DaveL59

And there we have it, the ALT-AZ body stripped and ready for degrease, prep and paint I'll strip the black OTA carrier later as I'm working through the white smooth paint parts at this stage. I've not figured out how to remove that black collar you can see, its the screw threading insert for the slo-mo control and doesn't seem to have any simple means to remove it, so I plan to leave it there and mask it off at this point. Time for a coffee I think and some biccies too!

Now we have the ALT plate removed revealing the 2 hidden screws that still hold the base panel on. and the slo-mo parts in a box for safe-keeping So off with the base plate then and... there's the AZ controls and counterweight counterweight removed - simply unscrew the knob in the middle of the top plate Just as the ALT control we remove the circlips and spring and unscrew the knobs. The set-screw indicated locks the bearing collar, unfortunately it's not wanting to move so the swivel may need to remain in-situ while the unit is sanded and painted, not ideal. May try some heat later, being very careful of course as there's grease present on the bearing faces. On this one, after teasing out the retaining spring clip the arm wouldn't quite slide off, it needed a little persuading, gentle open the locking collar and it comes off easily

ok so a longer post with pics of disassembly in case its useful to someone else (me!) later. I didn't with the previous posts as those parts are all pretty simple and obvious being just a couple screws and you're done. So here goes... First up how to open up the L-shaped ALT-AZ unit so we can strip out the controls. Well there's the 4 screws underneath as per above pics but that ain't gonna do it, you'll see why in a few. The first step we need to do is to remove the OTA carrier which has a screw per corner. You need to undo the locking screw so the carrier rotates and then undo each screw as you rotate the carrier to bring them into view. Perhaps worth mentioning here for those unfamiliar with this baby scope, the short black knob is the Slo-Mo control, the longer one is the locking screw. It is NOT a lever and as noted in another article I'd read ages ago, yank on it like it is and you'll likely shear something off and render the controls useless unless you can machine up a suitable replacement. So with the ALT Slo-Mo controls now exposed we need to strip those down to be able to remove the swivel plate the OTA carrier attached to. As indicated in red, the locking screw on mine is missing a circlip to prevent accidental unscrewing which I'll find a replacement for later, in fact the Slo-mo screw is too in this case. So a fairly simple case then of remove circlips, unscrew the controls and remove, then remove the spring. Then you've the fun of removing the spring-clip that prevents the arm falling off. Proper pliers may help a lot here, but I used some fine-nose right-angle ones to tease it open and a screwdriver to lever it, then teased it up and off So now we remove the retaining ring that clamps this plate onto the plain bearing on which it rotates. Don't forget to undo the locking set-screw first tho! The ring with be screwed on fairly tight as this sets the loading on the bearing, too loose and the ALT axle will be wobbly

yep, just as I walked back from giving another coat a few drops then more. A few claps of thunder just now too brought kitty who was zzz in the conservatory running in for comfort bless him. Hopefully it'll be a brief shower as the wind does seem to be driving the clouds eastward. So time to start looking at the next component, the ALT-AZ head. An L-shaped unit with built-in counterweight and OTA carrier all-in-one. The tube rings have these plastic buttons to bear on the tube, allows it to be rotated but I think too they didn't help the paint, the scarring once started was just expanded by these I'd say. I did put a couple felt pads on for while I was using it to see how that worked and it did help so the plan will be to remove the plastic pegs and felt line them once the respray is finished. Underside shows where the pier knuckle goes, making it possible to use this setup as an EQ/wedge or ALT-AZ depending on preference. In its past life the knuckle bolt was loose so of course this meant the head body was hitting the pillar, damaging the paint quite a bit. No real damage other than the paint though, that old russian battleship build quality takes some beating

getting dark and threatening here Hope I can get all the trips to the shed to finish the OTA before it tips down or I expect it'll be wet feet for me again.

doesn't look very good at all, sadly, such a shame given how well regarded these scopes are

