In 1997 I become interested in Amateur Telescope Making (ATM) again and I decided that my first task would be to rebuild my old scope.
After 24 years the primary mirror was barely reflective and the diagonal mirror wasn't looking too great either. I sent them to P.A. Clausing in Skokie, Illinois to get re coated. This cost about $65 including shipping. In three weeks they arrived looking magically restored, shinny and new.
It turned out that my orignal aluminum scope tube was an inch short. I thought that I could find a new one in the local scrap yard. I soon discovered that it isn't that easy! Finally, Tim at Captains Nautical Supply (Seattle, WA) told me about Hastings Irrigation Pipe Co. in Nebraska (Telephone 402 463-6633). Apparently Hastings is the only company in North America that sells thin walled aluminum tubing suitable for building telescopes.
Hastings sells tubing by the mile (no exaggeration). So when you call'em up and say you want a 40 inch piece of 7 inch tubing they say something like "you mean 40 feet right?". Hey, 40 inches is an Astronomical amount! The tubing was supposed to cost about $30 dollars but with the COD charge (they insisted) it ended up costing $64 dollars! Oh well.
I lined the tube with black flocking purchased from Proto-Star optics and replaced the focuser with a low profile helical focuser from Orion Telescopes.
The rebuilt scope works great (more about that later).
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