Mr_Cat

I'm looking at buying a new mount at the start of March - and I was watching an unrelated You tube video and someone had a second hand mount they had bought. And it occurred to me that there is probably a buy and sell section here ... Hmm, I can't find it.. Lets read the code of conduct... 50 posts you say?? Jeepers - I'll never reach that within the next year at my post rate.. So, I guess a "Hello" topic wil help... So - hello... Err, I'm Johnny, Most interesting thing I guess is that I live on the Isle of Man (and I'm Manx, not English, not Irish, not etc etc) . Yes, we have no speed limits, yes our laws guarantee a full pint, no, we are not a tax haven, yes, our cats have no tails... Damm, I should have posted them as individual answers... Seriously though - I'm on here to read and learn and so far you guys have been super helpful and not talked down to me Quickest way to 50 posts though is to ask me silly things about the isle of Man ! Thanks !

I had phrased that badly - these fittings on the base were the wrong way around so when you pulled the spring down the loop on the end of the spring would not slip over the bushing. This is now the correct way round - picture it with the thicker part of the bush against the screw head and the spring against the base. The loop in the spring is too small to slip over the thicker part of the bushing.

After my Jessops POS I got a decent telescope for Christmas (sky watcher 150P-DS) but shortly after New Year I spotted a SkyQuest XT8 for £110 on Facebook marketplace Did a bit of research, checked all the FB photos and figured it was worth a look. Cash in hand I took a trip out, gave it a look over and decided to buy it. Got it home and it was a busy weekend so I didn't really get much time with it. It all worked, came with a 25mm plossi, and a shorty barlow, collimation cap and a lunar filter. First up checked the collimation and it was way off, so ten mins later it was fine. A good look at the primary showed it was dirty but decided not to worry about that for a while. Got a quick look through it on the second night and it was working ok but there were a few issues.. So, the list to be done.. Battery swap and alignment in RDF General clean play in focuser lots of stiction on both axis Tube removal doesn't work. clean main mirror One of the things I've found with telescopes that I like is fixing things and learning new skills - so one by one I tackled the problems - removing the primary mirror and cleaning it properly had to have the highest pucker factor of all the jobs.. The tube couldn't be removed as the bushes the springs loop over had been put on the wrong way round. All the PFTE bushes were very dirty, so cleaned them all, cleaned the base where it rests on the az bushes, then made some "milk jug" spacers for the centre bolt. But now it's all done I have a nice telescope for not much cash I've been working on it in my garage and it's been quite good fun just to pop the door opener and see what I can see - it's been fortunate that in the evening the moon has been above my neighbours houses.

Thanks for the suggestion Sorry, I should have updated this - I did indeed email FLO - tbh I was not expecting a quick response as I figured they would be inundated with emails over xmas - but they responded very quickly - they confirmed it was a HM5 for an EQ5/6 not an EQ3, issued a return and it is on their way back for a credit note (they did offer a refund but I asked for credit so when the right HM5's arrive I can just order it )

Christmas day is here - the Mrs has treated me to a new telescope and a Sky-Watcher EQ3-2 and I also got a HM5 polar alignment scope. Unscrewed the eyepiece holder / calendar scale from the mount but the HM5 won't fit, should the threaded shaft come out as well ? I've tried to push it , unscrew it etc etc but no joy. It is pretty much the same diameter as the alignment scope... I don't want to force it as they are obviously both new ! I've checked the box the HM5 came in and the box is marked as for EQ3 etc mount (picture shows the threaded centre in the mount and the alignment scope for size comparison) Thanks - and Merry Christmas

A quick update is in order. So the bill now is up to £138 as I bought a old DSLR from ebay (£30 inc postage) a T piece and a couple of adaptors, remote shutter release etc and a cheap barlow. The Mrs is getting me decent telescope and mount for Christmas so figured I'd put some time into learning how to use this old cheap scope and attaching a camera as if I can get ok results on this POS...

Quick update, one shiny new focuser and a couple of eye pieces arrived today. The draw tube was slightly bigger than the hole in the tube but (after removing the mirrors etc) a quick mark up / dremel session / new mounting holes etc the focuser was in place. First test from inside the house with a 20mm eyepiece and there was the moons surface in reasonable detail .. The Mrs had a look and was very impressed. Took it outside and with the 6mm eyepiece I could just see some banding on Jupiter and the bright dots of a few moons around it. Hopefully tomorrow the collimation tool will turn up and I'll set the mirrors as there is no way what I've just done won't have affected it never mind whatever has happened to the telescope in the past. So, total bill was about £60 and I proved that I can at least see something without having to drive to somewhere much darker so time to think about a good telescope and mount. Thanks everyone for your help - today was great 😁

Thanks everyone for the great ideas - and thanks Lee for digging those links out - that is really appreciated. I was randomly given an Amazon voucher by work today so took a mix of the advice on here and got a replacement metal focussing unit - I was very tempted by the Helical focuser but getting the mount 3d printed would have taken a couple of weeks (I have a mate who would have done it but he's mega busy) Hopefully everything arrives on time and on sunday I'll be trying to collimate it... Cheers !

While the bore is smaller - the metal is thin and crappy (sorry to mix units) and only .8mm thick so the internal bore comes out at 1.4" - which would make for a very sloppy eye piece fit. As an example of the poor quality on the telescope stand the friction bolt on the vertical wasn't actually threaded... It had circular grooves that didn't connect up so wasn't actually a thread and couldn't be tightened - I "assumed" it had been bent and cross threaded so cut it short, filed the top, then spent 20 mins trying to work out why a nut wouldn't thread onto it. I have genuinely not seen that in 46 years of spannering stuff...

I hadn't thought of replacing the entire focuser mechanism. Good shout guys - thanks

Quick background - this is not the telescope we want to keep - this is just to see if we can use a telescope on our property or have to drive elsewhere... I picked up a cheap old jessops telescope from marketplace, I'd done some research and know that these TA1100-102 reflectors are only slightly better than a POS but to test what I wanted it should work fine. The guy selling it said it was his daughters old one and he thought it worked. It looked like it was all there so handed over the cash. Got it home and realised it was even worse that I could have imagined - the focusing mechanism was jammed, tripod bolts stripped etc etc. But me being me I like fixing stuff so happy enough to put some time in and get it sorted. Stripped stuff apart and realised an extra focuser had been epoxied onto the original focuser (!) and had jammed it so there was no way it was going to focus. I removed the "extra focuser", sorted out the worm drive on the original focuser and got it working. At this point I realised there were no lenses etc.. Easy enough to get some but the focuser is a 1.5" tube and eyepieces seem to be 1.25" - I dug around and found photos of other TA1100-102s and spotted an important piece missing. There should be an adaptor to attach to the focuser.. I've searched and I can't seem to find anything that would fit - I can get a mate to make me one but that will take a few weeks. I could just chuck this whole thing in the bin but I'd rather get it sorted and working and then once I'm done with it I can pass it on to someone as a working instrument. So this is the focuser tube - any ideas where I can get an adaptor to convert a 1.5" focuser down to a 1.25" eye piece ? Thanks !