How did you end up getting your RV6 (2024)

I have become an amateur machinist because of astronomy. It was a natural and I have no regrets. My shop now sports two lathes, two mills, two drill presses, two hydraulic presses, surface grinder, all sorts of drill bits, taps, dies, metric and SAE, measuring devices, granite surface plate, and two tall chests full of stuff to use on those machines. All because of astronomy.

If you know such a person, take your shafts to him and have him turn them while holding steel wool or fine abrasive paper against them. Presto, like new again. Problem being that he area where they fit into the casting will have to be kept the correct diameter or shimmed with brass. But they usually don't rust in that place.

If anyone is the least mechanical, think about starting a side hobby. A small 6" lathe can be had for $400 and a matching mill, which is also a precision drill press, is around $600. Yes, I buy imported stuff but the amount of usage I give them is slight and I am able to I prove them when necessary. The two words to start with are Harbor Freight. It is habit forming, and being able to make your own little parts and adaptors is SOOOO nice.

Purchase a trade school or high school text book on machine shop practices (that's how I did it at age 35) and start reading. See if you like it, then pay a visit to a H-F store, or similar, and check out what you can use. These tools do not change much over the years so they can be passed down to your next generation. I am using some that my father bought in the 1930's. A lathe is a lathe. A 1/4x20 tap has not changed in a hundred years.

Just a thought for you all that can think in terms of .001" and like shiny new instruments. Micrometers, calipers, &etc. And these things don't depreciate like cars, hamburgers and clothes.

No, I do not work for, nor own stock in H-F or any other such firm.

Rod Mollise

Mine is probably a common story. Back in the day, in the 60s, I admired the
RV-6 and the Edmund Super Space Conqueror mightily. But I couldn't come
close to affording either. I'd have been mowing lawns till I graduated.

When I finally could afford one in the mid 70s, I found I could afford More
Better Gooder in the form of an 8-inch Cave...which morphed into a C8...and
on and on...

Till just a couple of years ago, a kind gentleman winding down to retirement
asked if I could use an RV-6 with my public outreach and/or my astronomy
students at the university. I said "sure," and finally had one of my own. It
is a fine, fine scope when equipped with modern, quality eyepieces and I
love it.

:-)

Peace,
Rod Mollise
Rod's new book:
_Choosing and Using a New CAT_
Time to waste? Waste it with Uncle Rod's Astro Blog:

http://uncle-rods.blogspot.com/

Rod Mollise

Oh, lest I forget... I name all my telescopes and my RV-6 told me her name
is "Cindy Lou."

;-)

Peace,
Rod Mollise
Rod's new book:
_Choosing and Using a New CAT_
Time to waste? Waste it with Uncle Rod's Astro Blog:

http://uncle-rods.blogspot.com/

I don't really remember getting my RV-6, I was about 6 years old, the date on the motor is 9/75 so its just a little younger than I am. I know it was purchased for me with all the birthday and Christmas money I had built up at that age. The clock drive didn't work. It came with 2 of the original eyepeices (the 18mm and the 12.5mm). The finder scope was not the original, it was really to big to fit in the rings properly and couldn't be adjusted.
My dad drill holes in the the saucer feet and put casters on it so I could move it since it was way to heavy for me to lift. I had no idea the tube came off ithe peir till high school.
Once I was older (say 10 or so) I remember wheeling it out of the garage and across the street to the park. I would then have to walk it from foot to foot to get it away from the street. Then I had to go back and get the stool out of the kitchen to use it since I'm short.
It got used off and on, spending most the time in the back garage, we dont want to even talk aobut how many years there wasn't even a dust cover on it.
The mirror was recoated in 2002 (it needed it badly for at least 10 years). I have replaced the mirror cell since the old one had cracked. That required drilling new holes. The the exterior of the tube is painted black to cover up some fiberglas repairs that were made to it. I've put a new spotter scope on it. Its been abused and neglected over the years but I still have it as my primary scope.

