Posts Made By: Steven Gaber

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I bought an old Meade SN6 from an Astromarter. It had a terrible helical focuser that was balky and frustrating to use. My intent was to eventually give this scope to my son and grandchildren. But they would have quickly lost interest when trying to fus with that old focuser.

I could have gotten a more modern replacement focuser from GSO, but I elected to get one from the Crawford Machine shop to support home-grown craftsmen.

Dan, the man at Crawford, planned to use the mounting base from the old focuser for the new one. Dan said he can make me a 1 1/4" focuser with no problem. But a 2" focuser is proving problematical because there's no way to get the screws and nuts on to mount the new focuser without removing the corretor lens.

So I have a few questions for any users of Meade SN telescopes. How would you install a new focuser?

How difficult is it to remove the corrector lens and get it back on properly.

I'd appreciate answers to these questions soon, because Dan is waiting for me to tell him how to proceed.

Thank you in advance.

Steve Gaber

I have an opportunity to purchase a used Meade SN10 with UHTC coating for a good price. There are used Celestron 9.25s available on AM from time to time a somewhat higher prices.

In the opinion of this august group, which would be better for deep space imaging? The SN10 is much faster at f/4 than the C9.25's f/10.
But the SN10 weighs 30 pounds and the C9.25 only weighs 20 pounds.

I have a non-go-to Losmandy G11 which would handle either. But I would like a go-to mount that is more easily portable than the heavy G11 for visual use. I'm thinking of an Orion Sirius. Or if I can save enough pennies, a G8 with Gemini 2.

I live under the heavily light-polluted skies of Florida's Central Gulf Coast. Sometimes I go to a darker remote area or to Chiefland for really dark skies.

So, given the above scenario, assuming I use the G11 for imaging and the lighter mount for visual, would the SN10 or the C9.25 be more satisfying?

Steven Gaber
Oldsmar, FL

Recently I bought a used Meade SN10. It is in fairly good shape, but I noticed a strange thing.

At the primary end of the scope is a piece of black plastic or plastic-covered cardboard that is loose and moves around. Apparently, it was held in place by glue. When it is really off-center, the actual glass of the mirror back is visible and touchable.

I'm thinking of taking it to the Chiefland Fall Star Party next week, so I wonder if exposing the back of the mirror to the cold, damp night air would be a problem. If so, how do I fix it? Will a glob or two of silicone adhesive take care of it or do I need to seal it off well?

I am considering replacing that cheap-assed plastic focuser with a Moonlight CR with the DC motor drive option.

Anybody have any experience with that set-up?

This thing is a real beast! My wife, looking at the SN10 sitting on my G-11, said its sheer size was intimidating. Lugging it and the G-11 around will build up my upper body strength.

I have a Meade Sn10 mounted on a G11 with the HD tripod. When the scope is pointed to higher altitudes, the eyepiece is about 6'2" above the ground. I'm only 5'9". I'd like to be able to use the scope without a ladder and without turning the scope so the eyepiece is on the bottom. I think I need a shorter tripod.

Looking at a Meade Standard Field tripod that the owner says is only 30 1/2" high. That would bring the scope about 10 or 11 inches lower.

WOULD the Meade Standard Field tripod (with the Losmandy adapter) be adequate to handle the 65 pounds of the mount, plus about 40 pounds of SN10 with Moonlite focuser, ST80 guidescope, QHY-5 guide camera, Nikon D5100, Powermate, dew heaters, 32 pounds of counterweights, etc.?

Thanks for your expertise.

I've been trying to help my friend sell his Meade 8" LX-200 on Astromart. We placed an ad in February that got lots of hits, but didn't sell. The ad disappeared from the listings, although it is still in his "My Classified" section.

Tuesday we tried to relist it. We edited the ad, adding some new photos, some more equipment, with a reduced price. But the revised ad has not appeared among the classifieds.

So do we have to start all over and place a whole new ad?

Thanks for your advice.

Steve Gaber
Oldsmar, FL

I am considering the purchase of an Orion Parsec 8300C camera, but I have one question: Why did Orion stop offering these? It looks like it would be a good camera -- small, cooled, efficient, reasonably priced.

However, I have been told that the Parsec is not compatible with ASCOM Version 6. Maybe that was the reason?

So now I am faced with the dilemma of whether to buy this camera or go with my original plan to buy a Nikon D5300. If I go this route, I will have it modified for astronomical use by Spencer Camera, which will make it comparable to the equivalent model of Canon. (I am a long-time Nikon addict, with many Nikkor lenses that can still be used with the new digital cameras.)

What do you think?

Thanks for your views on the matter.

Steve Gaber
Oldsmar, FL

I am considering the purchase of an Orion Parsec 8300C camera, but I have one question: Why did Orion stop offering these? It looks like it would be a good camera -- small, cooled, efficient, reasonably priced.

However, I have been told that the Parsec is not compatible with ASCOM Version 6. Maybe that was the reason?

So now I am faced with the dilemma of whether to buy this camera or go with my original plan to buy a Nikon D5300. If I go this route, I will have it modified for astronomical use by Spencer Camera, which will make it comparable to the equivalent model of Canon. (I am a long-time Nikon addict, with many Nikkor lenses that can still be used with the new digital cameras.)

What do you think?

Thanks for your views on the matter.

Steve Gaber
Oldsmar, FL

Several times over the past year I flew round trips on Southwest from Tampa to Philadelphia and from Tampa to Sacramento (with a diversion to Tucson) with my SV105T and Minitower. The scope and the mount went in the overhead compartments of the B-737s in their respective aluminum cases. The tripid went with my suitcase as baggage in its original packing which in turn was in a cheap wheeled soft bag.

Some TSA personnel asked about the scope and seemed interested. Others knew what it was. I had no problems. They didn't even ask me to open the cases. However, each of those babies weighed about 30 pounds and the whole assemblage (including my suitcase, my wife's, her handbag, the scope, the MiniTower with its 10-pound counterweight, plus a computer) was a bear to drag around those large airports. I commandeered wheel chairs to transport all that stuff. Nobody said anything about that either. Wouldn't have been so bad if airport authorities provided carts to go from one gate to another, but they didn't.

Steve

Finally, the bolts are out. The problem was solved, but not by me.

Since there are no longer any telescope repair shops in this area, I had the idea to see if a machine shop could help me. No machine shops wanted to take on the job.

Then I had a stroke of genius: a gun shop! they work on rifle scopes, so why not?

I found one, the guy did the job in 15 minutes for $10. Fantastic.

There were two reasons why I couldn't get those bolts out.
1. They were not 2mm Allen bolts. They were Star-headed bolts, which was difficult to see. I messed up the heads of two of the bolts in my attempts to remove them with an Allen wrench. The gunsmith had to drill those two out.

2. The bolts had embedded themselves in the cheap-ass plastic hold-down ring, which I thought was aluminum.

After finishing grading my exams and papers I will proceed with the installation of the focuser.

Thanks for your support on this issue.

Steve Forbes, formerly an iOptron dealer and the guy who sold me my Minitower, made a special wedge for the MT that allowed equatorial mounting. It is now very nicely made by ADM and costs about $400. Of course, but the time you spend $800 for the minitower, plus $400 worth of upgrades Forbes did to mine to make it more stable, then add $400 for the wedge, you could buy a pretty high-quality GEM mount (Losmandy GM8, Celestron CGEM, Orion EQG etc.) that will do astro-imaging easily and better.