jp1977

Probably not the right place to post these, but as a bookend to my first post, here's an update. So the mount for the telescope is super wobbly - this is due to the chewed out clutch gear on the altitude dial - the telescope basically just spins on this axis without any resistance. I'll get this sorted soon, but I'm using some masking tape for now when I have a position - easy to remove and reapply quickly during adjustments for a bit of added stability. I managed to get a reasonable collimation using the methods provided here (using a pigeon sat in a tree :)) and then got a decent look at the moon during the daytime. Then had another decent night time session as well. Managed to get some handheld iPhone 6s photos by holding the phone near the lens (images attached. The images don;t really capture the level of detail I was able to enjoy, but I can improve on this, I'm sure - can only get better from this point - consider me hooked!

Thanks for the welcome and the great advice. I'll take the next opportunity to collimate in the daytime, outisde and wait for a clear night and let you know how I get on. Glad I didn't actually spend any money on this particular telescope (which is a Seben Big Boss 150/1400 6" bird-jones style) but I think it's going to be perfect for a newbie.

Hi - First timer here. I was browsing one of those sites where people give their useless junk away for free to other people locally and stumbled across someone giving a telescope away. Despite being a sci-fi fan, I've never even looked through a telescope before (I'm 47). So I saw this and thought 'why not - might be fun, and might be something the missues and kids will enjoy'. Got it home (massive thing on a tripod), took it to peices (I'm a tinkerer) and cleaned away layers of thick dust and put it all back together again. During this clean up, I found a problem with one of the gears on the mount (sorry, not sure of the correct terminology, yet) - it was the gear that makes fine adjustments up and down when you turn a flexible dial. Anyway, the gear appears to be plastic (nylon?) and about 1/3rd of the teeth are chewed out. Not to worry I thought - I'll just spin it around so that the good 2/3rd's are within the range I'm likely going to need when adjusting the scope and in the meantime I'll look for a spare - that's a future problem. I set it up last night for a quick peek, without doing any kind of research - managed to get the crescent moon in shot on the viewfinder. It was a very cloudy night and the moon was obscured intermittently (more so than not). The viewfinder and main cylinder aren't aligned yet either, so what's in the viewfinder, doesn't match what the cylinder sees (another future problem). Actually seeing anything through the lens looks like it'll need to be a learned skill, as just sticking my eye right up to it resulted in a small blurry circle with my own eyelashes being the main thing I could see for some reason. Backing off slightly and getting the circle of light to fill the view seemed to work but it was a bit hit and miss. But, through some trial and error (adjusting both the horizontal and vertical direction whilst looking through the eyepeice and following light spots around the edges), I was able to get the moon in shot for about 5 seconds before a particularly thick bank of clouds came and didn't look like they were going to clear again for a while. I mean, what I saw through the lens was pretty amazing for someone who doesn't know any better. For that brief 5 seconds, I got a really clear view of the moon and it's craters and the line where the shadow turns to light - It was pretty amazing. I gave up after that, as between the clouds, the inexperience of setting up the telescope with the correct angles for my location (UK, Northwest), making the fine adjustments in the right directions, and the incorrect viewfinder alignment, it was just lucky I managed to see anything at all. Definately hooked though - going to wait for a completely clear night with a good moon (cresent or otherwise) and give it a good go. Now for the punchline - whilst researching for more lenses (it came with 1 lens only - a 20mm I think), filters, set up instructions and something beyond the basics - I found this site, along with some delightful reviews of the Seben Big Boss 1400-150. Oh well, I guess it was free... Anyway, going to stick with the free scope for now, try and get some decent views, get the family hooked on it and then maybe I can convince them it's a worthwhile investment to get something half decent