10057 replies to this topic

[clamchip]

It's a real shame there's nothing to do to this scope and I just can't stand it.

I wish it needed collimation or something, anything.

I was observing the hills today and the optics are unbelievable. Right out of my cool

shop onto the warm driveway 100 power and as sharp as can be. 

It's got to have something to do with the Astrosital ceramic glass primary, very little

expansion/contraction going on.

I've never seen a cat behave like this one. If anything the aluminum tube growing

and shrinking could be moving the point of focus for the initial first few minutes, you

might need to resharpen, but at f/14.2 focus depth is very forgiving.

Today I also went back thru Cloudy Nights and Astromart ads as far as I could, from

present to over 20 years ago and there's a surprising number of LOMO Astele 150's

out there. None like mine with it's Jaegers coachwork and non-moving primary, they

all move the primary to focus. 

I hope this scope will last as long as I do, it's my favorite.

Robert.

 

[CHASLX200]

I can shake it and make it go out.

[starman876]

It's a real shame there's nothing to do to this scope and I just can't stand it.

I wish it needed collimation or something, anything.

I was observing the hills today and the optics are unbelievable. Right out of my cool

shop onto the warm driveway 100 power and as sharp as can be. 

It's got to have something to do with the Astrosital ceramic glass primary, very little

expansion/contraction going on.

I've never seen a cat behave like this one. If anything the aluminum tube growing

and shrinking could be moving the point of focus for the initial first few minutes, you

might need to resharpen, but at f/14.2 focus depth is very forgiving.

Today I also went back thru Cloudy Nights and Astromart ads as far as I could, from

present to over 20 years ago and there's a surprising number of LOMO Astele 150's

out there. None like mine with it's Jaegers coachwork and non-moving primary, they

all move the primary to focus. 

I hope this scope will last as long as I do, it's my favorite.

Robert.

 

IMG_1882.JPG

great looking scope.  Sounds like a wonderful scope.  

[clamchip]

Some time ago I heard a little cry while strolling through a yard sale.

I followed the cries expecting to find a damsel in distress, only it turned out to be coming from a Meade 60mm spotter in a

awfully embarrassing predicament, broken and surly without a doubt destine for the city dump.

I picked it up and looked thru it and could see nothing but broken glass, poor thing.

Today I unscrewed the eyepiece and inside the cavity I found a broken disk of glass in front of the prism. Very odd, why

would there be a piece of glass with no optical power between the eyepiece and the prism? I removed the cracked in half

piece of glass and cleaned out the chips and now the spotter works fine and is a really nice spotter.

The mystery glass element, could it be part of the scopes waterproofing I thought. Or maybe this is where a reticle would

go if a customer ordered one. How did it get broken I wonder.

I think what may have happened is this piece of optical glass slipped out of it's cell and was crushed by the zoom

eyepiece rendering the scope useless, now what's a person supposed to do. 

"Well, it must be worth something to somebody, I'll put it on a table at our community yard sale coming up, yes that's what

I will do."

 

Robert

[deSitter]

Laborious and tedious removal of burrs on a rack and pinion. Good results. Not much fun.

 

-drl

[clamchip]

I've started working on the Dynamax 8 Alan (Alanvogt) recently gave me.

Eventually I would like to post my adventure bring this scope back to life, but for now I need to bond

the tube back on the rear cell and wondering if anyone knows the bead width for the RTV.

I have been reading separation of the tube and cell is quite common. My scientific guess is the joint let

go from age, 50 years is a long time, and/or pressure from the hardened old case foam.

I've read and mine included it appears Criterion used black RTV Silicone to bond the phenolic tube to the

aluminum cells, front and rear. I don't know if it's a RTV sealant or adhesive, I'm going to use 

black RTV sealant. The RTV will be applied to the female tube. I only have one shot at this, too

much or too little I'd like to avoid. The bead size would be wonderful if someone might know it. This is 

a job likely not forgotten I'm hoping.

Robert 

 

[CHASLX200]

Bumped into the leg of the GP mount with my EGO mower getting it out.

[cavedweller]

Bumped into the leg of the GP mount with my EGO mower getting it out.

I checked the charge on my EGO battery that I received with my Paramount ME mount, which I have only setup once when I received it and had it on grid power, not the EGO battery.

