Post by GrahamP on Jun 15, 2020 6:11:41 GMT -5
Hi everyone! I have joined the iStar scope club so that I can share my experiences around purchasing and building an iStar OTA.
My background may be of interest. I am an Aeronautical Engineer by profession and worked around 15 years for the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation, later Australian Aircraft Consortium, still later Hawker de Havilland Victoria (all from the same base). I worked in structures, design and liaison engineering. I also designed a light aircraft which is on my YouTube channel. This has put me in good stead to design and build my dream telescope tube!
More recently I have worked for around 15 years in marine navigation aids and aviation lighting with Sealite and Avlite Systems. I have been blessed to be actively designing structures and mechanical systems, and have also designed quite a number of Sealite's LED optics including straight through and total internal reflective designs. While LED optics are entirely different to instrument optics, I am well familiar with ray tracing so feel confident about designing tube baffling. We shall see.
As a young adult I built up a 6" F6 reflector using parts purchased from Astro-Optical supplies in Melbourne. I built my own cumbersome, motor driven mount. Although setup took an agonising 45 minutes of heavy lifting, I did some great viewing. I used to drool over the 4" Unitrons that were set up in the Astro-optical store. I recall they were around $3500 (might be wrong) which was a lot in the late 70s. I became setup weary and eventually sold everything off...
Forward to last year. I just started picking around Ebay and discovered that the whole telescope scene had changed dramatically. Refractors were now available-a-plenty and for ridiculous prices. I picked up a SW 90, then Saxon 100, then SW 150 and the race was on (Eyepieces had also changed beyond all recognition. I just love the long eye relief on new designs. (Televue wasn't even around when I first quit the hobby).
And, I saw iStar and what they were offering. I became determined to purchase and build a substantial refractor as I love the refractor characteristics that are so much espoused.
Long story short, I took delivery of an iStar 180 F/8 R30 on May 5th this year. The journey begins!
Graham
My background may be of interest. I am an Aeronautical Engineer by profession and worked around 15 years for the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation, later Australian Aircraft Consortium, still later Hawker de Havilland Victoria (all from the same base). I worked in structures, design and liaison engineering. I also designed a light aircraft which is on my YouTube channel. This has put me in good stead to design and build my dream telescope tube!
More recently I have worked for around 15 years in marine navigation aids and aviation lighting with Sealite and Avlite Systems. I have been blessed to be actively designing structures and mechanical systems, and have also designed quite a number of Sealite's LED optics including straight through and total internal reflective designs. While LED optics are entirely different to instrument optics, I am well familiar with ray tracing so feel confident about designing tube baffling. We shall see.
As a young adult I built up a 6" F6 reflector using parts purchased from Astro-Optical supplies in Melbourne. I built my own cumbersome, motor driven mount. Although setup took an agonising 45 minutes of heavy lifting, I did some great viewing. I used to drool over the 4" Unitrons that were set up in the Astro-optical store. I recall they were around $3500 (might be wrong) which was a lot in the late 70s. I became setup weary and eventually sold everything off...
Forward to last year. I just started picking around Ebay and discovered that the whole telescope scene had changed dramatically. Refractors were now available-a-plenty and for ridiculous prices. I picked up a SW 90, then Saxon 100, then SW 150 and the race was on (Eyepieces had also changed beyond all recognition. I just love the long eye relief on new designs. (Televue wasn't even around when I first quit the hobby).
And, I saw iStar and what they were offering. I became determined to purchase and build a substantial refractor as I love the refractor characteristics that are so much espoused.
Long story short, I took delivery of an iStar 180 F/8 R30 on May 5th this year. The journey begins!
Graham