Hi Steve for the TAL-M the focuser/finder is an integrated unit with a helical focus control: The finder slides back into the body for use and there's a diagonal mirror that it puts into the path between the eyepiece and secondary. Very neat and quite usable. Looking at it again though I'm thinking my idea of tapping a 4mm hole might not fly as it'd need to be in the knurled section. Back to the drawing board on that idea then lol it just seems maybe easier than trying to chamfer the edge of the 25mm eyepiece barren to slip easier by the spring you can see here under the lip: A simple solution to securing, no fiddling with locking screws, but having flattened it more into the sides for the TAL-1 EP's there's a risk of an EP dropping out if careless when swinging the OTA. Am thinking forward a bit for if this one goes to my daughter and her little one to use, hence me adapting the pier before I started the painting

so having warmed the OTA tube on the radiator, out it went to the shed and first top-coat applied. Had to remind myself sternly too, light thin coats, don't go mad and try for a nice even white colour or it'll just run and you'll be starting over from scratch! Plan to gradually build to maybe 5 coats over the next couple hours to get a nice finish, fingers crossed. Then tomorrow it can go sit in the airing cupboard for a few days to cure with gentle warming while I make a start on the ALT/AZ head which I've yet to strip down.

yeah been reasonably lucky so far, thin sprays every 30 mins or so to build the coat. But still did get a couple runs. Followed Astrobaby's method when she did her TAL-1, where she found brush/roller just left a poor finish. I was thinking a tin of smooth and paint pad but after reading her work decided it'd have to be spray paint as the way to go. The feet though I felt were fine to brush and they've come out reasonably well. Am currently warming the OTA tube on the radiator so it has some residual warmth for when I hit it with the first coat of white. Seemed to work well for the primer so hoping will do the same for the topcoat. It'll be cooled by the time I do the following coats of course but they'll be going onto the tacky first coat so should be ok The focuser I've been thinking, will use a regular black spray as it doesn't look like it'll need much if anything. Having thoughts to drill and tap a 4mm hole into it to be able to add a securing thumbscrew for the eyepiece, since I've bent the spring-clip in the tube to allow easier insert of the TAL-1 eyepieces, so of course it no longer grips the eyepiece barrel that much. Will ponder on that a while and decide later. Can always do it much later since its easy to remove to work on.

unfortunately a case of lack of good enforced regulation, esp UK always so slow to do anything on stuff like this. Problem is also inconsistent regs globally where in some you can happily point a laser upward and not care at all. But even with regs in place, when you add in the ease that you can order stuff online from overseas etc, sadly rules get bypassed and those manufacturers and sellers don't really care in the main, income is king and all that...

The choice of materials is driven by a number of factors, such as impact resistance, transparency etc. I expect you may find that if someone aimed a laser into your car at night you'd end up in a similar position, with the glass reflecting it all over the place. Same result with a plane too. Its unfortunate really that these "toys" fall into the hand of the irresponsible and very fortunate that there's not been a major accident as a result. Not saying an astronomer who'd like to use one for brief aiming is such but there's a lot of care needing to be taken and an awareness that stuff like online flight trackers have a lag so you can't really rely on those to give you a confirmation that where you plan to aim is really clear.

yikes, in your location I'd not advise pointing a laser into the skies, especially once aircraft are back operating. You might be careful but a pilot reporting a laser beam could well result in a visit from the boys in blue. Endangering an aircraft is a pretty serious one to get pulled on. As Micheal above has said, lasers cause major problems for pilots and in areas near an airport where planes are typically taking off or landing, losing vision the last thing a pilot needs. I used to be a manager at an airport in a built up area where VFR (visual flight rules) was the only way to operate, a pilot losing vision there could be very serious given the tall buildings and steep approach. Do you not have a red dot finder on your scope? That should get you reasonably onto target if its properly aligned. If you want to upgrade it to something better then a telrad or rigel one are well recommended, or if you prefer a decent finderscope.

Patience Karen, you'll get there and be blown away by the views with that shiny new scope 🙂 The weather is probably the most frustrating part of this hobby, we've all been there. Nice new toy and flat white skies for days, or kicking yourself for deciding not to enjoy the clear night one day and the next several are all occluded. The moon did look good last night though in breaks of the cloud and even cleared up a bit much later, but I didn't get the scope out just took a couple snaps with the camera which came out ok.

thanks Craig, Realised later that I was set at 100ASA which likely limited things a bit too, but fancied a change esp with the cold and wind and tired fingers after a day sanding down the OTA that I'm refurbishing. Figured a quick play with the camera would suffice before clouds took over. Need to spend a bit more time to get reacquainted with it really as its not been used much in a while, have gotten a bit rusty finding my way around the settings etc in the dark.

