Posts Made By: Jerry Allen

Which filter for a rural area of Nebraska?
Orion SkyGlow, UltraBlock or Lumicon ???

Interests are deep sky and this may include CCD soon, if this makes a difference. I hate to buy and buy and buy...

Thanks

// Jerry

Greetings,

The upper half the OTA mount rings are threaded for attaching additional equipemnt to the OTA... what is the size of this thread/mount point?

Thanks!

// Jerry

Any collimation gods in the group?

First off... the secondary mirror mounting in the corrector plate is loose and the secondary is free to rotate. Horror! Everything is black! Oh man... the secondary is flopping around! I think I have that rotated/adjusted and stabilized but not like I am sue it should be. I rotated the secondary until the reflection of the focuser is centered in the secondary mirror. Tightened best you can without the right tool... The secondary appears somewhat egg shaped, is this egg shape normal? Is this the correct way of adjusting the secondary _rotational_ axis?

Now the rest of the procedure...

Is it worth following the Meade LXD55 manual or shall I just send it in for repair?

Wishing I would have bought anything else but this! I have a 2 year old 5" Celestron G5 SCT that beats this LXD55 SN8 hands down, no comparison.

This was purchased used, so I doubt there is any warranty, but I can try...

Suggestions?

Looks like my damage claims have been denied. Strange the truely confused UPS system is still trying to pickup the telescope, while the UPS rep on the phone tells me that both claims have been denied.

UPS and the insurance companies involved are crap.

Guess I am stuck with a half assed Meade LXD55 SN8. This has been a real lesson in buying for me. I will never again use UPS for shipping and doubt if I will ever buy another item from an online auction. The item was advertised as being like new. I guess with the UPS history on the LXD group, this scope was like new. The new ones have the secondary mirrors falling off, the primary mirros scratched and rotated, the tripods busted etc. but since I did not buy this scope from a dealer or directly through Meade, I have no claim at all. I wounder why I bought insurance? The item is not like new any more and UPS has denied the insurance claim for what reason, I am unsure. This is truley a bunch of crap.

I just got a C8 thru Astromart...
Looks good, Since it is 15 degrees F and snowing I tried to set it up inside for a quick check.

Will not focus.

What is the minimum focus distance (closest object it will focus on)?

Thanks!

I bought a C8 that has a bad/pealed spot 3mm-4mm round on the coating of the main mirror (see below), and mild visible "tarnish" on the main and secondary. The corrector is unscratched and appears perfect to my eye. The views through the scope are OK, not anything to be excited about.

Does the 4mm spot and the tarnish effect the view a whole bunch or is it just degraded a little...? I have nothing to compair with and no clubs within 4-5 hours driving time.

Celestron has priced main mirror and secondary mirror recoating with starbright including aligning the new main with the existing corrector for approx. $325.00.

This would get me new optics and an otherwise excellent condition OTA for a total investment of $615.00.
I see C9.25's going for $800.00-$900.00 and a new C9.25 is $1200.00.

Is the C8 worth the additional $325.00 + shipping to get the new optics?
Would the recoating be obvious in the views?

Thanks!

Is it worth the effort to flock a C8 tube?

I have flocking paper without adhesieve, what type of glue would be "best"?

Thanks!

Not really a building question, more of a re-building question.

I have a C8 that needs the mirrors recoated. Celestron is asking $325.00 for this which I feel is fair but in the interest of economics... (I am scope poor)

Majestic and Spectrum can re-coat these mirrors for 1/3 ($90.00) the costs except silver is more in the Celestron price range.

Silver or Aluminum 98% -vs- 91% reflectivity..?

Can the main mirror be removed from the mirror cell on an SCT by someone without the factory tools to re-collimate?

Thanks!

Are the Edmund RKE 8mm, 12mm 15mm and 21.5mm eyepieces parafocal or close to parafocal?

I think I want a 5 or 6 inch refracter...
Current equipment: Celestron G5, Celestron C8 & LXD55 SN8

There are no clubs within driving distance so no way I can test drive anything.

My main desire is a "better" view of the planets.

Will a 5"/6" refracter be visually better (by a large margin) than an 8" SCT or 8" SNT?