DaveL59

the upside of the LiFePo ones Steve is that they're quite lightweight and nothing like the ancient lead-tech in weight or performance  

Just wish they were more affordable as I'd quite like to use those next time the UPS's need new batteries. Long-term they work out pretty much on par or slightly less, its just the big cost hit all at once (12 of them) and usually when funds are needed for something else...

would you not be better to order a replacement socket:
https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/type-b-usb-connectors/7480905/

fingers crossed for NO magic smoke escaping  

nicely done Gina

Could you perhaps not fit a strain relief grommet on the cable too, so as not to have a future mishap? No idea on the size of the ST4 socket but perhaps one like this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/sourcingmap-Strain-Relief-Grommet-Diameter/dp/B078HM4ZB8/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_1?dchild=1&keywords=split+cable+grommet+strain&qid=1588686176&sr=8-1-fkmr2

After sanding I looked closer at that silver ring from the clamp screws, they're indented slightly, machined that was I wonder, or just years of tightening up the tumbscrews, hmmm.

Anyway, decided I've had enough of breathing spray paint so I went with brush applied hammerite black hammered finish on these bits, hopefully one light coat will be enough and give a nice finish, will see once its cured I guess  I know I'll need to skim the edges of the hinge and its counterpart as they were snug before I started, a bridge to cross once the paint is fully set.

The OTA carrier is a pretty simple affair, a block that bolts to the ALT bearing plate and 2 half-rings that clamp the tube into place. Now I've noticed in some ads that the OTA rings can get broken, since they have 2 holes for a plastic buttons in them I guess that can be a weak point. I've decided those plastic buttons have to go, since they bear directly on the OTA and the paint and so tear the paint up when turning the OTA to adjust the focuser position when viewing.

First up then, remove the hinge pins so we can remove the rings

Now I removed the plastic pegs, cutting away the back and then teasing them out with a screwdriver. Drilling them might have been quicker but I was too lazy to get up lol. Also removed from the OTA carrier base hence those holes. I'll use felt strips in their place when I reassemble.

Now for the ring clamp thumbscrews. There's a screw in the end of the threaded section to prevent the thumbscrew from being unwound off the end and dropped in the dark, so unscrew the retaining screw and then the thumbscrew, nice and simple. Then we want to remove the bolt section, but this time there's no screw head on either end of the retaining pin. Hmmm ok, so after trying lightly I found that these simply tap out with a suitable drift, in my case the tip of the thin pliers tapped with that big screwdriver  

leaving us the clamp screws for the tube rings... ( I do have them all, just not in the pic)

And there we are, OTA carrier stripped  and ready to be prepped and painted.

Am thinking a nylon washer under each thumbscrew might be a good option to protect the paint when I reassemble this, or even just a plain stainless washer, one to consider later on. Would prefer they don't look like this after taking the time to refurb it all.

ok so picking this thread up again, yesterday I noted the L-shaped ALT-AZ head had some sags in the paint on the vertical edge  So sand things back and flat it and then redo, seemed to have enough paint in the spray can, or so I thought. Nope ran out on first light coat. Oh well so this part I cannot finish yet - seems the local DIY store is out of hammerite smooth white at the moment so hopefully I can pick up another can later in the week when they might get some stock in.

Oh well... guess I'll look at the OTA carrier instead then.

inclined to agree with Stu, where it is its likely the view will be fine, though if those chips induce any diffraction on bright targets like the moon it could give some interesting effects. Thing is in changing temperatures (esp at extremes) if the chip develops into a crack then you're in trouble and will need a new mirror. Not knowing if it was like that on assembly or if it happened in transit adds the question of shards in the scope, did they hit the primary etc.

never seen the EQ1 in the flesh but the EQ2 I have and one of the EQ5's has the sliding box ally legs and they seem fine. Also have one EQ5 on the tubular legs which I can't say is so much better, but then I mainly have the legs fully retracted. For the locking screws, yes you need to be careful not to over-tighten and as someone else I think here notes in a refurb project on the EQ1, some washers under the thumbscrew help to reduce that risk which of course leads to the plastic breaking.

