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Equipment Discussions >> Reflectors

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Mike B
Starstruck

Reged: 04/06/05

Loc: shake, rattle, & roll, CA

Re: Depressed-accident with my new mirror new

[Re: csrlice12]
#5528438 - 11/19/12 05:27 PM

Quote:

You, sir, are a brave soul to enter that end of the pond.

Yet typically, when gravity is mixed with levity in THAT arena, it leads to brevity... of the mixer's tranquility!

Edited by David Pavlich (11/19/12 10:24 PM)

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stratocaster
sage

Reged: 10/27/11

Re: Depressed-accident with my new mirror new

[Re: Mike B]
#5528847 - 11/19/12 09:26 PM

I got bummed out when I was removing my finder bracket and dropped one of the teeny tiny nuts holding the bracket. I could hear it bouncing around on the mirror. Perhaps not surprisingly there was absolutely no visible damage at all. But I still had a coronary when it happened.

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frito
scholastic sledgehammer

Reged: 10/05/12

Loc: Fremont, CA

Re: Depressed-accident with my new mirror new

[Re: stratocaster]
#5528873 - 11/19/12 09:40 PM

Quote:

I got bummed out when I was removing my finder bracket and dropped one of the teeny tiny nuts holding the bracket. I could hear it bouncing around on the mirror. Perhaps not surprisingly there was absolutely no visible damage at all. But I still had a coronary when it happened.

after what i did i'd be overjoyed if all i dropped was a small nut hehe

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azure1961p
Postmaster

Reged: 01/17/09

Loc: USA

Re: Depressed-accident with my new mirror new

[Re: Mike B]
#5528896 - 11/19/12 09:51 PM

Wow OK. Blacken the dings but be careful here. You don't want a reaction with the paint versus coatings and this foggy apron of fog around the paint. My knee jerk thing said use a Sharpie its got acetone but mirrors sometimes are cleaned with acetone. I suggest staying well away from lacquers and outgassing enamels.

Good luck. Sounds like the real damage here is to your Psyche and I'm sympathetic here but don't let it precede the benefit of what might be at least a good mirror.

Pete

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frito
scholastic sledgehammer

Reged: 10/05/12

Loc: Fremont, CA

Re: Depressed-accident with my new mirror new

[Re: azure1961p]
#5528928 - 11/19/12 10:04 PM

Quote:

Wow OK. Blacken the dings but be careful here. You don't want a reaction with the paint versus coatings and this foggy apron of fog around the paint. My knee jerk thing said use a Sharpie its got acetone but mirrors sometimes are cleaned with acetone. I suggest staying well away from lacquers and outgassing enamels.

Good luck. Sounds like the real damage here is to your Psyche and I'm sympathetic here but don't let it precede the benefit of what might be at least a good mirror.

Pete

yeah my first thought of blacking out the small chip on mine was to use a sharpie as well but then i thought about it more and decided it was probably a bad idea if it had a reaction with the aluminum or SiO2 coatings around it and have not done anything to mine yet and its looking like i won't need to either because i can't see it at the eyepiece yet but the weather has been really bad for observing lately so i have not done any good tests yet.

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whirlpoolm51
professor emeritus

Reged: 01/05/12

Loc: pittsburgh,pa

Re: Depressed-accident with my new mirror new

[Re: frito]
#5528974 - 11/19/12 10:24 PM

Feel your pain!!! When i had my orion xt12i awhile ago i was collimating and getting everything ready before i took it out for a good nights observing , i went into my kitchen to make a cup of coffee and all of a sudden........i hear a pings of somthing smacking of an aluminum tube and a loud smack!!! To my dismay , my little brother decided to see how fast a hot wheels car could go down the tube of my scope!!!!!!!! Lucky for that little bugger i love him or i would be an only child hahahaha 2 little chips in my mirror that had my head spinning for days!!!

This hobby will drivce you crazy if you fall in love with it as much as we do hahaha

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killdabuddha
Pooh-Bah

Reged: 08/26/11

Re: Depressed-accident with my new mirror new

[Re: whirlpoolm51]
#5529215 - 11/20/12 12:32 AM

We were draggin our scope sled-style across uneven ground, then we weren't, cus it tipped over and crashed before we could catch it. The mirrors spilled out onto the square tubes and my first thought was, "I shoulda used round." And yeah, the sound is even worse. Got 'em inside, blew them off, and looked really hard for the damage. It showed up days later as a little abraded smear at the edge where the coating left. Glad we got that over with.

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RussD
member

Reged: 04/20/06

Loc: Minnesota

Re: Depressed-accident with my new mirror new

[Re: killdabuddha]
#5531936 - 11/21/12 10:49 AM

I feel your pain. I once dropped a 2" adapter on my full thickness 10" mirror, it bounced (tink) and bounced (tink,tink) and bounced (tink,tink,tink,tink...)then rolled around.

There were several scratches in the coating and other minor marks. Other than the coating scratches there was no real damage to the mirror.

At one of our club star parties once a friend was looking through his scope and suddenly though it had clouded over because the stars faded away. He looked at the sky only to see it was clear. He finally looked down at his mirror to see a stray cat had climbed into his rocker box for a nap on the nice smooth mirror!

Russ

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GeneT
Ely Kid

Reged: 11/07/08

Loc: South Texas

Re: Depressed-accident with my new mirror new

[Re: aatt]
#5531953 - 11/21/12 10:54 AM

You need to get it out for a few more viewing sessions. What matters is how the views are affected. Put Jupiter under a little magnification and move the image around various parts of the field of view to see if there is a sudden change in image quality.

