Astronomy Alive has done refurbishment, complete rebuild, replacement of worn parts and full upgrade and servicing of telescopes and binoculars from all around Australasia.
Some examples of our work are described below:
Carl Zeiss Jena Binoculars
Highly prized 1960's Zeiss Jena 7 X 50 "Binoctem" binoculars
Refurbishment of worn body & worn out parts, plus replacement of damaged parts
Collimation (optical alignment of system)
Restored to fully operational capability
Japanese WW2 Naval Binoculars
Massive Naval 6 inch (150mm) aperture binoculars
Total rebuild due to worn out & jammed mechanicals, including replacement of worn parts
Restored to operational capability
Unitron 75mm Refracting Telescope System
Complete rebuild - including tube stripping, re powdercoating & replacement of damaged/ lost parts
Outstanding example of one of Japan's finest from the 1980's
Royal 76mm Refracting Telescope System
Service of Royal's best refractor
Full service, including finding some rare parts that were missing from customer's componentry
Fully restored to as new condition
Beautiful example of Royal of Japan's most famous refractor
Taiwanese 85mm Refracting Telescope
Service of York 85mm/ 1000mm refractor on Eq3
Full upgrade, including replacement of missing parts
Now fully operational
Unitron 100mm Refracting Telescope System
Service of Unitron's most famous telescope
Replacement of broken parts & sourcing rare & ultra hard to find original componts from Europe & USA
Full refurbishment - restored to first class presentation condition
Superb example of Japan's most famous 1980's refractor
Hand Crafted Solid Jarrah Tripod
Ultra high power visual 105mm Refractor project
Customer requires ultra high magnification - 400X PLUS
Commercial tripods Dampening Rate & Structural capabilities unacceptable to customer
Solid hardwood Jarrah & hand crafted aluminium tripod for advanced level capability
Hand Crafted Auminium Focuser Cell & Telescope Tube
Example - 6 inch aperture - Hand Crafted replacement telescope tube
Including replacement Hand Crafted 4 inch focuser cell
1200mm tube length for Takahashi FS152 refractor
Aluminisation Process
Stripping & custom premium quality re - aluminisation of telescope mirror
Sizes capability to 16 inches aperture
Using unique - "Single Optic process" where ONE optic is placed in the epicentre of the aluminisation chamber ONLY
Silicone dioxide overcoating to ensure maximum service life
Meade 8 inch LX200 Reflecting Telescope
Repair of control system
Re - aluminisation of optics & replacement of lost parts
Repaired to fully operational capability
Hand Crafted Aluminium Mirror Cell
Large aperture 14.5 inch Primary mirror cell for Advanced level telescope
Customer was unprepared to accept the quality of any globally available mirror cell
Customer wanted exceptional Zero stress capability for 14.5 inch 1/32 wave P/V Primary mirror
Final telescope system is capable to over 450 Magnifications PIN SHARP
(Footnote - primary cell uses hand crafted aluminium clips modified from Aston Martin drivetrain)
Royal 100mm Reflecting Telescope System
Full restoration & total salvage project - Royal's popular 100mm reflector
We have restored over a dozen of these systems in the last decade alone
Very popular with very good optical performance
Some of these have looked terrible when coming to us, we have stripped, sand blasted, painted, powercoated and replaced components and turned these systems back into operating examples of this classic
These systems deserve saving - as Japanese quality from the 1970's is always worth the effort