As John mentions, astroboot do have the legs so a quick cheap fix to get going again if that's all that's needed  

So far tho I've yet to find a round accessory tray for my older tubular steel legged tripod.

another quick shot this eve, ISO400 F8 1/320th AF 

thought I'd give Venus a go too, same settings

hand-held so quite pleased with those  

argh and now I wrote that, an email alert saying there's a T2 up for sale! What to do!

Must resist, must resist, keep saying it David! Furlough so reduced income so for sure I can't afford to right now, pity  

Have you considered any of the smaller travel scopes? The Celestron 70mm gets nice reviews other than the dodgy tripod. All depends if you're happy to accept it'll be limited in terms of the dimmer DSO's because of the smaller aperture. I think Orion do an 80mm one too. 

ah ok, my back story then...

Bought an old pair of ex army issue binos as a kid overseas, which Dad got his army guys to refurb, think they're 6x or 8x30, black leather over brass body IIRC. Will have to see if I can get them back of my little sis who "borrowed" them years ago but now she has glasses not sure she even uses them these day. So that was 50 years ago. Back then I had a couple books on the planets but unfortunately no fund to afford the cost of a scope as they were pretty expensive back then, not to mention long and we moved every couple years so very likely to be destroyed in shipping.

Around 15 years back I picked up an old 10x50 in a curio shop, needed work but looked ok in that they were complete, but one occular was flapping loose and full of dust, bur for £5 what the heck. I lived by the Thames then so thought it'd be nice to get a better look at passing ships etc. Collimation was so good it felt like your eyes being ripped out of their sockets  So they sat unloved for a while till I moved house and was between jobs, so something to do, learn something new etc. Turns out these were an old Japanese pair branded Burleigh and stamped JE54. So I stripped these down and cleaned everything up, spend ages making up shims to get the prism tilt just so and now they're nice and clear and aligned for my eyes. Testing on the stars rekindles an interest and I was enjoying the view of the orion nebula etc.

So I started collecting binos, always liked the skeleton type miniatures but also a few others came into the growing collection, all bought at bargain/good prices and fettled as needed. Way too many now tho lol. A partial (not even half!) of the collection for your enjoyment.

So as I worked on each and checked alignment against the stars, interest in seeing further grew and I decided I needed a scope, another slippery slope to step onto it seems.

First up after a lot of reading was a TAL-1, but the seller went silent, so I found a NatGeo 76x350 locally going for £10. OK a bit of a toy maybe but heck at that price. Picked it up and never got on with dob-type setup tho its not the best example I know. Still it gave fair views and I tweaked it her e and there so its now much better with a low cost plossl eyepiece update. Next I found an SW130EQ2 with clock drive, not too far and £70 later it was mine. A more proper scope and it works really well, is a little wobbly in the EQ2 mount. 

Still seeking a TAL though, I then found a TAL-M, in the wooden case too, so a further £60 and it too was mine. Fits nicely in the boot in the case so an easy if heavy one to take about. It was a bit tatty with lots of paint scars and is now being restored, slowly. Missing were the 32mm diameter extension for higher mag and a 25mm eyepiece but still very usable. 

Next up came a TAL100RS, a proper scope (a big lens on the end of a tube for me lol). Long round trip to Coventry to collect but its lovely, on an EQ5 mount with full set of TAL eyepieces its a treasure.

I then bought a used EQ5-SynScan and that GoTo gear is now serving the TAL100RS, with the now spare EQ5 needing an overhaul as the axes stick here and there making tho GoTo grate and stop slewing.

