I am the proud new owner of a lx5 10" meade givin to me by a coworker but it sat in a carport with the back off and was full of dead bugs. I did manage to vacuum the bugs out by carefully getting a hose into the OTA but inside of the corrector is very dirty. My question is how would I go about getting it off to clean inside of it?
Filthy optics
Started by Spogatz, 05/30/2003 10:13PM
Posted 05/30/2003 10:13PM
Opening Post
Posted 05/30/2003 11:54PM
#1
Chuck, it should be as easy as removing some screws, but depending on how the corrector was centered it may require some patience. Two things to bear in mind:
You want to return the corrector to the same orientation, not a rotated one, so mark it somehow--that blue painter's tape is great stuff--peals off without leaving a residue, or use some kind of felt pen and clean up afterwards with a q-tip and some rubbing alcohol. Just mark it somehow in a non-damaging way so that you can put it back exactly the same way.
Second, the corrector may be centered in the holder using shims. If so, be methodical, mark and record what you need to in order to return everything the way it was when you put the corrector back. Otherwise you might lift off the corrector and the shims just go flying--not good.
And there is a third thing. Don't drop it. :-)
I'd clean with cotton balls soaked with isopropyl alcohol diluted with distilled water. If the secondary is also dirty, you'll probably want to clean it as well, but its coatings are more easily damaged, so seek advice on how to go about it. I'd be inclined to clean it first, treating it like a Newtonian primary, but I've never had occasion to clean the secondary of an SCT, and I'm only ASSUMING it has an SiO2 overcoat (otherwise it should be touched only by air or liquid). I'm sure Uncle Rod (Mollise) knows all about this stuff, so if he's lurking he might pipe up here, or you can find his web page with a Google search I'm sure.
--
Mike
You want to return the corrector to the same orientation, not a rotated one, so mark it somehow--that blue painter's tape is great stuff--peals off without leaving a residue, or use some kind of felt pen and clean up afterwards with a q-tip and some rubbing alcohol. Just mark it somehow in a non-damaging way so that you can put it back exactly the same way.
Second, the corrector may be centered in the holder using shims. If so, be methodical, mark and record what you need to in order to return everything the way it was when you put the corrector back. Otherwise you might lift off the corrector and the shims just go flying--not good.
And there is a third thing. Don't drop it. :-)
I'd clean with cotton balls soaked with isopropyl alcohol diluted with distilled water. If the secondary is also dirty, you'll probably want to clean it as well, but its coatings are more easily damaged, so seek advice on how to go about it. I'd be inclined to clean it first, treating it like a Newtonian primary, but I've never had occasion to clean the secondary of an SCT, and I'm only ASSUMING it has an SiO2 overcoat (otherwise it should be touched only by air or liquid). I'm sure Uncle Rod (Mollise) knows all about this stuff, so if he's lurking he might pipe up here, or you can find his web page with a Google search I'm sure.
--
Mike
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