[CHASLX200]

I checked the charge on my EGO battery that I received with my Paramount ME mount, which I have only setup once when I received it and had it on grid power, not the EGO battery.

Gotta be rich to have a mount like that.

[jkmccarthy]

I had some free time this afternoon and wanted to get back to fixing-up my Vixen by Celestron SC280L (C11) from post #9193 earlier in this thread (https://www.cloudyni...day/?p=13569237) in order to clean the interior-facing side of the corrector ... but my efforts were soon thwarted upon discovering that the corrector plate was stuck in place -- firmly attached to the blackened ring of cork that supports it from below in the corrector cell.

 

Fortunately, I learned here on CN this evening that this is a known problem, with [hopefully] a simple solution ...

 

https://www.cloudyni...c11/?p=13655297

 

[... Don't let me discourage anyone from reading this entire referenced thread from the top, since it's not that long ...].   Hopefully I'll make more progress in my second attempt, coming soon ....

 

         -- Jim

[andylsun]

A good hour of guiding on my takahashi EM-2 conversion to Onstep.

 

Have a niggle to sort out in DEC with the worm mesh and stepper gearing, but RA is sweet.

 

Using OAG on a ED102.  
 

I’m very pleased with it.

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[clamchip]

Work has gotten in the way of my hobbies again. Off I go and my new Dynamax must wait.

I'm going to pickup a nice fresh tube of black RTV Silicone today to bond the tube back on the

rear cell, this weekend I hope.

Before I squeeze out the goo I first must remove the stuck corrector from it's cell up front and

remove all the old silicone in preparation for the tube bonding procedure. 

I must admit I'm nervous about this tube gluing event. I get this same way when I'm about to

clean a mirror or lens. It makes the finish that much more rewarding.

Robert

 

 

 

[deSitter]

Work has gotten in the way of my hobbies again. Off I go and my new Dynamax must wait.

I'm going to pickup a nice fresh tube of black RTV Silicone today to bond the tube back on the

rear cell, this weekend I hope.

Before I squeeze out the goo I first must remove the stuck corrector from it's cell up front and

remove all the old silicone in preparation for the tube bonding procedure. 

I must admit I'm nervous about this tube gluing event. I get this same way when I'm about to

clean a mirror or lens. It makes the finish that much more rewarding.

Robert

 

IMG_2624.JPG

I almost think we should have a separate thread "What did clamchip do to his telescope today?" - and a few others deserve such an honor (ahem Kasmos). When I see that you posted something, I look forward to reading it like it was a new episode of "How It's Made"

 

-drl

[Alanvogt]

Work has gotten in the way of my hobbies again. Off I go and my new Dynamax must wait.

I'm going to pickup a nice fresh tube of black RTV Silicone today to bond the tube back on the

rear cell, this weekend I hope.

Before I squeeze out the goo I first must remove the stuck corrector from it's cell up front and

remove all the old silicone in preparation for the tube bonding procedure. 

I must admit I'm nervous about this tube gluing event. I get this same way when I'm about to

clean a mirror or lens. It makes the finish that much more rewarding.

Robert

 

IMG_2624.JPG

Have you fixed the focuser already?  Don't put it back together until you get that working.

[deSitter]

Work has gotten in the way of my hobbies again. Off I go and my new Dynamax must wait.

I'm going to pickup a nice fresh tube of black RTV Silicone today to bond the tube back on the

rear cell, this weekend I hope.

Before I squeeze out the goo I first must remove the stuck corrector from it's cell up front and

remove all the old silicone in preparation for the tube bonding procedure. 

I must admit I'm nervous about this tube gluing event. I get this same way when I'm about to

clean a mirror or lens. It makes the finish that much more rewarding.

Robert

 

IMG_2624.JPG

Maybe it's just me, but this is beautiful mechanical work by Criterion.

 

-drl

[Kasmos]

I almost think we should have a separate thread "What did clamchip do to his telescope today?" - and a few others deserve such an honor (ahem Kasmos). When I see that you posted something, I look forward to reading it like it was a new episode of "How It's Made"

 

-drl

That puts me in good company  Thanks! 

 

I have a bunch of stuff I've never posted. I'm never sure if I should keep it for it's own topic or post it here? 

