I know nothing about telescopes.

Now that we have that out of the way, what is the tube made out of? It looks like possibly it is made out of painted composite?

If so, I wonder if someone familiar with doing repairs to composite boats, Corvette body work or someone that is building a composite kit airplane could help?

If so, maybe you have a local boat shop, Corvette club or EAA chapter you could inquire with?

Not sure how precise the tube repair needs to be for the function of the telescope to be restored.

Any chance you could use this as an opportunity to upgrade? hopefully to something that can re-use a lot of your eyepieces, mount and viewfinder?

A lot of people buy really nice ones, let them sit in like new condition and then sell for whatever it takes to get rid of them.

quote:

Originally posted by bald1:
Got an offer of a free repair from an experienced guy in Denver but we both agree that a 5.5 - 6 hour road trip each way is a bit much all things considered. Same with shipping....

Don't think of it as a drive to secure a repair. Think of it as an adventure to get out of the house, as a means to meet a fellow enthusiast, and a few good meals along the way. Why not?

Awww man, that's awful. Real sorry about your telescope.

I remember, every once in a while as a kid, my Dad would go through the effort to set up his telescope for us as kids on a few nights and give us a "tour" of the night sky. I didn't realize that some night sky watchers left their scopes set-up all the time, but remembering the work he went through to set it up I can see why.

We still have local wind damage and downed fences from a 100 + m.p.h. wind storm that happened @ 4 years ago.

quote:

Originally posted by bald1:
Interesting as most folks really don't complain about it saying that winds are stronger west like in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Years ago, my father had just left his home well North of Cheyenne and had just gotten on the interstate and made it only a couple miles when a strong gust of wind pushed his Ford Ranger off the icy roads and flipped it over. He walked away fine but the Ranger was totaled.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
We had those winds come through here on Wednesday. My Davis weather station recorded a high gust at 72MPH and some of the mountain top stations in the area were in the 120s.

I've got about a dozen mature ponderosas on my property that are down. Some snapped off like matchsticks and others ripped out by the roots. Hot power lines were down out on my road and they didn't get my power back on until yesterday morning. Even internet and cell service were down for a time.

Thankfully, several years ago I had the foresight to remove any tree that could potentially hit my house. Otherwise, it would have been real ugly. As it is, I've just got a couple of fences to repair and a bunch of wood to cut up.

The Spokane area got hit hard as well. A lot of trees down and 25,000 still without power and a woman killed when a tree fell on her car. We lost no trees because the 2015 wind storm took out the weak ones already but we lost some roof tiles and the tarp over the wood pile is in another county somewhere.

https://www.kxly.com/photos-wi...rthwest/pic/1403847/

Sorry to hear about the damage to your telescope bald1. Hopefully you'll find a way to get it fixed.

Jim

quote:

Originally posted by Modern Day Savage:
I didn't realize that some night sky watchers left their scopes set-up all the time, but remembering the work he went through to set it up I can see why.

Yup. Exactly why one of my sons set it up in the backyard for me. Obviated the difficulties of an old handicapped retiree hauling everything out to set up each time a sky watching session was desired.

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
I’m sorry that you suffered this misfortune bald1. I’m wondering if a Schmidt-Cassegrain or Maksutov would be easier for you to manage than a Newtonian.

I have an Intes-Micro MN56 5" Maksutov-Newtonian OTA (optical tube assembly) available which weighs around 15 lbs as outfitted. Ironically I got the vintage RV6 for something lighter to set up as the monster 80 lb EQ6 the MN56 was on at the time had become impossible for me to handle. I did finally move the scope back to the much lighter (and less capable) EQ4 mount. Still that requires several trips to set up (mount, weights, and scope). The small 3.5" C90 is a decent grab 'n go option, but of course not nearly as good in light gathering as the bigger scopes.

quote:

Originally posted by r0gue:

quote:

Originally posted by bald1:
Got an offer of a free repair from an experienced guy in Denver but we both agree that a 5.5 - 6 hour road trip each way is a bit much all things considered. Same with shipping....

