The Exquisite and Venerable EQ-1

[Alan64]

4 hours ago, Philip R said:

Bit late for the party.

What a fantastic restoration/'re-mod' you done @Alan64. 

 

Many, many, years ago, I purchased a Prinz Astral 500. I could not get on with the EQ1 mount. In the end I gave the whole setup away to a neighbour. I said to them that I would never ever  get a 'scope with an EQ1 again.

Twenty years ago I purchased a TeleVue Ranger and used to mount it on a camera tripod and various heads. Then I purchased a Tele-Optic Giro ten years ago and about four years ago I purchased a secondhand Vixen GP.

How wrong was I... 

Thank you, sir.

If your kit was identical to this Prinz Astral 500...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ0wdFSFZ1o

...then that's an EQ-2 rather, but only a little larger, not by much.  I had a Towa EQ-2 myself once...

I had given mine to a relation.

As far as I know, the telescope houses of Japan never produced an EQ-1.  If they did, they certainly weren't as commonplace as the EQ-2.  Back then, the 60mm+ achromats were of a considerable length, at f/13 or f/15, and required the stability of an EQ-2, at a bare minimum.  The 50mm and even 40mm achromats of that age generally if not exclusively came with alt-azimuth mounts, like this 50mm f/12 of my own...

In any event, you should've kept that one, and just as I should have kept my own.  Hindsight is indeed 20/20 in that.

[Stu]

Fantastic thread Alan, superb craftsmanship; I've thoroughly enjoyed following it!

Have fun using your mount and tripod.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Lovely job. You won't lose that tripod in the dark.

[RT65CB-SWL]

9 hours ago, Alan64 said:

Thank you, sir.

If your kit was identical to this Prinz Astral 500...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ0wdFSFZ1o

...then that's an EQ-2 rather, but only a little larger, not by much.  I had a Towa EQ-2 myself once...

I had given mine to a relation.

As far as I know, the telescope houses of Japan never produced an EQ-1.  If they did, they certainly weren't as commonplace as the EQ-2.  Back then, the 60mm+ achromats were of a considerable length, at f/13 or f/15, and required the stability of an EQ-2, at a bare minimum.  The 50mm and even 40mm achromats of that age generally if not exclusively came with alt-azimuth mounts, like this 50mm f/12 of my own...

In any event, you should've kept that one, and just as I should have kept my own.  Hindsight is indeed 20/20 in that.

Thank you for the clarification. I was wondering what the differences were. 

[Fozzie]

Excellent thread, there is some different class workmanship you've done here, no stone left unturned during the refurb.. looks like it was made for that little mac too.  Very enjoyable read. Thanks for sharing!