[Bomber Bob]

Maybe it's just me, but this is beautiful mechanical work by Criterion.

 

-drl

I can't recall a single complaint about my DX8's hardware - the drive was very Questarish - and the Golden Pyramid was Stout.  Fine platform for a... sub-par CAT.  Made no sense!

[Bomber Bob]

That puts me in good company  Thanks! 

 

I have a bunch of stuff I've never posted. I'm never sure if I should keep it for it's own topic or post it here? 

We wanna see it, Chris.  Maybe... for an involved restore of a single Classic, create a new Topic??  For "routine" small fixes, post 'em here - we get all kinds of ideas & inspirations from your work.

[clamchip]

Have you fixed the focuser already?  Don't put it back together until you get that working.

Yes I did fix the focuser. It was the first thing I did after returning home with the scope. I was worried about the

focuser after you explained the problem to me. I was hoping for a lathe project.

The focuser mechanism is downright ingenious. So simple as a matter of fact I couldn't figure out what was wrong

with it at first. There's a nut behind the focus knob, you hold this nut with a wrench to free the focus knob.

Once the knob is free you use this nut to adjust the end play in the focus shaft. Once adjusted hold the nut and

snug the knob down against the nut being held captive with a wrench to lock the adjustment.

 

Robert

[clamchip]

I can't recall a single complaint about my DX8's hardware - the drive was very Questarish - and the Golden Pyramid was Stout.  Fine platform for a... sub-par CAT.  Made no sense!

So far I like my DX8.

I love the blue, and the sand castings. It's built much like a RV6, well designed, good choice of materials and nothing

is made cheap trying to save a penny here and there. I've only scratched the surface of this project but so far I'm liking

it very much.

Its a real shame about the optical problem, I want to see it for myself and is why I got so excited when Alan said he has

a DX8 for me. I have a feeling I will be happy with the optics, knowing what I know about the Dynamax.

Criterion made the Dynamax for 10 years, and probably sold a bazillion of them, how bad could they be?

Robert

Edited by clamchip, 30 August 2024 - 04:04 PM.

[CHASLX200]

I can't recall a single complaint about my DX8's hardware - the drive was very Questarish - and the Golden Pyramid was Stout.  Fine platform for a... sub-par CAT.  Made no sense!

Seems Meade kinda made a copy of that tripod when the 2080 came out.

[T1R2]

I have a Celestron Omni CG-4 and noticed that my Setting Circle RA dial was lagging almost an whole hour of the dial before spinning with the RA axis, turns out the RA nut setscrews (accessible through the little RA thumb screws located every 120*) were coming loose and allowing it to spin before catching on a piece of thread lock

 

After loosening the set screws and removing the nut with my spanner wrench, my mount only came with two out of three, one was missing , out of the two one was stripped and had some trouble getting it out but eventually got it, so it only had one that was working and good enough to use. but I decided to leave them out and not even worry about them. 

 

But the great thing is you don't need the setscrews, so I used a glob of Loctite Silicone Sealant at the very end of the threads where the nut threads up to and stops, then I backed the nut off a 1/16 of a turn so the axis will still be nice and smooth with no binding, This will allow me to still remove the nut easily when I clean the axis every decade or so, I've been using the mount and glad to say it stopped the RA dial slipping

 

I also gave some fresh matte black coats of paint to the clutch paddle handles and re-calibrated the Dec. circle dial. 

[clamchip]

I had a chance to work on my new Dynamax 8 today. This is the DX8 Alan gave me. 

Nurse Mendy and Frenchie said they are going to the beach. 

The corrector was really stuck good. I struggled with it until I left it out in the sun and heated it up and

it came loose without to much effort. Michelle  wanted to blow the corrector with explosives so I'm 

glad the sun did it. My backup would have been to dribble iso alcohol along the corrector edge.

The corrector and cell have index marks which are a welcome sight.

Cleaning the old Silicone off the tube was not for the faint of heart, in fact I almost did faint until I hit

the right tool for the job, a pocket knife. Hold the blade perpendicular to the surface and work your

way around with a scraping action.

Robert 

 

[clamchip]

[deSitter]

Dear scope makers,

 

don't - use - glue.

 

-drl