Posts Made By: Keith Garrett

Figured out my first question- i knew it would be something simple! Any tips?

Regards;
Keith G

While taking apart my lxd 650 tonight to see how it works, I found it has RA and DEC motors installed ( I am a newbie and never knew this ) The wiring looks like a basic setup for 6 speeds..

Can I get just the hand controller and power source so I can do a manual polar alignment and just track in RA with it? I am not really interested in the 1697 computer, I just want to start trying photography and thought I had to buy a whole new mount to begin.

I would like to post in the classifieds looking for the basic controller, what am I to ask for?

Help!

Keith G
Wolfeboro NH

First, I am a total newbie- and my pic is a drawing from ms paint.

I have a meade 127ed f/9 with collimation screws. I was getting star patterns that looked like
0)))) when in focus, so after a few hours of figuring out how to adjust it with an artificial star I made out of a pinhole and an LED headlamp at 50 yards, it went away. My views dont have comet tails anymore once the scope cools off. What i have resembles the attached image, which I drew up in about 5 seconds in PAINT. Is this from centering? overtightening? cheapo eyepieces? I get this with my TMB planetary 6mm.

Anyone happen to be in NH and wants to tutor me?

Regards;
Keith Garrett
Wolfeboro NH

First, I am a total newbie- and my pic is a drawing from ms paint.

I have a meade 127ed f/9 with collimation screws. I was getting star patterns that looked like
0)))) when in focus, so after a few hours of figuring out how to adjust it with an artificial star I made out of a pinhole and an LED headlamp at 50 yards, it went away. My views dont have comet tails anymore once the scope cools off. What i have resembles the attached image, which I drew up in about 5 seconds in PAINT. Is this from centering? overtightening? cheapo eyepieces? I get this with my TMB planetary 6mm.

Anyone happen to be in NH and wants to tutor me?

Regards;
Keith Garrett
Wolfeboro NH

I picked up an old 2080 with an LX5 drive this week. It has been
sitting in a shed for over 10 years, the OTA was stored indoors most
of the time. It is in pretty rough shape, but was in working order
when stored. I have cleaned most of it up, and now Im trying to figure
out if the LX5 RA drive is working. When you plug it in, and turn it
on, it lights up, and makes the ticking noise- however after sitting
for a few hours, it has not rotated at all. The ticking noise is also
not consistent, 4-5 seconds on, 1 second off. I have not had one of
these before and have no idea what noises it should make.

I took off the front panel, and opened up the bottom, separating the
worm gear from the main gear. The motor seems to turn the worm gear-
but does not turn the forks. The RA lock is engaged, and I have let it
sit for 2 hours twice now, with zero rotation. Any ideas? Am I
missing something simple?

Regards;
Keith G
Wolfeboro NH

I am trying to use a Televue eyepiece projection adapter with my meade 127ed f/9. I am having no luck. I can use prime focus OK, but no matter how I set this thing up, I cannot seem to come into focus using the eyepiece adapter. Are there formulas I can use to determine the approximate distance to the eyepiece, and to the camera to find the focus point? I have tried it with and without the diagonal.

Regards;
Keith Garrett
Wolfeboro NH

I picked up an interesting item today, its a 1950s Astragon f6.3 1000mm camera lens. The previous owner had attached a unitron focuser to it. The optics are a little dirty, but overall the thing needs to be lubricated and cleaned but is in good condition, and I think it will be something fun to play with.

Does anyone know what these things are or have experience with one? The lens is supposedly flourite, though i have not confirmed this. Its 160mm! The aperture is stuck wide open at the moment, and I am hoping for clear skies tonight to try this thing out.
Where should i start with it? Here is the only information i could find online about it.

Regards;
Keith G
Wolfeboro NH

I (think) I lucked out on a certain classifieds website yesterday, and picked up a 4,7,10.5,16.8,28mm set of meade orthos, along with parks 6mm k(kelner?), parks 7mm ortho, and parks 25mm ortho. Included was 11 1.25 filters of various numbers all in a nice case for 100 bucks.
Now the problem, fungus!
I have no idea how long they have had fungus on them, or whether it etched them or not. I have read through some of the posts on cleaning. I really want to get these things back to top shape, other than the spot or two of fungus on each, the coatings look great and the eyepieces look unused. I am going to practice on the parks 7mm.

I would like to somehow soak them in (acentone?), then wash away the few specks of dust and that are stuck, along with the fungus.

How would you guys clean them, or would you not? I saw someone mentioning purosol- where should i start?

I picked this up this week hoping I could finally get something with a working RA motor. The axis all work very smoothly, however when I opened the motor case it had water in it! The motor is corroded, but all the gearing seems in pristine shape. I am under the impression that this is a ds16 mount, but a few things seem different. The latitude adjustment is much beefier than the ds10,16 mounts I have seen online, and it has a fine tune adjustment knob between the RA motor and the base. The dec tangent arm also has a small motor and gearbox on it. The saddle measures 8 inches by 24 inches. Anyone know what model this beast might be? It came with a beat up/destroyed ds10 (if anyone needs parts) and a model 300(towa) attached with rings with VERY clean optics, and just a small dent in the ota.

Regards;
Keith Garrett
Wolfeboro NH

I would like to get an idea of the value of this equipment for resale on Astromart. I would love to say I have the resources and time to refurbish this Star-Finder quality line 10" with 1.75" mount. It is in overall poor shape, but is not beyond restoration. The OTA shows scuff marks, and stress cracks in the paint, but is still in shape.
The spider has two slightly bent arms. The secondary mirror, at minimum, needs to be recoated. It may need to be replaced. The person I bought this off of said the secondary fell off onto the primary. I do not know if the secondary mirror should be the shape it is in the picture shown. The line across where it could be a break looks far too perfect. The primary needs to be recoated, there are no visible chips in the surface, and these are supposed to be 1/20th wave or better. I have included a photo of the only chip, which only goes less than 1mm into the coating on the edge. The focuser works smoothly, and has no visible damage. The finder scope is an 8 x 50, the glass is near perfect with just some dust, but the tube has been dimpled severely from over tightening. There is a second set of rings for mounting a meade model 300 type refractor along the ota length. The rings are solid, but again there are stress cracks in the paint.
I may not sell the model 300, the lens in it appears perfect, with just some light dust. It has the original diagonal which is very dirty, and one 9mm crosshair eyepiece that is probably no good. One 12 inch OTA ring needs to be welded where it has snapped.
Now for the mount:
This mount is a beast, It is the Star-Liner Quality line mount with the 1.75 inch shafts. It moves smoothly in all directions. Someone has also attached a Meade tangent arm to the mount for dec control. There is very little rust. I believe this thing is capable of moving a well balanced motorcycle! I have not weighed the two counterweights. When I dismantled the motor housing, I found a lot of corrosion inside the unit, as well as standing water. All the gears are fine, with no visible wear or damage; however the unit will need a new power switch and AC motor. I would like to list this for sale as a Restoration package, but I have no real idea the actual value. Any advice is welcome!

Regards;
Keith Garrett
Wolfeboro NH