eyepieces. This is what I use with mine so I can use 1.25" Plossl eyepieces.

Edited February 19, 2017 by Chris Lock

[johnbaz]

10 minutes ago, Chris Lock said:

I have one of these, the Japanese optics will be excellent once you take care of the moisture. As Jules has mentioned just mark the orientation of the doublet lens if removing to clean. 

Mine has the optical tube, craddle, mount, wooden box, and eyepieces etc but cost 80 quid, so a fiver for the optical tube assembly sounds good, even a tenner would have been good

The eyepieces are 0.965" which is what they all used to be back in the day. Now days they are 1.25" and 2".   

There are some 0.965" eyepieces for sale here, about half way down the page:

http://www.astroboot.co.uk/AstroBoot

You can also buy 0.965-1.25" adapters or diagonals.

Thanks for the link! there's loads of stuff in the site that I want- Paypal is going to take a hammering now!! 

I had a Tasco scope out of my mums club book about 40 years ago- That had these small lenses too!! 

 

Cheers, John 

[Mr Spock]

Great scope - especially for double stars. You can still get 24.5mm eyepieces and accessories used.

Objective is easy to fix as they are air spaced. Take it out of the cell and mark the edges so you know the orientation. The two lenses will then come apart for cleaning

[happy-kat]

Lovely find and just a £5.

I would not use any old stuff to clean the lenses but have a research on here first to make sure you know how to do the glass to make them better not worse.

[steppenwolf]

What a great restoration project for just £5.00 - brilliant value!

[Timebandit]

 

Baader wounder fluid is great for cleaning lenses, and a nice clean cloth. Go gentle and you may have found a diamond in the rough in your car boot find.

Good luck and let us know how you get on☺

[glowjet]

Invest in some Baader Wonder fluid for your optics, and of course, you can also use to keep your other optical bits and pieces in good order, see FLO top of page for details  Must add, brilliant acquisition for £5, enjoy

[glowjet]

Timebandit, Snap. Great product, same time posting

[Starlight 1]

I pick up a 60mm f700 and after a little clean up and it show no CA at all when looking at the Moon, and I got new tube ring for £20 with p+p.

[Putaendo Patrick]

A very nice telescope! Congratulations. By the looks of it, it should clean up very nicely.

There's a complete one on ebay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Astro-Astronomical-Refractor-Telescope-F-1250-Front-Lens-Dia-76-2-Kit-Box-Used/332103874620?_trksid=p2047675.c100011.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D41433%26meid%3D2f992a82a74340bd986faa197e8f362f%26pid%3D100011%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26sd%3D262184986699  buy it now for nearly 200 quid - expensive, perhaps, but another similar did sell for 149 pounds a while back.

Circle K may have been made by Kenko - these small marks were put on most Japanese telescopes I suspect to identify them for a state quality control institute. If it's Prinz, this was a brand of telescopes and photographic equipment imported and sold by Dixons, in it's day a mayor high street chain of electrical goods - although if so, I'm surprised it is not specifically branded as Prinz. In the USA similar telescopes were imported by Tasco, K-Mart, Bushnell etc. John Diebel, the founder of Meade, in fact started by importing these type of telescopes from Japan which he sold by mail-order. I suspect your telescope was made in the late 1960s, perhaps early 1970s. There's some variation in quality, but the good ones are optically superb and, relative to todays prices, were quite expensive!

[Chris]

1 hour ago, johnbaz said:

Thanks for the link! there's loads of stuff in the site that I want- Paypal is going to take a hammering now!! 

I had a Tasco scope out of my mums club book about 40 years ago- That had these small lenses too!! 

 

Cheers, John 

Astroboot is always good for a good rummage

Yes, my 76mm is branded Tasco but marked circle K for Kenko Japan which is the important bit. The other maker stamp is Circle T for Towa. I think both Circle K and T scopes were often branded Prinz, Tasco, and Meade. There are other brands too but I can't remember off the top of my head. Edit: Topic was onother brand.

