A new old friend from 1964

[Trevor PC]

Hello All 

Well my new lady friend was a 1964 Swift 831 in its original box, with eyepieces etc.

So she came to me in what the seller said was good condition, I asked all the right questions about fungus, and all parts present and correct, receiving the answer that all was OK.

Well a small amount of buyer beware was required,  it arrived a day late from Parcel Force 24, and was just the box with no outside protection.

When opening the box, and reviewing the contents one of the ball axis adjusters  was missing. On to the  eyepieces, all with some form of corrosion on them, and various levels of fungus, on to the diagonal which was missing it's lens holder, one good thing was the Barlow was in very good condition as was the finder and main scope lens.

On to assembly all mount parts were present and correct though a  bit dirty. Assembly was simple, mounted the OTA and choosing the cleanest eyepieces looked at a near by TV aerial above 150 yards away, and thank god for small mercies it was cristal  clear. Will have to wait for a clear night to check it against my other scopes.

Next check the axis adjusters, up and down fine, side to side wound hard back against its casting and seized solid and would not budge. So out with the can of WD40 , still no joy!

Time to cook the wife's dinner, as she had no idea I had a lady friend hidden in the garage!

Next day the wife had gone to work so the coast was clear, back to the garage, another spray with WD40 still no joy. Out with the hot air paint stripper, and then held the spigot shaft in a Jacobs chuck, and I managed to free it up at last without causing any damage.

Inside the case was l in good order, the outside a bit beat up., The tripod was the original one and some of the lense holding brackets showing signs of rust, which should clean up, with the original wooden tripod showing age related marks,as expected.

So what next ,I would like to get the OTA painted in its original light coffee colour, any of you know what this colour is called?

The lenses need a proper clean , and any ideas how to remove the fungus and what's best to do about the flaking paint on them ? 

Should have told you the range of swift lenses it came with, which are made up of Huygens 6, 9 and 40mm and a single Kellner, of 20mm, plus an image inverter, 2 x barlow and a solar diagonal minus it's filters.

The box can wait for its refurbishment will add some photos tomorrow as I need to finish the house work and cook dinner, who new retirement could be this good!!!

As always any comments or advice would be much appreciated.

And the cost of the old girl £60 a bargain in my eyes with it planned to be my grab and go, as long as my back holds out!

 

Trevor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dweller25]

Photos are required 🙂👍

[Trevor PC]

Hello All

Will add photos tomorrow, I should have added that I need the ball end axis adjuster so if anyone has one to sell or knows where one can be found let me know.

As always many thanks for any advice or comments.

Trevor

 

 

 

[RobertI]

Make sure you keep us posted with progress. 👍

[Trevor PC]

Hello All 

Photos of telescope, eyepieces etc.

[dweller25]

Great scope 👍

[Justin P]

A wonderful old scope - and seemingly a challenge to get hold of these days ! There is a good Tak part that allows the use of 1.25 eyepieces - let me know if you would like the part number as this can make life easier. The .965 eyepieces are somewhat of a challenge !

 

best, JP 

[RobertI]

Lovely looking scope. As you say the objective looks perfect. Why is there a hole in the back of the diagonal do you think? 

[davidc135]

28 minutes ago, RobertI said:

Lovely looking scope. As you say the objective looks perfect. Why is there a hole in the back of the diagonal do you think? 

Herschel prism?  David

[Trevor PC]

Hello All 

It is a Herschel prism Swift part  TA-18 without filters, many thanks for the comments. 

As always many thanks for your advice band assistance.

Trevor 

 

 

 

 

[Jeff Marsden]

A nice little video here by Dave Trott.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aox_ZsRL6ZM

 

Jeff

[Trevor PC]

Hello Justin 

As always many thanks for responding.

The Tak adapter number would be much appreciated, I had been looking at a Vixen 36.4mm to 1.25" adapter.

The original eyepieces are nice, but to do the scope justice I believe plossl's would be better.

The other major challenge is to find a similar/matching slow motion cable, a Hilkin  T-705 looks very similar.

As always many thanks for your assistance.

Trevor

 

 

 

 

[Justin P]

Hi Trevor 

Sorry to take ages to respond - been busy with work. The Tak adapter part number is 00101.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/takahashi-adapters/tak_tkp00101.html

I hope the link above works ! This allows the use of the more modern 1.25 eyepieces with the scope. Incidentally after kind advice received on this forum I also purchased a Tak prism diagonal. 

best, JP