A picture: http://www.teuse.net/astro/equipment/rv-6.jpg

--
Shawn Moore <smoore@...>
http://www.teuse.net

In 1997 my 5 year old and 7 year old asked me what Hale-Bopp was and why it looked different than any other things in the sky.

Then I remembered seeing an "old" telescope in my father-in-laws barn. I asked about it and was told I could have it.

I took it home blew out the cob webs and dust. Had no idea how to align or use it. Did some research on the new fangled World Wide Web on my new AOL Dial Up connection.

Little did I know what a true diamond in the rough I had.

I found the originator (or one of the originators) of this group who put up a MS Word Doc on how to refurb an RV6.

I stripped it to its nuts and bolts spread out all over my garage, sent the optics to QSP to be re-coated, and rebuilt it.

First light was amazing, note all I had was the 9 and 18 original eyepieces.

The first night of viewing ended at 3:30 am. When I had it all put back in my garage, I noticed a strange orange globe on the eastern horizon, so I got it all out again and saw Saturn for the first time.
Ran upstairs and woke my lovely bride, made her come out in her nighty to see Saturn, got the requisite "That nice honey".

The rest is hours and hours of use by me, my family, overnights with scouts, overnights with young indian guides, overnights with school outings, etc.

Now I am re-rebuilding it. The brass bushings in the RA and DEC are too wobbly for much decent observing. OTA is still like new, however 13 years on the coatings are probably time for a redo as well.

I probably qualify as a youngster on here. I didn't drool over the 60s-70s
rv6s in the magazines because I wasn't around at the time. I wasn't born
until '81, and wasn't interested in astronomy (for obvious reasons) for at
least a couple years after that. I did grow up reading quite a bit of
Arthur Clarke and other science fiction writers (mostly Clarke).

I got my first taste of real astronomy in college (Berry College) while
working for the physics department when the professor, noting my
inclination in that direction, let me clean up a couple of old 6"
newtonians the department had lying around in exchange for letting me
borrow them whenever. They were not RV6s, but they were decent (I think
the name of Edmunds Scientific was on one or both of them, but I'm not
sure). Since I worked for the department, I got the professor to sign me
into an already full astronomy class as a freshman. Shortly after that I
founded the college astronomy club.

Our astronomy club more or less had free reign with the campus observatory
and the 8" and 14" SCTs that were housed there (mostly because I worked for
the department and the professors trusted me). We hosted a great meteor
shower party for the leonids in 2001. Of course, the next year I did get
slightly reprimanded when a family friend who worked for the local paper
asked me about a meteor shower party we were having and it ended up on the
front page of the paper (at least it was below the fold . . .) and we had
probably about 1000 people show up with the only parking available being a
muddy field at the end of a dirt road. And it got cloudy real quick. It's
amazing how many people don't think to look up at the sky before going to a
meteor shower party . . .

In my last semester, I had a roommate whose parents had just bought a lake
house. In the basem*nt of the lake house, they found a telescope. Without
talking to his parents, my roommate offered it to me and I said
"absolutely". I think his dad was a little sore that he didn't get to sell
it, but they did give it to me. It was an RV-6 and I found this weird
online email group of people who still talked about these scopes. I fixed
it up, flocking the inside, replacing the spider (which fell apart in my
hands) with a circular one, and the focuser with a similar version that was
suggested on here. I also painted it black and swapped the felt on the
tube rings for teflon so it will rotate in the rings. The motor does run,
but never tracked well. I never did take the time to sort that out. Most
of the time I was lugging it somewhere else far enough away from a power
source that it was going to be unplugged anyway.

I lugged it out to Huntsville, where I interned with NASA. I lugged it up
North to Dartmouth College for grad school where I got my masters. I used
it to watch the lunar eclipse on the Dartmouth Green the night the Red Sox
beat the Yankees in the ALCS in 2004. I'm afraid it's been a couple years
since I've used it now. I should pull it out of the basem*nt one of these
days and dust it off.

I should also get back to work.

