Monday, July 17, 2006

Lenses--check (part two)! Confusion: Double check!

I finally got my lenses from Surplus Shed. Some surprises, lots of confusion. I thought the eyepiece set would be all in a little metal thingie, but it's just three pieces of glass all loose! So I have no freaking clue what to do with that. Plus the three lenses are labeled "eyepiece" (okay), "middle" (uh--middle of what?), and "field" (uh---huh?). So I'm confused--are these three pieces supposed to go together? So I read the little letter that came with them, and it has some "tips" for mounting--one of which says to place the three pieces "as close together as possible" and then wrap masking tape around them. ?? The lenses are convex--how can you put them together in any stable way? Very confused here. They attached some copies of different lens set-ups, but they were no help either.

The other lens I got, the objective lens, is what I expected (just the lens, not mounted).

The other problem is that they are a diameter that doesn't fit into any standard PVC pipe size, so I'm not sure how to get around that.

I need a book or something. Maybe I'll go to the library and find a book about scope-making. If only I hadn't been scared away from my original dream profession (astronomer/astronaut) by all the math and Mr. Steussey in 5th grade. Big jerk. I liked math until I met him.

Sigh. I'm a little disappointed with my own lack of knowledge here. I guess it will take some more research and some creativity. Better start reading. . . .

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