Mine used to belong to a local school, but was eventually replaced with a Meade ETX so the Kenko was stuck in a cupboard for a decade until one of the teachers sold it to me   I took it down my astro club a while ago and split some doubles, and showed Mars through it which resulted in some positive noises, so I'm pretty sure it's has decent glass in it.  

I generally go through scopes like water but these classic long focus achromats have a certain charm, I've not been able to bring myself to move this one on which I'm pleased about.

I'm sure you'll have fun with yours, one guy who know tons about these is @F15Rules he might be able to advice if we have missed anything   

Edited February 19, 2017 by Chris Lock

[johnbaz]

Hi again

I just looked through my jewellers loupe and found the K in a circle right after 'JAPAN', It's difficult to make out in the pic but easier with the loupe!!  

The one on fleabay looks superb!!

I have some lens cleaning fluid although i'm unsure who made it, It usually works really well on my binoculars and specs! 

Cheers, John 

[Bagnaj97]

18 hours ago, johnbaz said:

Hi again

I just looked through my jewellers loupe and found the K in a circle right after 'JAPAN', It's difficult to make out in the pic but easier with the loupe!!  

The one on fleabay looks superb!!

I have some lens cleaning fluid although i'm unsure who made it, It usually works really well on my binoculars and specs! 

Cheers, John 

In your pics the circle K is also on the front of the lens cell after the D=76.2mm F=1250mm - no loup required!

[johnfosteruk]

That's a great find John, I'm very envious  I always have an eye out at the car boot for scopes 'n' bins but to date I've found nothing.

A friend of the family found a Tal-1 recently which he gave to our niece and I get views with that so I mustn't complain really.

Good luck cleaning her up.

[tony210]

I have one too - great optics but very long FL - if you clean the doulbet be careful to keep the spacers and mark the elements with chalk - early on 1980's I made all these mistakes-best wishes Tony

[Pete Presland]

Looks like an excellent investment to me. It will be interesting to see what the results are, especially on double star's and planets.

[Roy Challen]

A great buy! I have one too - Prinz branded but given the Skylight treatment. Although the standard focuser works well enough, I think it is worthwhile upgrading to something more modern that can take 1.25" EPs. It's not a straight forward swap though. An advantage of the long focal ratio is that you don't need to spend £££s on high end EPs - my Celestrons give edge to edge perfect views. Also, they're not just planetary, lunar and double star scopes (although that is what they do best), they work well on globs and open clusters too.

And they look great!

Focuser end

Business end

Edited February 23, 2017 by Roy Challen

[johnbaz]

On 2/20/2017 at 13:18, johnfosteruk said:

That's a great find John, I'm very envious  I always have an eye out at the car boot for scopes 'n' bins but to date I've found nothing.

A friend of the family found a Tal-1 recently which he gave to our niece and I get views with that so I mustn't complain really.

Good luck cleaning her up.

Hi John

About three quarters of these came from the bootsales but this only about half of actual Bines/scopes that i've bought over the years!!

 

 

John 

[johnbaz]

Can't remember exactly what I paid for this little scope but I think it was £8..

These were two or three quid for the lot!!

 

The book is out of date now though!! 

 

John 

[johnbaz]

Hi all 

Dragging up an old thread, I decided to take the lenses out to clean them as they were stained and I recently bought an adapter so I can use my 1.25" lenses in the .965" tube!

It was a fair old job unscrewing the part that carries the lenses!! 🤨

The stain from condensation between the lenses!

 

The lenses were quite tight in the tube and when I put them back in, They scraped small bits of black paint from the inside which ended up between the lenses, Had them out several times but got fed up as they scraped the paint off every single time, Can see two bits at around 9 o'clock..

Don't have a mount for the scope so I rested it on a towel on some boxes, The view was nice and clear but upside down! Wasn't expecting that!!, Is this how they work??, It's so long since I looked through a refracting astronomical scope that I can't remember!! 

There is a lens mounted down the tube which I thought was to correct the orientation!!

I'll have to search fleabay now for a set of 76mm rinngs so I can get rid of the boxes!! 

 

Cheers, John 👍

[John]

Without a diagonal mirror or prism between the scope and the eyepiece the image will appear upside down and left - right reversed.