So a few months back I found an older TAL-1 which was pre-1.25 inch eyepieces, so bought that for £60 to have a hens-teeth 25mm plossl. Yep I bought the whole scope for one eyepiece  It also had the TAL clip-on filters which compliment the TAL-M nicely too. Now the chap I bought this from was the very first owner of this scope, so I couldn't just cannibalise it, it had to be made useful again, so I shifted the primary mirror up and tweaked the focuser retainer to hold 1.25-inch eyepieces to make it usable with regular eyepieces.  I've since swapped the focuser on to a TAL 1.25-inch one which keeps it reasonably original and fully usable and at some stage I'll refresh the paint on it too.

Ignore the weird thing in the SW130 focuser - having a play with a CCTV module to see if it'll get any pics of the moon but never got round to doing much with it... yet.

So there we have it, the collection so far. Would I go after another scope, probably yes if a nice telementor or a Prinz 660 perhaps, as I said, slippery slope  

have a search on youtube for videos on how the EQ mount works, which should give you some idea.

To get good tracking then ideally you need to level and polar align if just using the RA motor. GoTo types you could use a guide camera to instruct the mount either via the ST4 connection or via a PC using appropriate software, but you still want the polar alignment reasonably accurate or you'll get shift in the image on longer exposures. Personally (am visual not photo) I prefer EQ as I only need RA adjustment once on a target to follow it, where ALT-AZ or dob you have to move in both axes and unless you have a wedge then you'd still get image rotation I believe.

ah fair enough. Can't really say on those you listed, I'd guess the 80 with slightly more aperture might be better, but I'm sure someone will be along who can give a more experienced opinion  

when you say "easier to set up", what reflectors do you have and are you having to dismantle, move to viewing location and assemble?

A refractor can be the same effort, unless you're needing to collimate the reflector of course. At least with those listed you aren't talking heavy mount and counterweights and a manageable tube length. My TAL100RS with EQ5 and weights is over 30KG so I have to de-mount the OTA and weights to safely move it out past the glass in the conservatory as its way too unwieldy to risk all assembled. So in fact takes me slightly longer than the lighter SW130/EQ2 where I just leave the weight on.

lol my car is 20YO I've only ever bought one new and since all S/H, much better value, tho downside is its heavy on fuel, not helped by a heavy right foot  

I do know what you mean though, I preference the older gear that can be refreshed a little to get something very usable and will last, hence my older TAL's  The odd little scuff in use isn't such a problem so long as it works, will have to see how precious I become once the little TAL has been restored tho, can see me wearing silk gloves to handle it  

that one was off ebay as I've long since lost the one I used many moons ago when I repaired a Minolta 28-85 AF zoom that a friend had dropped, think I still have that lens somewhere with my 9000. There's quite a few versions of these, straight and bent pins depending on what you need, something like this one

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PRO-STAINLESS-STEEL-DSLR-CAMERA-LENS-REPAIR-KIT-SPANNER-WRENCH-OPEN-TOOL-FADDISH/383419374209?hash=item5945935a81:g:l4UAAOSwXIheRS-E

There's much more expensive types that the real pro's use I expect but this type works pretty well, just set the right width and secure the bolts and recheck and then locate in the slots carefully and ease the retaining ring gently in the required direction.

I see the bay prices all seem to have gone up of late, side effect of the global mess I suppose, think I paid around £7 for mine. Still, I'd put it this way - you only have to slip once and scratch a lens and then one of these seem like a real bargain  I preferred not to make that first slip  

1 hour ago, markse68 said:

Which cement @estwing? On the retaining ring? Mine had a tiny little dab of varnish to lock it but it span out really easily.

best to get a proper wrench for the purpose than risking force with 2 screwdrivers if just fingernails won't shift it. Not expensive and very useful to have if you are doing much with optics and other ring nuts like this one  

Hi Mark

yep that's the thread for the cover retaining screw. Was just thinking if the clever russian maker did what I'd have done and tapped it right through and banged in a set-screw to hold that threaded insert.

