Howdy from Texas

[De Trommelslager]

Guess I'll jump in and introduce myself. I am new to astronomy, but have always had interest in observing since I was a young boy (8-9 years I think). A bad experience with a cheap telescope buried the self confidence in observing the night sky back then and I never put much faith in telescopes that were marketed to the general public. Other interests always kept me busy (and still do) and astronomy was left on the back burner.

Until now. My son who is now 8 decided a couple of years ago that he wants to become an astronomer. He has read and absorbed everything about the cosmos he can get his hands on. A well meaning and overly frugal family member bought him a very inexpensive telescope and sent it to him this past Christmas. The lenses were plastic, and getting it to focus was out of the question. It reminded me of my youth when I ended up with a telescope with nearly opaque optics. His excitement about having a scope was quickly extinguished and that first try with his new scope all but vanished. Not wanting him to have my childhood experience, I promised him a good telescope in the spring.

So the hunt began. I started reading reviews and studying features on various scopes. A couple of my neighbors are amateur astronomers and it just so happens that my sister-in-law has a PhD in astronomy, so I had some great resources to give me guidance. In April I believe, one of my neighbors called me and told me he had a scope for my boy. It was a 60mm Meade refractor that found in the trash. He pulled it out, dusted it off and checked out the optics. Surprisingly enough it yielded decent images. The tripod and mount were flimsy and likely a reason this scope was landfill bound.

My son got a peak through the scope and saw good images of the moon and Saturn one evening in May with the scope on the "wet noodle" mount. His excitement returned, and the quest for a solid foundation to mount the scope on began.

It just so happens that I happen to have access to a well equipped machine shop, so I decided I would machine a mount for the scope and find a solid tripod to put it on. I opted to build an equatorial mount (manual) and sketched out a rough plan from various example on the 'net and began cutting metal. As that process was underway, my neighbor that had given us the scope called and said he had a tripod for the scope. A day later I had a surveyor's tripod sitting in the shop.

A coat of paint on the tripod turned it from orange to black, and the "bar napkin" equatorial was mated to it. Rings for the scope were cut and the system was assembled. First light atop the new rig revealed some astonishing results. The mount is rock solid and silky smooth, and at high power the image is sharp. I admit I was totally blown away by the image quality from this cheap scope. The mount is serviceable, but not complete. Some features will be added over the next few months, but for now the boy is watching the stars with his scope.

Ya know, in reading my post one may think that I know what I am doing. Do not be fooled, the fact is I am very fortunate to have some very knowledgeable people close by to point me in the right direction. My learning process has only begun, and my knowledge level is only enough to be dangerous.

About the time I was wrapping up the equatorial mount, another neighbor called me up and offered me a 10" F5 reflector on a Dobsonian mount. It is a scope that he has been building up for many years, lost interest in it and set it aside. He had previously assembled the scope, but couldn't get it collimated for some reason. When he did some initial observing with it, he was disappointed in the performance and that was when he set it aside.

The primary mirror is a full thickness hand ground mirror that he did years ago. It was figured and finished by Sky Designs. The tube is made from aluminum sheet metal which was rolled and welded. It came with a Novak (I think) secondary mirror & spider, a University Optics mirror cell, a 2" Crayford focuser and a wooden mount. There are also some various eye pieces that he threw in with it.

Since I seemingly am now in the telescope hobby (if it can be considered that), I bought a Celestron eye piece kit (1.25”) to get me going, a Telerad to mount on the 10” and a laser collimation tool.

A few weeks ago, the 10” scope was assembled and collimation was unsuccessful. With the scope together it was determined that the components were not in alignment. The focuser was canted off the centerline by about an inch, and the mirror cell was flexing the tube where its attachment points were depending on the angle. With everything tight, hand pressure would dramatically move the laser in the collimation target.
The optical tube had to be stiffened up. Rings were made and attached at the ends of the tube with machine screws. This accomplished that goal and allowed for an attachment point on the rear of the tube to accommodate a back plate.

To eliminate the mirror cell movement, the back plate was machined and the mirror cell was mounted directly to it. A fan was also added to the mix and the collimation points were extended through the plate. Collimation can now be done with the laser collimation tool alone. With the back plate done, the focuser and spider were aligned. The back plate/fan/mirror assembly was mated to the rear of the tube and the scope collimated rather easily. The additions and upgrades seemed to cure most of the issues with the scope. Collimation has remained solid since the initial collimating.

Post upgrade first light was nothing short of awesome. The images are razor sharp (well, as sharp as they can be with the atmospheric dance) and with a little guidance from the neighbor that brought the “landfill refractor” over, I was able to pick off M11 on the first night.

The 10” scope is in the process of being mounted on an equatorial mount that was bought from a gentleman a week or so ago. It is an old Teledrive mount from the late 70’s. The drive works and the mount is rather beefy. The 2” solid shafts will likely be able to hold up the 10” without too much trouble.

Future plans for the 10” include a new Dob mount. The wooden mount that came with the scope is fine, but what is life without an improvement project? Once I get both scopes “finished”, I will see about posting some pictures.

Sorry for such a l - o - n - g first post! I have obviously jumped with both feet and am having some fun. Seeing the deep sky stuff rekindled my desire to gaze at the heavens and solidified my determination to give my son every opportunity to be successful in his dream to become an astronomer as well. If nothing else happens, at a bare minimum he and I will share some quality time walking around telescopes and peering into eye pieces!

[GrandPrixChris]

Welcome to the forum! What a fantastic story. It's great you were able to nurture your son's affinity for observing even when you as a lad had a bad experience that was similar to your son's. Unfortunately, there are similar stories where the ending is much different because of cheap/junk optics and products and the hobby gets dismissed as just a big time waster that will not amount to anything. Good for you that you were able to see junk for what it is and made provisions in getting a more desired result!

[sportsmed]

Welcome to the forum!

[helicon64]

Welcome to the Forum and Thanks for sharing the story. Good luck with the 10"!

[vorm]

Welcome and great story!

[olddogg60]

Welcome to the forum. That is a great story and good for you for supporting your son's interest in astronomy.

[choy]

nice post there.. welcome to the forums

[alrodriguez]

Welcome to the forum. Great post.

[Wasatch]

Welcome!

[bigjack]

Welcome top the forum and enjoy
Clear Skies