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Asbytec
Guy in a furry hat

Reged: 08/08/07

Loc: La Union, PI

Re: Depressed-accident with my new mirror new

[Re: GeneT]
#5532083 - 11/21/12 11:48 AM

You know, it sucks. We care so much for our instruments, and we should. We've all dinged them and cringed mightily.

Truth is, a little ding will not likely have the proper surface correction to send an errant ray or two anywhere near focus. So, you will likely not even notice any scatter, or turned edge, or anything like that. I seriously doubt such an impact changed its figure to below diffraction limited. That would take a truly freak accident. I am pretty sure your glass didn't shatter like a car window.

Paint it over, feel good...smile. Be happy, well, when you find closure - probably during your next viewing session. Soon enough, someone else will have an accident, and you will have a story to tell them.

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JasonBurry
sage

Reged: 04/27/12

Loc: Cape Spencer, NB, Canada

Re: Depressed-accident with my new mirror new

[Re: Asbytec]
#5532149 - 11/21/12 12:21 PM

Another one here who's dropped an object on his primary mirror, in my case my 12.5mm plossl fell from my shirt pocket as I bent over the scope.

Mine suffered a 2X1mm ding in the coating, and no detectable effects at the eyepiece. Live and learn.

J

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csrlice12
Postmaster

Reged: 05/22/12

Loc: Denver, CO

Re: Depressed-accident with my new mirror new

[Re: JasonBurry]
#5532402 - 11/21/12 02:34 PM

That's the sky goddess's way of telling you you need a bigger scope.....

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Mike B
Starstruck

Reged: 04/06/05

Loc: shake, rattle, & roll, CA

Re: Depressed-accident with my new mirror new

[Re: csrlice12]
#5532623 - 11/21/12 04:43 PM

.... or else just messin' with our heads...

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ed_turco
Pooh-Bah

Reged: 08/29/09

Loc: Lincoln, RI

Re: Depressed-accident with my new mirror new

[Re: Mike B]
#5532676 - 11/21/12 05:13 PM

I pulled this stunt with a very early 12" f/4. Diagonal loosened and fell on mirror. Damage, yes! Busted diagon. Marks on mirror.

But it still worked fine. Yours will too.

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smee
super member

Reged: 10/19/10

Re: Depressed-accident with my new mirror new

[Re: Mike B]
#5533879 - 11/22/12 12:31 PM

Quote:

Quote:

...and it all went downhill from there

Ayup, gravity will do that.

I heard once a guy tried to dodge a speeding ticket blaming gravity on a downhill stretch made him go 50% over the limit!

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Slow Astronomer
member

Reged: 05/01/10

Loc: Milky Way Galaxy

Re: Depressed-accident with my new mirror new

[Re: smee]
#5545892 - 11/29/12 05:38 PM

Sorry to hear about your mirror damage. Hopefully the damage won't affect the scopes use. Looks like you have rec'd some good advice above so I'll just leave you with this:

"Watch out for those gravity storms!" - Jimmy Buffett

Clear skies, Dave

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aatt
member

Reged: 07/26/12

Loc: CT

Re: Depressed-accident with my new mirror new

[Re: Slow Astronomer]
#5546229 - 11/29/12 08:51 PM

Thanks to all the folks offering their reassurances and personal horror stories. I have never had to contend with a damaged scope in my 14 years of dabbling in this hobby as an adult-go figure that a new scope would "break" a perfect record within a week of getting it! Seeing here has been mostly mediocre, but the scope seems to be o.k. I can't tell if it is damaged, so I am encouraged by that.Conditions have been too poor for a good star test.When the seeing clears I have had some pretty amazing moments at the eyepiece. The visible detail on the moon and Jupiter this week are way beyond what my modest 6"has been able to show. So all-in all, I think the scope is working well enough to keep me pretty happy. A horrible moment, but no real obvious compromise in performance.

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frito
scholastic sledgehammer

Reged: 10/05/12

Loc: Fremont, CA

Re: Depressed-accident with my new mirror new

[Re: aatt]
#5546329 - 11/29/12 09:55 PM

you should be fine. the very small chip i put in my XT8's mirror i have determined to be not visible at the eyepiece so i'm leaving it alone and not even painting over it. i still know its there but i still enjoy the performance of my scope and thats what matters the most!

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nirvanix
Pooh-Bah

Reged: 06/07/07

Loc: Saskatoon, SK

Re: Depressed-accident with my new mirror new

[Re: frito]
#5547736 - 11/30/12 07:26 PM

Life is messy. The winners clean up and move forward.

My dob is an Antares (GSO). In their infinite wisdom the manufacturers hard-slapped and glued the secondary to its mount. Had it out in -40C and the glue failed. Big whack, little whack, tiny whack. Coating scratches on the mirror. Secondary had a 1/2 inch chip out of it. After my tantrum I blackened the rough spots on the secondary, remounted it with silicone dabs and to this day, even though I've replaced the mirrors with premium ones, that injured scope gave me the best view of Jupiter I ever had. For 5 seconds it looked like a Hubble photograph. I still have that secondary tucked away in the ods and ends drawer and would have no trouble calling it out again if the need arises.

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Mirzam
Post Laureate

Reged: 04/01/08

Loc: Lovettsville, VA

Re: Depressed-accident with my new mirror new

[Re: nirvanix]
#5547748 - 11/30/12 07:34 PM

FWIW -40 C and -40 F are the same temperature. (Some of us may not be metric savy).

http://www.csgnetwork.com/tempconvjava.html

At that temp I'd be more worried about some body part falling off. CCD's cameras should have very good signal to noise though.

JimC

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