Matt

Eugene Williamson

On Feb 27, 2012, at 3:22 PM, ldbeachtec50 wrote:

Whats yours and how did you get it?

Mine was purchased by my junior high school back in the early 70s. Given that we are in Oregon where much of our decent observing weather occurs during the summer, the RV6 got little use. Finally the custodian got tired of storing the thing, so the school asked me to store it in my basem*nt. For 25 years I stored it in my basem*nt, hauling it out for star parties with my accelerated earth science classes a couple of times a year. I kept asking the district to take the thing off my hands, and they continued to decline. When I moved to the Oregon coast in 2003 I took one more shot at getting a school or the district to take the scope. They were more interested in NCLB than in the night sky and told me to just hang on to the thing. They would let me know if anyone wanted it. So it came to the coast with me. I'm not sure if I own it or if I am still babysitting it. My wife gets real tired of tripping over the pier, and I am looking for some stargazer in Oregon who would like to help with restoration of the scope. If I find the right school or club I would probably be willing to let the thing go.

At the moment we have clouds, rain, and impending 70 mph winds, so I suspect I won't be looking at anything in tonight's sky.

Gene

"We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started... and know the place for the first time." T.S. Eliot

S C Wise

Hi Folks,

I don't post a lot but I do read and learn as much as possible from this group. Lots of great info!

How I got my scope? Well, I've always been interested in star gazing and during the 1990s started acquiring various telescopes with the hope of seeing MORE in the night skies. I've got this thing about finding good stuff in thrift stores so that was my primary source.

Like many ignorant beginners, the first scope I found (and easiest to find) was a 60mm refractor "department store" telescope. Needless to say I wasn't very impressed with what it could do. But, as a result, I began to learn what would do a better job. At some point I found a 4" Newtonian reflector and found that that worked a bit better than the 60mm. It, unfortunately had a pretty flimsy mount.

Then one day I was in a local thrift store and noticed a BIG box filled with large, mysterious metal pieces. As I surveyed the contents I figured out that, put together, it would make a telescope mount. It was marked with a price of over $100 which was too rich for my blood so I left it sitting there. Well, when I noticed that it was still there a few weeks later, I talked with the store manager. I explained that it was a telescope mount and that if the motor drive didn't work (this could not be tested in the store) the whole thing wouldn't be worth much at all. Plus, the thing was HEAVY and BULKY and not many people would care to lug it out of the store. I convinced her to let it go for $40. : - )

On first seeing the mount I had made note of the shipping label (on the original box) which had Criterion's company name on it. So, after doing some internet searching it was generally clear just what it was. Needless to say, I was very disappointed there was no scope with it, considering particularly that the mounting rings were 7+ inches ID across. Now THAT would be a nice scope to have! Much better than my little 4" Newtonian. But, since the 4"er had a fairly wimpy mount, I rigged up some spacers so I could mount it in the Criterion's 7 1/4 inch rings. It made for a MUCH more solid mount than the original. I felt like I was part way to having a fairly nice set up.

Well, weeks, maybe even a month or two went by and what would you know, . . . One day, in the same thrift store, I noticed this long box about 12" square on the ends. As I approached it and looked closely, I saw the same Criterion name on the box's shipping label (!!!! Could I be that lucky?). I opened the box and found the scope that went with the mount - an RV 6 Criterion Dynascope!

Having looked the mount up on the internet I knew what was supposed to go with it. The OTA was in dusty but in otherwise nice shape. There were no eye pieces and no finder scope, but that was okay with me. If I remember right, it was marked at $100. But I had walked in just before the store closed and, back at that time, this store had a 50% off everything in the store in their schedule for the next day. Could I really be that lucky? I just had to hope that no one came in after me and grabbed it up. Of course, I planned on being there the next day, even before the store opened, to be sure I was first in the door so I could claim this prize.

