neil phillips

Cheers swoop

Update cleaned the primary. Probably my inexperiance with the technique. Still managed about a 3.5 inch sleek on one corner lol. But in the big scheme of things if you look at those large big mirror clips that havent stopped the mirror performing. I doubt it will amount to much. The reflectivity of the whole mirror is much greater. I think i felt it. on reflection ( no pun intended ) i should have moved away but tried to free it off the mirror. in what felt like only tiny hand movement. Hey ho, when the lunar images come i am sure it will seem less important. 

Stopped in my tracks on the 24th Feb But processed and saturated a couple of panes

 Celestron 114 powerseeker EQ2 Single Economy RA drive. QHY462C Camera

Now have my old Orion 10"  1/10th newt working fitted with a Antares 1/30th secondary. cleaned primary ect. Will still be sometime, as i need a bigger mount and drives. Also a SW Evostar 120 Achro. I got from a member here, again need a mount. Hopefully in a few weeks i will have them running. Good to get some better gear to play with. Regardless this old Celestron powerseeker has rocked my world what a amazing and sharp little scope. Its been good going back to basics, ive learned a lot beleive it or not

Interesting seeing this, i just got one of these scopes today. Nice images Fedele

1 minute ago, CraigT82 said:

I know exactly what you mean. 

We tend to think that post processing can make great images, if only we can spend enough time to get the processing *just* right,  but in the end if the data is really good then less is more and it will need very little doing to it to make it really stand out.

Exactly right Craig. Btw loving your images on your website. 

Thanks Craig. Still tweaking away,  Can spend hours only to find the first process looks better.

Sure you know what i mean

10 hours ago, Peter_D said:

Just looked at the upload on my mobile and it has a decidedly green tinge to it, sorry! Funny how images can sometimes look different on different screens 🤔

Nice detail. If your ever unsure of colour balance. Just go to registax and push RGB Balance. It shows the blue was a little low. If you push auto balance then Do all

registax will auto correct the RGB balance. Its a great quick check and adjustment

Celestron 114 powerseeker, EQ2 Mount. Economy RA Drive. IR850nm QHY 462C Camera

Promising Mike. Hard to get dynamics and contrast, in daylight. With it being so washed out. But of course you know all this. Whats important is the sharpness. And it seems to have that doesnt it. Once the contrast and dynamics are there with night capturing. Its going to be a beast i am sure.  Nice capture. Congrats again.

1 hour ago, Cornelius Varley said:

I suspect that the Skywatcher drive won't fit your mount. The motor is attached to the side of the SW EQ3-2 by a bracket and connects to the RA shaft by a flexible coupling. I think this one Teleskop-Express: TS optics Motor drive for EQ3-1 mount (Jupiter, Starscope, Megastar) (teleskop-express.de) should fit.

Hey thanks Cornelius i will contact them and ask much appreciated 

4 hours ago, Cozzy said:

I'm not 100% sure; bit this could fit, give FLO a call.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-mount-accessories/single-axis-dc-motor-drive-for-eq3-2.html

I will try and find out. Many thanks

Hi guys getting a Stella lyra 6 CC soon. Wondering if there is any RA  or dual motor drives that can still be got to fit this ? Looks like a old GSO EQ3 or some such

The RA drive attaches on a side bar as in this example Bottom pic  (not my mount just a example ) The top pic is my mount

Does anyone know if such RA drives can still be got 

13 hours ago, Astrobits said:

As a mirror maker I would always recommend the fingertip method.

Why?

Fingertips are very sensitive and will detect any hard material allowing you to stop from dragging it along the surface with potential scratching as a result. The hard bit can then be dealt with before continuing. It is amazing just how hard some bits floating about in the atmosphere are. Once they settle on the mirror they can stick quite firmly to the surface and can corrode the Aluminium coating producing Aluminium Oxide which is scratchy enough to be used as a mirror grinding material. I know, I use Aluminium Oxide for final stages of grinding mirrors.

Using any man made material disconnects you from sensing hard, scratchy bits and can result in longer scratches as a result. Furthermore, man made materials will never be guaranteed 100% free from contaminants. A very high percentage, yes, but never 100%. If you must use man made materials use the lightest pressure possible such as dragging a sheet across under it's own weight as mentioned in previous posts here.

It is best to use a tight fitting cover for the mirror whenever it is not in use to minimise the frequency of cleaning.

Nigel

 

Tottaly convinced by these arguments. Many thanks for sharing your knowledge. Its what i am going to do. Orderd distilled water. Will attempt this soon. Will post the result. Wish me luck guys. Thanks again for everyones input, it really has helped a lot. 

Thanks again everyone. Starting to see some merit on using fingertips. Its not something i have tried before. So will update how it goes 

Congrats Mike, Looks great. Enjoy

12 minutes ago, hunterknox said:

I prefer cotton wool but each to their own. Look for “Cotton wool BP” on the label in the UK. BP = British Pharmacopedia = medical grade

Light touch is a given but I also try to rotate the cotton wool as I move it across the surface so the overall effect is lifting rather than polishing. One swipe per cotton wool ball then discard. Imagine you’re a nurse trying not to cross contaminate different parts of the mirror surface.

