AlistairHowie

Sad, sad news. An inspiration to many, including myself. RIP Sir Patrick.

Thanks again, all. Now ... if those clouds would just clear ....

Thanks, Per. Phew, Smooth as butter now! Many thanks.

Hi Alistair

Have you tried loosening off the single brass nurled bolt on the top of the focusser??

Steve

Hi Steve - yes, I've completely slackened the gold focuser tension screw on top, and the silver focuser lock screw on the bottom.

Thanks, John. I agree with your first two sentences. The scope categorically hasn;t been dropped - it's in mint condition and well looked after. It was perfectly packed in its travel case such that it took me 10 minutes to get it all unwrapped. The focuser also shows absolutely no signs of damage, no scratches, etc. I know that doesn't mean it hasn't been dropped, but when I consider the scope's history and who the vendor was, I'm very confident it hasn't been abused in any way. But clearly something doesn't add up. I've emailed Feathertouch the link to the video and I'll see what they recommend when they get back from 4th July celebrations on Monday.

In the meantime, I might try Ian King. I'm just about to order an iEQ45, mounting plate, diagonal and EPs from him, so I'm hopefull he might offer to take a look at it.

It might be the knobs are hard up against the housing ( body ) , try lossening the small allen head screws that hold the single knob off first and pull it back off the shaft 1/2 a mmm and retighten . If that does not make any differance try the same with first the 10 to 1 focus knob , if its still the same try the main knob on that side last .

It sounds like dry alloy against alloy ? . I would try the knobs first 1 at a time before going any deeper .

I say this because my GSO 10 to 1 focuser I have on my ED80 made the same noise from new , it had been dropped and one knob was binding slightly on the main body .It does not take much to sound this horrible .

Good luck .

Brian.

Thanks, Brian - I'll give all that a go.

I suggest to remove focuser from the telescope an see what happens with the drawtube when you move it in/out. That way you have a bigger chance to find a source of the problem. It may be that the drawtube is not in the axis with the focuser body (maybe one of the internal bearings is broken). Anyway you should contact Wayne at Feathertouch and show him link to your video. I'm sure he will know where the problem is. If you will have to send your FT back to the States you will not pay for any repair, but the shipping costs may be quite high.

Thanks, Tom. I've already emailed the link to them but they're out til Monday on 4th July celebrations. I was just hoping for a quick resolution to make me feel better about a secondhand purchase! How do I remove the Feathertouch - do I just unscrew the focuser rotator knobs completely and it slides out?

So today I took delivery of my secondhand FLT98 with Feathertouch focuser. All in excellent condition but for the Feathertouch which feels far from silky smooth. As the drawtube goes in and out there are moments of what feels like rubbing/grinding between it and the casing that it slides in and out of. There's also squeaking/screeching - see here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XiqSsDjAyo&feature=youtu.be . Ignore the doorbell ringing in the middle of my production!

I have made sure that the silver focuser locking screw underneath is completely loose, and that the gold tension adjustment screw on the top of the focuser is also very loose. Is there something else that I'm missing? I have also noticed that I don't really detect much change in ease of movement of the drawtube from when the tension knob was screwed all the way down versus when it was slack per my video. It seems quite stiff, but that of course could be normal for a refractor focuser - I wouldn't know, it's my first one.

I'm hoping this doesn't require a return to the US for fixing.

All advice gratefully received - am feeling a bit down at the moment!

Thanks for all the replies. I tend to concur, which is why I've just bought Per's FLT98 with Feathertouch from the classifieds!

Anyone else heard anything?

Well, there was a review here ... http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/141149-first-light-skywatcher-esprit-100-ed-quad/page__p__1430636#entry1430636 ... and also here ... http://www.progressiveastroimaging.com/viewtopic.php?p=50970&sid=da2fa4d6f6746238d0d03ff151f768ff

Both showing serious problems, but there are from a few months ago now ...

Just wondering if the earlier reported problems with this scope have been ironed out yet? I've not seen (m)any reviews of it.

Many thanks.

My experience with David Hinds ...and I will just point out that I am well aware they don’t deal with customers directly, so I always made it clear that my dealer didn’t have an answer and I needed their advice ...

Back at the beginning of December I emailed them asking if they could help me locate a CPC1100 in the South East so I could see how heavy it was. Their reply ....

Unfortunately we do not have a showroom, and do not have any scopes on display, so we cannot be of any help.

Please do not hesitate to contact me again if I can be of any further assistance.

Kind Regards,

DAVID HINDS LTD

So I tried again asking if they knew which retailers might be likely to carry them ...

It would be a case of calling round dealers to see who has one on display. Most dealers do not carry the whole range on display due to space etc.

Please do not hesitate to contact me again if I can be of any further assistance.

Kind Regards,

DAVID HINDS LTD

Having gone ahead and bought the scope, I emailed them over Christmas about accessory mounting screws on my OTA which appeared too long, because their dealer didn’t have an answer ...

No reply

I then emailed them asking for their advice on a slewing noise and whether the scope should go back for warranty repait, because their dealer didn’t have an answer ...

No reply

I emailed Celestorn in the US and got an answer in 24hrs saying I needed to return it for warranty repair.

I emailed Hinds on January 13th asking for a rough turnaround time on my NEW scope ...

No reply

I emailed them again ...

Can you please advise re the below [turnaround time], or on the other questions that I’ve sent to you in 3 or 4 emails since Christmas, and which my dealer has been unable to answer?

I know you don’t deal with consumers directly – that’s fine – but having just spent £2.5k on a new Celestron scope that appears to have missed the QC department, it would be courteous to at least acknowledge my emails rather than completely ignoring them and causing me to liaise with Celestron in the US to get their input on the problem.

What is a consumer meant to do when their dealer doesn’t have an answer?

Their reply?

Your scope arrived back to us at the end of last week, and will be dealt with at some point this week. We will contact your dealer once we have completed the inspection/repair.

Please do not hesitate to contact me again if I can be of any further assistance.

Kind Regards,

DAVID HINDS LTD

I have since been having some serious problems with alignment and asked my dealer for some advice – he passed my query onto Hinds on 2 February. So far, I’ve not even had an acknowledgement let alone a reply.

Nuff said.