Posts Made By: Michael Garretson

I have a Compustar 14. I'm in the process of trying to sell it. I took it out of storage to take some pictures of it this weekend so I could place them in my classified add. When I assembled it, I noticed that there was some play in the RA.

Even when the RA locking knobs were fully in the "locked" position, you can move the scope "right to left" a couple of degrees. This has never happened before.

I double checked to make sure if the locking knobs needed adjustment, and they appear to be working fine.

I believe that there's something wrong with - or broken - in the base itself. Any help - or suggestions on where I can get it fixed - would be appreciated.

I want to get it fixed to make it more attractive to a potential buyer - or if I don't sell it - get it fixed so it'll function properly.

Thanks.

I have a number of the older "Made in Japan" versions of the Series 4000 Super Plossels. For the money, they seem to be pretty fair eyepieces. I'm looking for a couple I'm missing in order to complete the set (9.7mm, 12.4mm, 20mm, & 40mm). However, I've heard that they stopped making them in Japan, and now get them from China and/or Taiwan. I've heard that these are not as good as the Japanese counterparts. Is this true? Also, I've been told that the Chinese and/or Taiwanese versions are not marked to reflect the country of origin. Is this true? Is there any way to tell - other than the marking - that I'm getting the Japanese versions? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

I have a 40mm Meade Series 3000 Plossel that I've had for years. I was cleaning the top element to get rid of a couple of years of accumulated eyelash grease, dew stains, etc. As I was cleaning it, I noticed that the top element felt like it moved. I didn't apply too much pressure so I couldn't tell if it rocked up and down, or right to left. As you would expect, I was concerned. It has never been dropped (that I know of) and there are is damage to the tube that would make me think that one of my fiends or kids dropped it. I took it outside with my 8" Dob last night and it appeared to be fine. The stars in the center - and on the edge - of the field of view looked normal. Is this normal? Has anyone else had this happen?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks.

In addition to my earlier questions about my 40mm Meade, I also have a 26mm Super Plossel that's got what I consider to be a fairly big piece of dust on one of the inner elements. I'm not sure how it got there, but it's driving me crazy. I know I should just ignore it and live with it, but if you knew me (a little anal retentive about my optics), you'd know that I just can't let this go. Is there any safe way to disassemble the eyepiece to clean it? Does anyone know of a company that will do this type of thing for a reasonable cost. If sure the cost would be more than the eyepiece is worth, so I'm leaning to try and do it myself. Has anyone done this before with good success? Thanks.

I recently sold three scopes, so I got out my old Meade 2080 to see if it was still in good shape.

While pretty much everything was fine, I noticed that my RA adjustment knob has some slippage in it. I checked to make sure that the knob itself wasn't loose by tightening it with an Allen wrench. At that point it was clear that it was pretty loose when I moved the scope back and forth in RA.

The problem is not with the RA drive - it tracks ok. It's just that it seems that over time that whatever "holds" the knob in place needs to be tightened.

Does anyone know how to take the mount apart in order for me to get inside the "guts" of it to tighten everything up?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Mike

I've heard that you can send your older Meade SCT back to them to have the mirror and/of corrector cleaned and re-coated. Has anyone done this, and what was your experience with same?

Thanks.

Mike

I've been thinking about buying a Meade RCX SCT, however, I've noticed recently that there is a lack of these scopes mentioned in the ads of the retailers that advertise in Sky & Telescope & Astronomy. Did I miss something?

Thanks.

Mike

I have an 8" Celestron Star Hopper that I've been happy with for over 10 years. It's the second generation "white rocker box" type that I believe were made for Celestron by Discovery.

While I've enjoyed the scope, I have a nagging suspicion that I have never been able to accurately achieve proper collimation.

Some background:

The secondary is held in place by a single post. This post is in turn mounted to the inside of the OTA and held in place by one of the screws that are used to mount the focuser.

Looking down the focus tube without an eyepiece, I can swear that it appears that the secondary looks like it's mounted too far "down" the OTA, and should be moved "up" closer to the "front" of the OTA.

I say this because it "looks" like the secondary isn't centered under the focus tube. I can clearly see the leading edge of the secondary as well as it's "back".

When I try to collimate the scope I go through the following process:

I marked the center of the primary years ago.

I use the Celestron supplied Collimation Tool that came with scope for the initial "rough" collimation.

This is followed up by a "fine" collimation using an Orion Laser Mate Deluxe.

Everything appears to go smoothly up to this point, but when I go out and do a star test, the shadow of the secondary and post is always off center, and the location of this off centered shadow is consistently in the same location, no matter how many times I repeat the process.

The diffraction rings are concentric and consistent – both in and out of focus – around this off center shadow, and the images from the scope are on par with that found on my other scopes.

If I move the primary to try and center the shadow when performing a star test, the resulting images are no better - or in fact may be a hair worse.

While I'm basically happy with the scope, I always have this nagging feeling that if I moved the secondary to a more "centered" position underneath the focus tube I could improve the situation.

Since I'm afraid to start "hacking away" at the scope, I wonder if anyone else has had the same issue, and what did they do about it?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Mike Garretson

Does anyone have any feedback on the Celestron Regal 10X50 binoculars? I have a chance to pick up one cheap, and I'd like to receive any feedback. It's in good condition and based on a quick daytime look they appear to be pretty good. My concern is that I've always heard the roof prism binoculars won't perform as well as a "like" poro prism model on the night sky. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Mike Garretson

While I was looking at the Orion site earlier today, I came across an ad for this scope. Considering the price, it looks like it might be a good deal. Has anyone had any experience with this scope? I know there may be some color, but is it really that bad? Ever since I got rid of my FS-128 I've wanted another refractor. I understand it's not a Tak, but is it a good scope for the money? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Mike Garretson