Don't think of it as a drive to secure a repair. Think of it as an adventure to get out of the house, as a means to meet a fellow enthusiast, and a few good meals along the way. Why not?

As I think I may have posted earlier, my health is not good. Been pretty much sequestered here since March. Last road trip was Fall 2019 to see the fall colors in Spearfish Canyon west of me. That little over an hour road trip had me exhausted. I simply can't do that kind of thing anymore. Really miss enjoying my S2000. Only got 2 miles on the clock this past year with my son taking it to air up the tires.

Picture of the interior damage. Spyder arm is bent too.

Is there someone closer to you who is just "handy"?
Replacing the tube requires removing the spider, mirror mount, and focuser mount. Seems it's not that complicated mechanically; and obviously you know what you're doing so could supervise perhaps.

A quick search yielded someone on Astro-Mart who sells scope tubes of different sizes, not expensive:

quote:

Phenolic Tubes:
I am offering to the telescope making community an excellent alternative to cardboard sono tubes! Kraft Phenolic tubing is a resin impregnated paper that is cured in an oven under pressure. The resin makes the tube much stronger than paper alone. The big bonus is that it also becomes moisture resistant and dimensionally stable. The perfect combination for scope builders! It is also much lighter than a typical sono tube. Recently several telescope makers have purchased our tubing for making Dobs and they loved it! Now it is time for us to offer it to the rest of you. These are the only sizes of phenolic tubing currently available. They can be cut to length for you upon request.

PT-6.0: 6" ID x 48" long. ~0.074 wall 36.9 oz. $32.95 each
PT-7.5: 7.5" ID x 48" long. ~0.080 wall 48.1 oz. $38.45 each
PT-11.4: 11.4" ID x 48" long. ~0.125 wall 104 oz. $76.15 each

Link: Astro-Mart

quote:

Originally posted by sjtill:
Is there someone closer to you who is just "handy"?

Not really Doc.

Thanks for the info although I am not a member of astro-mart having left when they started charging for membership.

Did a check measurement of the tube: 7¼" OD x 50" length.

Looks like the angels are smiling on me.

A local amateur astronomer and his friends have offered to rescue / repair my vintage telescope!

That’s great news

Well that is great news. Let us know how it works out. God bless them for offering to help.

quote:

Originally posted by bald1:
Looks like the angels are smiling on me.

A local amateur astronomer and his friends have offered to rescue / repair my vintage telescope!

Good to hear!

Things are looking up for you then.

quote:

Originally posted by bald1:
Looks like the angels are smiling on me.

A local amateur astronomer and his friends have offered to rescue / repair my vintage telescope!

SEE ... good things do come to good people

Thank your lucky stars!

I don’t want to drift your post to far but I have always wanted to have nice beginner telescope. How abut a few options for a nice setup? Budget is not paramount but I don’t want to invest my life savings either. A used setup is ideal especially from a SF member.

If it matters we are in southwestern NC 2,000’ up on a mostly dark mountain side with great sky views especially to the east through south.

quote:

Originally posted by sig229-SAS:
I don’t want to drift your post to far but I have always wanted to have nice beginner telescope. How abut a few options for a nice setup? Budget is not paramount but I don’t want to invest my life savings either. A used setup is ideal especially from a SF member.

If it matters we are in southwestern NC 2,000’ up on a mostly dark mountain side with great sky views especially to the east through south.

Look at this page for bomberbob's post #981 of a FREE vintage Criterion RV6 telescope. Just pay the shipping of $150. You couldn't ask for a better setup and price. He's an experienced amateur with a boatload of gear and SOLID reputation.
https://www.cloudynights.com/t...eaway-thread/page-40

He would need to be PM'ed about this so you'd need to be a forum member there or I'd be happy to relay for you to him if you'd be serious about this.

quote:

Originally posted by bald1:
Looks like the angels are smiling on me.

A local amateur astronomer and his friends have offered to rescue / repair my vintage telescope!

I am so glad for you. It sounds as if astronomy is a passion for you, so we are also thanking your new astronomy friends.

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
Thank your lucky stars!