Posts Made By: Eric Conyers

Oops, forgot a couple more:
http://www.olle-eriksson.com/Default.aspx?page=Article&id=107

http://www.njnightsky.com/construction.htm


Eric

How about this Lee, It's the latest project in the workshop.

It's a 5" F/4 RFT built by an ATM up in Washington state in the 50's. The mirror is marked 1952 5" F/4 with a Beral coating sticker on it. The tube had 5 layers of black paint the I stripped off of it, and have only just begun the hard work of sanding and finishing. I plan to replace the seized up R & P focuser with a JMI RCF-1-mini and also replace the spider/secondary holder with one that doesn't move around... I'll keep posting pix as the progress comes along...

The plan is for either a rich red mohagany finish or a merlot cherry finish with black velvet lining the tube and a few more "added touches". The wood is great, lots of worm holes and "oh cr*p I drilled the wrong hole" mistakes...all adding character to a piece that is way older than I am! =)

Eric

I used to have a Discovery 8" F/7 that was marked 56" 8" F/7 on the back, and it was actually f/6.9 when I tested it...

I'd use the marked value on the back and then use the old -- move the mirror cell back and forth in the tube until you reach focus method of getting the primary mounted...That's what I did, and the scope made a great "Mars Killer"...

Eric

Here's another shot...

Eric

Here's the other side(s)....

Eric

Roger,

If you look at my thread further down about the "Latest From the Workshop", the scope that I am working on actually was made by the same guy Orris E. Thompson that made your mirror. The ones (5" F/9.5, 5" f/4) were ground by him and both have the P.A. Clausing stickers on the back as well. The scope that I'm restoring right now is the 5" F/4 and the mirror is marked "52" on the back. A sticker attached to the side of the scope when I got it said that it was over 50 years old, so I'm thinking the "52" may mean 1952...

Eric

Here's a shot of the mirror cell that I made... Pretty nice with the brass knurled nuts and all.

Eric