As to press fit etc, I wondered about that too Mark, for sure its tightly secured and I'm not planning to force anything and wreck it given its a key part of the AZ adjustment. I did have a little try with a circlip on the end of the control knob to see if it'd just unscrew on the basis it might have screwed into place, but it didn't budge. Since it is a different finish, anodized perhaps it must have gone in after the main casing was painted, so press or screw fitting seems the most likely. Should check if the threaded insert is steel in which case maybe heating the casing and pushing a cooled steel inset was how they did it. Simple and effective whichever it was  

The only negative I've read on the TAL-M was around the bearing, plain metal faces pressing against each other. Not that it doesn't work, just if the ring clamp nuts aren't tight enough you get a little play that results in a slight rocking. Mine was like that when I got it, just slightly, but an easy fix which I did soon after buying it. Not bad though for a 26YO scope if that and the paint are the only things wrong with it. Somehow I doubt my hardly used 5YO SW130 will be that good in 20 years time but I bet the TAL's will still be in great shape other than maybe the paint. That'll be someone else's problem by then tho  

That looks so inviting to just dive into and have a swim  

are you certain the movement arrows aren't working?

Try it and listen close to the mount and see if there's any motor noise as once the goto has fast slewed to target it'll switch the slew speed to min for tracking and the movement is barely noticable and will take ages to adjust position at that setting. You can increase the slew speed once it had moved the scope to shift to a faster gear as it were, just select via the handset and then fine tune the aim before confirming. Use a low-ish speed setting tho, say 2 or 3 not the faster ones or you'll be wildly swinging the scope away from target. Have a practise in daylight to figure these bits out before going out to play in the dark. It helps a lot. You don't need to see any stars, just let it pick a target and try adjusting etc..

15 hours ago, newAstronomer said:

 

Is the SW 130/900 EQ2 a bad choice?

I've one of these, can't say if its spherical as I bought it used and there's nothing to indicate its a P so probably it is. It's a competent scope for visual tho the long tube will catch the breeze and wobble. The mount is an EQ2 which manages the scope fine but is at its limit in terms of load and isn't regarded as a mount suited to photography. The RA (clockwork drive) motor add-on works and is reasonably quiet, batteries last ages and helps the scope keep tracking the object you've selected. Means you can just chill and enjoy the view and not have to fiddle with adjustments. The bonus part of that is... as you adjust the slo-mo controls you set the tube wobbling for a few seconds and need to wait for it to settle again to get a good view.

The focuser can take a camera with adaptors I believe, I don't have an SLR to confirm, but I'm not sure if there is enough focuser in-travel to get focus, possibly but I don't know. You could grab pics via the eyepiece though with phone or compact camera, at least of the moon and planets. With better eyepieces the scope performs nicely I find, so isn't a bad one, but given you'd want to expand later to AP then perhaps a 150P on EQ3-2 would be better, others who have that scope might advise better on its merits.

I wouldn't say as a beginner to avoid an EQ mount tho, sure and ALT-AZ is easier to get started on as its obvious where the scope will move to if you do X or Y. But the EQ isn't so hard, just play with it in daylight to see how its operating and watch tutorial vids so you've got your head around it before you try in total darkness and then struggle to get things pointed where you want  

hmmm hadn't thought of that, but I'd be wiping over with distilled water after too just to be sure then letting it dry out properly before reassembly. I've usually done that with the binos I've collected and worked on, being vintage and not wanting them to grow fuzzies when I'm not watching. Not needed to on the TAL scopes so can't give a definitive answer. Some form of treatment could be worth doing if they had fungus just to be on the safe side, bleach, diluted?

Does look a nice scope now you've recovered the lens, paint's not bad on it either, just the EP's and mount needs sorting. I'm part way through restoring one on the TAL reflectors, full repaint, hopefully it'll look good once done, spent more on paint than for the scope!

sent my daughter the last pics and she showed them to little grandaughter who's 3. She said to mummy "wow did grandad get that close to it, next time can he take me too" 🤣