There used to be a great video online of David Sinden cleaning a refractor lens with the proper technique but I’m not sure it’s available anymore.

My worry is always dragging whatever’s on the surface over the surface. It’s not exactly analogous but next time there’s a sunny day look at the reflection of the sun on a car bonnet. What you’ll see is scratches in a circle around the reflection of the sun. That’s because there will be scratches in random directions all across the bonnet and it’s the ones in a circle around the solar reflection that bounce back to your eye. Why are there scratches in all directions on car bonnets? Because when cars get washed whatever’s on the bonnet usually gets dragged across it before it gets removed.

There’s a huge difference between cars and telescopes but as a general principle if you assume whatever’s on the surface of your mirror and could be abrasive and think about your technique from that starting point you won’t go far wrong.

 

Thanks for the info on BP british Pharmacopedia = medical grade. I was always of the opinion you should not touch a mirror. So always used cotton. But i can see some merit in doing that way. Certainly a split of opinion on this it seems.

As fas as distilled water is concerned there is so much choice and price variance. Hard to know which to trust. Anyone have any ideas about the purest distilled water ?

Great discussion guys. Its most certainly helpful

6 hours ago, faulksy said:

i use sergical grade cotton wool

Just noticed your using a Antares 1/30th. Just installed mine. Do you know if the secondarys are silicon over coated. 

2 hours ago, Adam J said:

As lightly as you can you touch something lol. Very lightly I would suggest. The advantage is that the cotton wool can catch something and drag it across the mirror without you noticing. This can be felt with fingers. It's not possible for your fingers to actually scratch the coating the skin is softer than the mirror coating, it is particles of grit you need to worry about. You wash your hands with pure soap first as per the method. The last disadvantage of cotton wool is that I find it always leaves little fibers on the mirror. 

For a refractor I use cotton wool as you can't run water over it. 

Your fast convincing me this is what i should do. Thanks for the discussion

4 hours ago, Adam J said:

I find that for mirrors the finger method is superior. 

Please elaborate. I am interested in peoples experiences. And finding the safest way to clean this. If the finger tip method is the best. Then i should certainly be doing it

Thanks for the feedback

5 hours ago, faulksy said:

i use sergical grade cotton wool

Yes thats what i read is best. 

5 hours ago, JSeaman said:

I did my 300PDS last year, I just used supermarket cotton wool, there was no issue with streaking or contaminants.

This removed all of the surface muck and then the most effective thing I found was using a sprayer like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hozelock-0-5L-Spraymist-Trigger-Sprayer/dp/B0017RKEJM/ref=sr_1_26?dchild=1&keywords=sprayer&qid=1615718387&sr=8-26 with the distilled water (I have lots of this from working on cars). I found it incredibly effective at shifting any small bits of dust/hairs and left no marks at all.

 

Used a shower head to do similar. The primary needs contact cleaning unfortunately

18 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

Instead of cotton wool you could get a box of zeiss optical wipes. Each wipe is individually packaged and so is clean and free from particulate contamination, and already impregnated with cleaning solution (Isopropanol & ethanol, a preservative mixture of : 5 - chloro - 2 - methyl - 2 H - isothiazol - 3 - one and 2 - methyl - 2 H - isothiazol - 3 - one (3:1).

Currently less than £15 for a box of 200 online. agreed

I use these and gently drag over the mirror surface from inside to outside, fresh wipe for each drag (after blowing or rinsing all the dust and loose material off first).

 

Hi Craig. The optical wipes being Zeiss can be trusted to be free of contaminants agreed.  I seem to get sleeks with the slightest pressure. As such I still feel cotton submerged lightly floating over the mirror is my safest bet. Sleeks can be a hit and miss affair whatever is dragged over the surface. Would feel more comftortable doing techniques i have done before. But i am unsure of the best quality cotton wool. 

Hi guys recently tried cleaning my 10" primary 1/10th Orion optics. I tried submersing in water for 10 minuets  with a few drops of washing up liquid.

Used a shower head to try and get grub off. Then a final rinse with distilled water. But its not really worked well enough. So am thinking of submersing in water again

And gently dragging the surface with cotton wool. Does anybody have any ebay links of brands of cotton wool. That are safest for this ? What should i be using ?

  I have seen the fingertip method of rubbing the primary. But feel cotton wool submerged can be a lot lighter. I am also using this distilled water from the ebay. Which seems good quality. But again hard to know what to trust ?

Distilled Water 1L Pure Chem | eBay

Any discussion appreciated as these mirrors are not cheap. And i want to get it right.

6 minutes ago, Freddie said:

Not the exact same mount but does this help?

 

 

Hi Freddie was going to message you actually. Thanks for the link. Will do some reading on this. Though was hoping there was a quick adjustment that could be made to loosen the tightness of the axis. 

Hi guys would like to get my Old EQ3 Mount running again. Is there anyway to adjust the declination. scopes cant be balanced as the axis is way too stiff

cheers for any advice