Posts Made By: Donald Durbin

I heard something come loose in my C9.25 last night. When I brought it in I could see a loose nut in the tube. I believe the nut came off a recessed phillips head screw on the front tube ring. I can see that the other screws have nuts and I see one that does not.

I took the visual back off but I cannot reach it with my magnetic pickup and I am afraid of scratching up the inside of the visual back tube if I use a coat hanger with a small wad of tape.

Should I take the fround corrector off? If so how does it come off? I have heard that orientation of the corrector is important.

Any ideas welcome.

Don Durbin
Salem, Ohio

I have a C9.25 on an LXD55 goto mount. I think it works fine. It balances well with only one weight. The longer length of the weight arm on the LXD55 helps.

I have heard that the LXD55 mount and a CG5 mount are very similar.

Don Durbin
Salem, Ohio

To any and all who are interested.

I received the new focal reducer from Harry today. It is basically the size of a 1.25 filter. It screws into the bottom of the Blacknight Binoviewer just like any 1.25 filter. I had no trouble reaching focus with this new FLR. I was able to try it out on M31 Andromeda and I found for once I was able to use my 24mm wide angle lenses with my C9.25 without over magnifying Andromeda. Although I have to confess that every time I look at Andromeda with a new toy I am always expecting a little more than what I get.

The only thing about the new focal reducer that I was concern about was that it looked like I might not have enough threads to screw a filter into the end of it. I was pleasantly surprised when my Orion skyglow filter threaded two full turns into the bottom of it with no problem. I have a 1.25 Lumicon UHC filter on the way. I can't wait to try it out on M42 with the binoviewer and the focal reducer.

I do not see any reason that you could not use this on any 1.25 binoviewer that is threaded for filters. It also does not take up hardly any room in your binoviewer carrying case. Although it might be hard to find if you drop it in the grass at a star party.

I guess I will have to be extra careful with it. I donated a couple of lens caps to the grass at the last star party.

Don Durbin

Does anyone have any idea on how long it take for Celestron to turn around a scope that has been sent in for cleaning and alignment?

Thanks
Don Durbin

To All Refractor owners,

Have you ever tried bypassing the diagonal and going straight into your refractor with your binoviewers?

You will find in most cases you can reach focus without the use of your OCA. It will also give you some very nice images. Even if you are using 1/10 wave diagonals you will still get a slight increase in light throughput.

It is of course a literal pain in the neck as soon as you get on a target 30 degrees or more above the horizon. I find a reclining lawn chair with a high refractor mount works the best. It is still a pain in the neck but a bit more tolerable.

If you have binoviewers that are 45 degree or a converted microscope head, this can be a very nice way of viewing.

I am sure most of you more experienced guys knew about this but maybe some of the newer people to binoviewing have not tried it yet.

Don Durbin

To All,

I have tried this once or twice but I want to do some more along these lines. I have the Meade LPI camera

I think this is a better solution than a flip mirror. I stick the camera in the right eyepiece holder and use left eyepiece holder with my right eye. You could reverse this if your left eye is dominate. I first focus the camera image and I then move the eyepiece to focus by pulling it in or out. Its great for tracking and you can use a lower power EP to give you a much wider field for tracking.

Anyone have any experiences with this type of setup.

Don Durbin

Hi,

I just got my Meade 152ED back from Meade. They actually turned it around very quickly. It was sent in to have the lens cell updated and a lens alignment or collimation.

I was out with it last Friday night under very good skies and I was disappointed in the images. Using different eyepieces I could see a smear or a flare at the top of most objects (Saturn, Jupiter, Jupiter's moons). Thinking back I did not try a different 2" diagonal. It would be nice if that were the problem, but I do not think that was it.

Saturn's rings where not very clear but the bottom of Saturn was very clear and sharp. I did not do a star test. I just took a quick look at the moon, Jupiter, M42, and Saturn.

I was hoping someone could point me to any information on aligning a Meade ED series lens. I am going to give the scope another chance or two before I start tweaking, but I would like to read up on the theory of adjusting the lens cell.

Don Durbin

To all,

My Black Night Binoviewers with Harry's new diopter adjustments have been back for a while and I finally got some decent skies for viewing last night after work.

With the temperature dropping fast I wimped out and just took my Celestron 102 wide field outside. This small refractor is mounted on a Bogen head and has a heavy duty tripod. Its a great grab and go when I just want to have a quick look outside. This is a cheap scope. I got it for $179 brand new. The focuser is very rough but does do the basic job.

