The Great Refractor Maker?

[herbhighstone]

Hello to all the folks --

Long ago, in a galaxy far far away, there was a little planet also named Earth. And on this planet, there lived a Great Refractor Maker. At least, he thought that he was great, and a lot of other people agreed with him. In fact, at least one adoring follower has compared him to a dancing Wu Li master, which means one of the greatest scientific minds ever seen in the civilization of poor little Earth.

How did this Great Refractor Maker actually make his telescopes? In actual fact, he was merely a kit builder. The lenses were ground and polished by an outside contractor, and the Great Maker merely put the lenses in their cells (also made by other people) and did a little touchup figuring. Everything else about the Great Maker's telescopes was also made by outside contractors. The dancing Wu-Li master merely assembled the parts.

So what did the Great Refractor Maker actually make? And why did eager buyers wait for years to obtain one of his sacred telescopes? I wonder! But of course this question has nothing to do with us, does it?

Best wishes from Herbert Highstone

[budguinn]

I'm sure this is very clever, but poor, brain addled idiots like me are very slow on the uptake.

Currently at the AIC in San Jose and am really enjoying a nice show. Some very nice talks by Adam Block, Chris Shur, Steve Cannistra, Neil Flemming and many more.

best regards,

bud

[Rick Keppler]

Originally Posted by herbhighstone

Hello to all the folks --

Long ago, in a galaxy far far away, there was a little planet also named Earth. And on this planet, there lived a Great Refractor Maker. At least, he thought that he was great, and a lot of other people agreed with him. In fact, at least one adoring follower has compared him to a dancing Wu Li master, which means one of the greatest scientific minds ever seen in the civilization of poor little Earth.

How did this Great Refractor Maker actually make his telescopes? In actual fact, he was merely a kit builder. The lenses were ground and polished by an outside contractor, and the Great Maker merely put the lenses in their cells (also made by other people) and did a little touchup figuring. Everything else about the Great Maker's telescopes was also made by outside contractors. The dancing Wu-Li master merely assembled the parts.

So what did the Great Refractor Maker actually make? And why did eager buyers wait for years to obtain one of his sacred telescopes? I wonder! But of course this question has nothing to do with us, does it?

Best wishes from Herbert Highstone

Hmmm, just who ARE you talking about? Come on now, spit it out.

If this is an attack on RC then you are so far off the mark on so many counts it 1) isn't worth responding to, and 2) maybe Herb had it right.

If this is attacking TMB then you are still considerably off the mark since he, to my knowledge, never did touch up figuring. He did design all the optics though, no small feat in itself and for years star tested the same prior to shipping.

Same goes for AN. As far as I know, he doesn't, nor did he ever manually figure anything, but he used to do, and may still do and oversee, all the optical design work.

All of the above people are bright people with skillsets of immense value to the advance of optical design, amateur and some professional astronomy ; but I don't think any one of them would remotely consider themselves Nobel prize candidates.

So, if not one of the ones I listed above, just WHO are you attacking with such inflammitory comments? If it IS one of the above, I've heard plenty enough already.

Rick.

[leicaguy]

Originally Posted by herbhighstone

Hello to all the folks --

Long ago, in a galaxy far far away, there was a little planet also named Earth. And on this planet, there lived a Great Refractor Maker. At least, he thought that he was great, and a lot of other people agreed with him. In fact, at least one adoring follower has compared him to a dancing Wu Li master, which means one of the greatest scientific minds ever seen in the civilization of poor little Earth.

How did this Great Refractor Maker actually make his telescopes? In actual fact, he was merely a kit builder. The lenses were ground and polished by an outside contractor, and the Great Maker merely put the lenses in their cells (also made by other people) and did a little touchup figuring. Everything else about the Great Maker's telescopes was also made by outside contractors. The dancing Wu-Li master merely assembled the parts.

So what did the Great Refractor Maker actually make? And why did eager buyers wait for years to obtain one of his sacred telescopes? I wonder! But of course this question has nothing to do with us, does it?

Best wishes from Herbert Highstone

And your point is.....?

[Spoonsize]

I'm not sure why Herb is afraid having a conversation, he just posts some little bit of trivial tidbit and then runs and hides.

I don't even enjoy reading his long winded diatribes any longer. I't be different if I could disagree with him AND get clarification once in awhile. Not gonna happen, never did on A-Mart and it won't here either.

Steve

[herbhighstone]

Hello to all the folks --

Don't tell me that more Astromart people are arriving? That's very good to see.

The remark about my refusing to enter discussions Astromart is difficult for me to understand. I've had very vigorous discussions on Astromart, before Herb the Great kicked me out for being a little too vigorous.

My point re the "Great Refractor Maker" is simply that the great telescope makers of the past were much more than kit builders. They fabricated a lot of the parts they used, often by personally operating the lathe, drill press, shaper, and etc. But today, the situation seems to be different. You have contractors make all your parts, and then you simply put them together. Which is not the same thing. Or is it?

Best wishes from H.H.

[Spoonsize]

In your original post you only discuss one Great Refractor Maker, and you claim he was "merely a kit builder".
Now you say the Great Refractor Makers were much more than kit builders, and you infer there was more than one.

So which is it?

And just who are these "Great Refractor Makers" of which you speak,
And how do you know which of them did not use outside contractors?

It would be MUCH easier for us to follow and understand your thoughts if you would leave the parables to the Great Parable Tellers.

[herbhighstone]

Hello to all the folks --

It would seem that my style and my way of thinking aren't very well suited to this forum. So it will probably be a good idea for me to leave Astroclassifieds before I cause any further irritation.

I'd like to thank all of you for your candid and honest comments, which were a great help to me in making up my mind concerning this matter.

Best of luck to everyone--

Herb Highstone, Oakland, California

[BT Technologies]

Hello Herb,

I think it would be a pitty if you did not post on Astroclassifieds anymore due to a few people asking legitimate questions.

Your posts are full of a lot of insight but there are details that you leave out that prompts people to ask questions.

The purpose of a forum as you know is the free un-censored exchange of ideas. This is exactly what is happening here and I welcome yours and other peoples input.

Originally Posted by herbhighstone

Hello to all the folks --

It would seem that my style and my way of thinking aren't very well suited to this forum. So it will probably be a good idea for me to leave Astroclassifieds before I cause any further irritation.

I'd like to thank all of you for your candid and honest comments, which were a great help to me in making up my mind concerning this matter.

Best of luck to everyone--

Herb Highstone, Oakland, California

[Canadian]

So you would have us think, that there is nothing to be said for the company, that first designs everything about their scope, maybe makes their own prototype, and then has someone else make the parts and peices for them (to keep the product price low so that we can afford better and better items), so that they can then assemble all the parts and test out the final assembly prior to shipping to their dealers and customers?

Yes, some don't even bother with final assembly. Some company items are just shipped sight unseen by the maker. These items can have a high rate of return, low quality, poor fit and finish or all of the above.

But the others:
1) Check preruns
2) Throw out parts that aren't good enough to put their name on
3) Continually improve their designs and listen to customers suggestions

Isn't this the same thing that you elude certain companys do, except that they have the machines in the back to do it all themselves, but also in doing so, must charge higher prices for their product and have us wait months, sometimes years for their product?

So that we end up with only high end and low end scopes - nothing in the middle?

Where's the fun in that?

And I have nothing against the high end companys.
They turn out a great product.
But I usually can't/dont want to:
1) Wait.
2) Pay that much.

Chrysler, GM, Ford, Bently.
None of these companys make all their own parts "out back".
Are they then to be classified as "kit cars"?