TAL 1 nightmare in Worksop

[UD4L Cheyenne dropship]

Oh my...where to begin? looking for advice really.  

Last year I purchased an inexpensive second hand TAL-1 reflector..purchase online..came via Currier in working condition if a little bit dirty...but no bother.. it worked :-) On odd nights since last December when it arrived I have dragged it out into the back garden and loved every minute pointing it around the skies...its been like a return to younger days. okay..thats the romance out of the way.

Last week I decided to give the whole telescope a deep clean..the mirrors were well dusty so I found the resolve to have a crack at cleaning them..looked at astrobabies  web site and her tutorial..the job looked within my grasp so I went for it...had the OTA apart..cleaned the mirrors..gave the whole thing light lube and spit and polish...it was all going brilliantly...then I tried putting the thing back together again...went well...went through my notes about collimating..followed them to the letter..............A week later I am still playing around with this Russian nightmare!! why oh why oh why oh why did I start down this road to hell??? While you can get the telescope to within reasonable focus at lower magnification the sharp images at high magnification that I got previously are unattainable.....so today ( monday) I decided to throw money and technology at the blumming thing...yes!! a laser collimator would solve the problem..that's what's missing here!!..so off I toddled to Rothervalley optics purchased a Sky watcher model and brought it home and set about righting my bad deeds with the TAL......4 hours Ive been here faffing around with this monstrosity!!..Ive followed the instructions to the letter....the end result is worse than if you attempt to align it by line of sight!!

Tonight Ive just managed to stop short of pulling the whisky bottle out..getting hammered..calling the telescope rude names in the shed before sleeping off my booze induced coma out in the passageway with the dog!! Why oh why is something that should be so easy so ridiculously complicated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

( now sobbing uncontrolled ) please someone help!...I promise never to do this again! I just want my telescope back to how it was and be able to look at the moon again....I feel it must be something simple that I am over looking...but its gonna have to be pointed out to me...and I am not one for admitting defeat usually...but on this occasion...I AM!!!!

Standard Tal-1, not the motor driven version.. made in 1996...it has a 1.25 inch focuser and EP'S.....

with best regards

David

[brantuk]

Have you tried barlowing the laser? You can get very accurate collimation with that technique. Also do you have "Bob's Knobs" fitted? They make it a lot easier to do. Try this link - it really does work exceptionally well:

http://www.cameraconcepts.com/barlowed%20laser%20collimation.pdf

(Also check you don't have any slop in the focuser tube, and ensure the primary is held firmly in place but without pinching the mirror)

[Hobbes]

I assume that if you have found Astrobaby's cleaning guide you have also found her excellent collimation guide as well.

I had had a similar experience with my recent purchase of a second hand Orion Optics VX10 which arrived with its mirrors so far out of whack I'm surprised the previous owner saw anything at all. It has taken me several rounds of collimation attempts to get it right.

I found having the secondary correctly setup is really important and a laser collimatior is not much help with this. I used a cheshire collimator as a sight tube and followed Astrobaby's guide. Then used the Cheshire again to get the primary aligned then brought the Laser collimatior into play. Several iterations of this whole process later I'm happy with the result but I have had to persist.

Don't lose faith its something we all experienxce sooner or later.

[LeeB]

Hi , I rebuilt a tal 1 a couple of years back, if you want a chat about sorting it I will Pm my number,

[Thalestris24]

Hi

Just to add - I know nothing, but have seen on Dion/Astronomyshed's videos that you have to first check that lasers are themselves collimated ok.

Louise

[knobby]

Give us some clues... Can you get the secondary under the focuser? Can you see the edges of the primary / clips? What's working or not?

[moriniboy]

My TAL 1 did not have a centre doughnut on the primary. This would be the first modification I would suggest as it will help with collimating using the laser.

Also do you know of a local club who can assist? Collimation is really easy when someone is there to talk you through it.

[damnut]

If you can't get it collimated RVO will do it. Had a similar nightmare with my 8"newt. RVO did it for a tenner. Mark the position of all the bolts! Best tenner I have spent on astro stuf..

Alternatively drop on to East Midlands Stargazers website (there is a meet this Friday in Wymeswold, I am in Mansfield not far away) :--- http://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/

[Carbon Brush]

Another offer to assist from someone not too far away.

[Pluto1948]

HI 

Here is a good site for Tal and it deals with colmination of Tal scopes http://www.telescopes-astronomy.com.au/russian-novosibirsk-tal-pricelist-telescopes.htm