Hi Everyone,
It seems to be the done thing to introduce one's self here. I've become hooked after discovering a "starter" scope at a garage sale last year. This is a Meade 70mm refractor and provided a lot of fun at first. The goodwill stores have since provided a 3.5" "Galileo" Newtonian reflector and lately, my pride and joy, an F/8 4.5" Celestron "Firstscope" Newtonian. Things just keep getting better :)
I've a decent set of Parks Silver Series eyepieces, thanks to the advice from Scope City in San Francisco. This seemed a bit expensive at first but was certainly worth the outlay, and I knew I'd stick with the hobby.
As well as the joys of observing, the opportunity for improving and constructing is always a temptation. The Meade was first - someone had disassembled the objective lens Achromat doublet and rearranged it, leading to gasps of horror at the psychadelic colours when first using my expensive new eyepieces. Fortunately I know a bit about optics and was able to sort the mess out. Second, the plastic gear rack of the focus draw tube was damaged, so a new one was cut (by hand) from some key steel.
The Galileo needed a thorough clean, and I built a sturdy alt-az tripod from plywood and cast iron plumbing fittings. The celestron was equally filthy, but responded well to carefull cleaning of the mirrors. The tripod was re-enforced, including the addition of a decent accessory tray. I also chose to disassemble the "EQ2" equatorial head - there was lots of play in the bearings, poor lubrication & it was generally hard to set up and use. The addition of brass shim sleeves to the bearings, and other areas to reduce clearances in the mechanism has massively improved this piece of equipment, as has cleaning and sparing but good lubrication. As for the 'scope, a broken pair of binoculars yielded a nice 2" achromatic objective lens that became the basis for a great finder scope. This features a home made bracket with mounting rings from black PVC pipe, permitting precise alignment with set screws. A 1.5" chrome waste pipe provided a tube within which an eyepiece from an old microscope could be fitted at one end, with the mounted binocular lens at the other. The result looks good, and works really well.
Lastly, plumbing supplies have again provided the means to turn the lens cell from an "unwanted" Vivitar teleconverter into a very satisfactory Barlow lens. A piece of 1.25" chrome wastepipe fits eyepiece holders perfectly, and houses the lens assembly. A second PVC pipe nipple was found to be snug sliding fit over this, which will provide the means to hold an eyepiece. The last task is to measure accurately and cut/set so that the Barlow assembly can be introduced quickly without the need to refocus the telescope significantly - the trial requires about 1/2" of adjustment, but it proved the point with some nice views of Jupiter!
OK I've rambled on long enough, but I look forward to reading and participating in the forums.
Cheers,
Ed