Sky & Telescope Magazine December 2012 - TuLaTri.com

Gary Seronik
Telescope Workshop
Pimp Your StarBlast
Here’s how several readers have customized Orion’s popular refl ector.
One of the best ways
to dip a toe into the
telescope-making waters is to modify an existing instrument.
In addition to getting some valuable hands-on
experience, you’ll also end up with a piece of gear that’s
uniquely your own. The popular 4½-inch StarBlast refl ector
from Orion Telescopes & Binoculars is a good customization
candidate. It’s basic, relatively inexpensive, and, as
several have reported, fun to modify.
One striking example of a cosmetic upgrade is Ed
Neuzil’s faux wood-tubed StarBlast. “I used contact
cement to glue a thin veneer
of cherry wood onto a 5½-inch
phenolic model-rocket tube,”
Ed explains. He fi nished it
off with a couple of coats of
orange-tinted polyurethane
that he buff ed to a high-gloss
fi nish with automotive polish-
Ed Neuzil
ing compound.
Ed says that if were to do it
again, he’d use a stronger material called “blue tube” from
Apogee Components (www.apogeerockets.com). Because
his new tube was thicker than the scope’s original metal
tube, the front and rear fi ttings had to be changed. “The
rear cell is from another scope that had the right inside
diameter,” he explains. “The front ring is actually several
strips of 1-inch-wide veneer laminated onto the tube and
painted black.” The fi nished scope is wonderfully elegant
and evokes a 19th-century aesthetic. (Readers can contact
Ed at ngc7332@gmail.com.)
On the wish list for many StarBlast owners is a focuser
for 2-inch eyepieces. But as Paul Starr discovered, making
this mod isn’t quite as simple as swapping the stock
focuser for a new one, since the replacement unit needs to
be the same height. “I looked into changing the focuser
several times in the past and
couldn’t fi nd anything appropriate
that didn’t approach the
price of the scope itself,” Paul
recalls. Eventually he came
upon an inexpensive helical
focuser by Meridian Telescopes
(www.meridiantelescopes.com).
Paul Starr
Paul had to fi rst enlarge the
66 December 2012 sky & telescope
exiting focuser hole by trimming the tube with tin snips.
To provide a suffi ciently robust connection for the new
focuser, he fabricated a mounting plate from 20-gauge
sheet metal, attached the focuser to the plate, and then
bolted the whole assembly to the scope.
The result is a StarBlast that better suites Paul’s
observing needs. “I can now use heavy, well-corrected
2-inch eyepieces for really wide fi elds of view,” he reports.
“The new focuser improves the utility of the scope and
was well worth the money, time, and eff ort to install.”
(Paul can be reached at pstarr7@yahoo.com.)
One of the StarBlast’s greatest virtues is that it works
for many diff erent observing
tasks. “I’ve been interested in
observing satellites since the
days of Sputnik,” John Graham
recounts. “I tend to use scopes
with wide fi elds of view, so the
StarBlast seemed like it would
be a fi ne satellite tracker.”
The stock StarBlast mount
is simple and sturdy, but it
lacks setting circles. For John,
this was a mod waiting to hap- John Graham
pen. “I designed a set of setting
circles using a CAD program, printed them out on
heavy card stock, and laminated them onto foam-core sheets
with clear packing tape.”
The setting circles help him aim the scope at a point
along the target satellite’s fl ight path. “I use a program
called SatSpy, which prepares tables listing a satellite’s
altitude and azimuth at 1-minute intervals,” John explains.
“I set the telescope to a position listed in the table, wait for
the satellite to appear, and then follow it across the sky.”
The setting circles assist with more than just satellite
tracking. Using a software package that provides
real-time altitude and azimuth coordinates, John also
locates diffi cult deep-sky objects by dialing in their positions.
From Earth-orbiting satellites to the depths of the
universe — now that’s a versatile scope. (John can be
e-mailed at john.graham@udri.udayton.edu.) ✦
Contributing editor Gary Seronik has his own modifi ed Star-
Blast featured on his website, www.garyseronik.com.