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KD5NRH
member
Reged: 06/21/09
Posts: 50
Loc: Stephenville TX
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I have a couple of department store 60mm refractors that make good "beater" scopes, since I don't mind tossing them in the trunk for unplanned observing sessions. Both have plastic rack & pinion focusers lubed with that awful axle grease that feels like cheap glue-stick glue and gets on everything if you make the mistake of touching it while moving the scope. Has anybody had any luck cleaning these things up and relubing them with something less offensive?
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epee
professor emeritus
Reged: 11/30/06
Posts: 697
Loc: Suh-van-nuh, Jaw-juh
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Try flushing with water first, then soap and water, and finally alchol to remove the grease. The trouble is the heavy grease is probably for taking out play as much as for lubrication. Light machine oil probably will leave too much slop in the fit of the gears so petroleum jelly might be your best, if sloppy, substitute. You'll have to decide if periodic cleaning and relubing is worth the hassle because petrolium jelly will trap dirt quickly.
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Jim Girardeau
Orion XT12 Intelliscope
Celestron 11X80mm binoculars
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arpruss
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 05/23/08
Posts: 858
Loc: Waco, TX
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What you would ideally want to relube it with is probably damping grease. The problem is that that stuff can be expensive. Nye Lubricants kindly sent me their free sample pack when I asked for it nicely (I offered to pay shipping and handling, and honestly told them I wasn't a company, and I wasn't looking to adopt it for a product; they didn't actually charge shipping and handling). I think the sample pack would have enough of the heavy stuff for one or two R&P focusers. I used it for three collimation screws, and there was enough left over for about two or three more.
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Coulter Odyssey 13.1" split-tube
Coulter Odyssey 8"
Home-made 7.8" F/4 dobsonian travel scope
Home-made 68mm F/5.3 achro (typically used as finder on 13.1")
Skymaster 15x70
BPTs4 8x30
32mm Plossl, 30mm Rini, 27mm Kellner, 13mm Hyperion, 6mm TMB/BO Planetary, Owl 2X Barlow
Palm TX with AstroInfo and RescoViewer
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Crayfordjon
Inventor
Reged: 06/17/09
Posts: 372
Loc: UK
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Hi KD5NRH. Remove said focuser, stand back about 6feet from the trash can and drop kick it in. Make yourself a Crayford focuser, there is a simple push pull type I have invented, focussing is by gentle twisting/ thrust/ pull action.
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KD5NRH
member
Reged: 06/21/09
Posts: 50
Loc: Stephenville TX
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Quote:
Hi KD5NRH. Remove said focuser, stand back about 6feet from the trash can and drop kick it in. Make yourself a Crayford focuser, there is a simple push pull type I have invented, focussing is by gentle twisting/ thrust/ pull action.
Link?
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