I also purchased a 1.3 OCA when I got the Diopter upgrade. I have been using that with the C102. That OCA is a little too long to use in back of a 2" diagonal. I have however found that it works great when placed before the diagonal in a Petzval type arrangement. Since the 1.3x OCA has 2" nose and a 1 1/4 outlet, I have been using 1 1/4 diagonals and prisms before the Black night binoviewer.

The diopter adjustments worked perfectly. When I first saw them I thought they might be a little too coarse. They are capable of moving the eyepiece approximately 7 millimeters. This is accomplished in 3/4 of a turn or a 270 degree rotation.

I am very nearsighted and I like to view without using my glasses having the dual diopter adjustments allows me to fine tune each eye. The result is pretty spectacular. The moon looked great with views through my 24mm,19mm, and 15mm plossls. I even turned the scope up and got a nice view of Jupiter with the 15mm plossls. I admit I did not stay there for long. It was literally a pain in the neck.

My method of using the diopters is that I first set both the right and left diopter adjustments around a 1/4 turn (90 degrees) off of bottom. I then use the scopes coarse focus to bring the view into normal focus. For there I adjust the left eye and then the right eye diopters. Its like having a helical focuser for each eye. I really enjoy fine tuning each eye with each eyepiece for the absolute best focus. When I am done I know that I have the sharpest and clearest view possible with that equipment for that set of conditions at that time. With normal rack and pinion focusers I am never quite sure I have it completely perfect. There is always a tendency to go back and tweak the focus again.

The manufacture (Harry) says that once you have the diopters set you should lock them down and simply change eyepieces.

One of the things that I really love about my Celestron C9.25 is the Williams Optics Crayford focuser that I have on it. I have often thought about getting a Crayford focuser for my refractors. Then problem is the additional length in the focus path is a real pain to deal with. With these diopter adjustments on my Black Night I can get that same level of performance for each eye.

Don

Hi All,

Well I had clear enough skies last night to drag out my Meade 152 ED. I stayed locked in on Jupiter for most of the night and watched one of the moons shadow move across the Planet. I did switch over to Orion and M42 a couple of times. I find that M42 is pretty nice through the Meade. I was going to get out my Celestron 9.25 for a comparison but after going up and down on the step ladder working on the 152 I decided to just stick with it for the night.

My 152 ED is just back from Meade where it received an updated lens cell and cleaning and collimation. The lens cell and cleaning I was happy with but not the collimation. It seemed way off. Yesterday prior to taking the scope outside, I set it up in my garage and located the correct Allen wrenches for the push pull lens cell. I found two of the push adjustments were loose and one of them I rotated two full turns before it hit bottom. :<(

I spent the first 1 1/2 hours last night tweaking in the collimation. It is still not right but much better than it was.

I was using my dual dioptered Black Nights with a Sieberts 1.3x OCA. I am really beginning to like that OCA. I quickly found that the 1.3x OCA was a little too long to reach focus in back of one of my 2" diagonals. I am using it in front of a 1 1/4 diagonal. The 1.3x OCA has a 2" nose with a 1 1/4 outlet. Sieberts also does a little trick that allows this device to be threaded for both 2" and 1 1/4" filters. My Sieberts 3x Ultra Barlow is threaded the same way giving me the use of all my filters in one device.

The best part of last night was using the diopter adjustments to fine tune the image. Those things really make a difference. The Meade has an electric focuser which works OK but the diopter adjustments allow me to fine tune every view. I started out with some generic 24mm Plossls and ended up with 15mm Televue plossls. My nephew came over and he said I could use his 19mm and 15mm panoptic lenses when the Sieberts Zoom comes. I am really looking forward to that. If the Sieberts Zoom works out I am toying with the idea of getting rid of my set of Televue Plossls and just getting one pair of really nice Panoptic lenses.

Don Durbin

To All,

I think, at first, it may be just a matter of spending a large amount of money on a product and then being told by someone else that you bought the wrong one.

Then the personalities begin to get involved.

I myself, mild mannered person that I am,:>) must admit to being caught up in the heat of the moment a time or two. :>0

I guess after all the fighting, there is no way peace can ever be had. This forum is really a small middle east. We all have our own religions or manufacturers as the case may be.

So I say we should just give up all hope. Who is with me? We all take this stuff way too seriously.

Don Durbin