Come the next morning I set out for this thrift store which was almost 20 miles away. Indeed I did get there before opening. However, I saw at least one other person sitting in the parking lot (a fellow who looked to be in his early 60s) looking like he was also waiting for the store to open. I kept a sharp eye on the store's front door ready to make my play. Upon seeing a clerk walking around inside and moving in the general direction of the front door (at about opening time) I made my move and walked swiftly. I got there before anyone else and walked in a split second after the lock was turned. I grabbed a shopping cart and headed for that long box.

Yes! It was still there! No one had slipped in the evening before and grabbed it up. I was quite happy. : - ) And, if I remember correctly, the other fellow waiting in the parking lot actually came up to me as I began to load the box onto the shopping cart and made it fairly clear that he knew what was in the box. I do think he was there to get it himself. Unfortunately for him, he was not the earliest (or quickest) bird that morning.

As I checked out, the store manager (who I'd made the deal with for the mount) told me that they'd just found the scope in the back. Considering the shape of the box, they'd thought it was an artificial Christmas tree and had left it sitting in the back room until early November. In the process of bringing it out to the store front they realized that it was not actually a fake x-mas tree. It did, however, make a very nice (early) Christmas gift!

So, it ends up, I got my Criterion RV6 Dynascope and mount for a grand total of $90. It cleaned up nicely and really was in nice shape. I've gotten an OEM finder scope for it (thanks to info supplied via this group) and have a functional set of eye pieces (none are originals though).

Another fun fact about my scope is that after using it to find comet Machholz (C/2004 Q2) in the fall of 2004 (one of my first successful efforts to locate a faint deep sky object) I was able to meet Don Machholz in the summer of 2005. He gave a talk at the Cherry Springs Star Party in NW PA. He had actually used an RV6 to find this comet. He is a very humble and friendly guy and got a kick out of it when I asked him to sign my RV6 - which he happily did. While I found a couple other RV8s being used at the star party, I think I was the only one there with an RV6.

Story over.

S C Wise

Excellent, I was on a chartity shop and they had some old binoculars, I got them for £5 ($7???) got them home, cleaned and stripped them down and reassembled - Noctovist 8x30http://www.flickr.com/photos/binoculars/3111514986/ I found some on evilbay for around £35 - well worth hunting 'old glass' they can and do work better than modern so called better equipments

Best wishes and happy hunting

Martin

To: dynascope@...
From: rockbobster2mars@...
Date: Sun, 4 Mar 2012 16:11:21 +0000
Subject: [dynascope] Re: How did you end up getting your RV6

Now that is an awesome tale of putting 2 and 2 together and getting 100. Very intrepid of you to case the scope out and pounce on it when you got the chance. I hope you got a chance to invite your competitor over for some viewing sessions, as these scopes are meant to be shared.

--- In dynascope@..., S C Wise <sc_wise@...> wrote:

Hi Folks,

I don't post a lot but I do read and learn as much as possible from this
group. Lots of great info!

How I got my scope? Well, I've always been interested in star gazing
and during the 1990s started acquiring various telescopes with the hope
of seeing MORE in the night skies. I've got this thing about finding
good stuff in thrift stores so that was my primary source.

Like many ignorant beginners, the first scope I found (and easiest to
find) was a 60mm refractor "department store" telescope. Needless to
say I wasn't very impressed with what it could do. But, as a result, I
began to learn what would do a better job. At some point I found a 4"
Newtonian reflector and found that that worked a bit better than the
60mm. It, unfortunately had a pretty flimsy mount.

Then one day I was in a local thrift store and noticed a BIG box filled
with large, mysterious metal pieces. As I surveyed the contents I
figured out that, put together, it would make a telescope mount. It was
marked with a price of over $100 which was too rich for my blood so I
left it sitting there. Well, when I noticed that it was still there a
few weeks later, I talked with the store manager. I explained that it
was a telescope mount and that if the motor drive didn't work (this
could not be tested in the store) the whole thing wouldn't be worth much
at all. Plus, the thing was HEAVY and BULKY and not many people would
care to lug it out of the store. I convinced her to let it go for $40.
: - )

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