ah thanks for that John, a bit more complicated then having to swap wires around to switch the motor directions but looks nice and neat. A project for the future on mine perhaps

nicely done Neo

Nice job James. I've often wondered if there's anything similar for the EQ5-goto but don't recall ever seeing one, maybe I didn't look very hard. Thankfully mine's not too graunchy now I've tweaked the gear alignment since transferring the gear off the EQ5 it came on and onto the other EQ5 head. So I guess it was a combination of gear alignment and sticky bearings on the other EQ5 causing the issue. Would be nice if it'd run a little quieter though, but then I'm not running the mount till all hours, am more likely done and packed away by midnight when working

can I ask, why would you expect there to be a beam? Just as with a torch, you'll only really see a beam if the light is passing through something that's diffusing it, like mist or smoke. added: Don't know if you recall a time when Oxford Street spent a fortune putting a laser light display up instead of the traditional lights? It was deemed a flop because you didn't see the beams tracking, tho I was lucky to walk along one evening when it was drizzling, it looked way better than on a dry night

yep, that new girl ordered some optics, bound to happen... Cleared up a bit here tho, was just out shooting the moon but tis pretty cold

Gave the old Fuji S100FS a try tonight, full zoom (400mm equiv) and letting the camera AF and select aperture while I cranked the shutter speed down to get a capture. Mounted on the Giottos monopod and a night sky filter fitted, snippy tool screen grabs after zooming the image a little. Could to with a bit sharper focus and stability perhaps but not bad for a couple mins point and click At 1/200th sec and 1/250th sec

So I decided to go ahead and primer coat the OTA, of course we had a torrential hailstorm kick off just before I'd finished my coffee and biccies before going out to do the second coat. Forgot about the puddle that forms in front of the shed as I made my way out under a brollie too, so cold wet feet for my troubles grrr. Still OTA now has 2 coats of primer so can start the white hammerite smooth tomorrow and pray I get a nice flat no-runs finish I'll re-tap the screw holes for the focuser/guide scope once the paint has cured, easier than trying to mask them off since I already have a tap/die set Figured I'd rub down the feet too and get rid of the bubble on the end, so I've now given the top edge and the end a second brush coat. Will give the underside another coat once that's dried off. I see a couple runs in the flat segment between the narrow part of top/lower sections but not really going to worry too much about that I think. Plan is to use some self-adhesive flock on the end that butts against the pier post to protect the white paint once this hammered paint is cured. So far so good, I think...

ahhh that explains the hail we're getting then!

ah yes, I'd read that and one on the TAL-M hence deciding I'd aim for those going into the hobby. I quite like the older gear and being able to fix them up and keep them going. The only real limitation seems to be the slo-mo controls having only a few degrees travel before you need to wind them back and then re-adjust the RA/DEC and start over. But you soon get used to that. Just had my DOH! moment for the day too, putting some laundry away - the airing cupboard, ideal place to cure the paint in a warm environment where they won't get disturbed. Pity I didn't think of that before my baking attempt lol Still, having spritzed those parts with a fresh coat of white they look ok so now in the airing cupboard to fully harden while I make a start on the OTA with some primer...

Thanks Alan, the TAL-1 was the first scope I'd tried to obtain not that long back in fact, but the seller went silent and an SW130 came up so I picked that up for a reasonable £70 complete. Then I found this TAL-M not far from me with the older wooden box so bought that as well, only thing its really missing now is the extension tube to get up to x138 with the supplied eyepiece and a bit paint scarred but I figured I'd restore that in time. Hankered after the TAL100 refractor too and got lucky there with the 100RS which came on an EQ5 rather than the lovely wood tripod, I've since upgraded that to GoTo.. Then a couple months back I bought the TAL-1 locally, in truth just for the older 32mm diameter 25mm plossl eyepiece to use on the TAL-M, the scope was in fact just a bonus part That said, considering its age its in reasonably good nick, paint a little yellowed but not many scars, bought from the original first owner in fact. I've since shifted the mirror up on the TAL-1 using longer screws and springs and swapped to an OEM 1.25-inch focuser on it, so its now fully usable with regular eyepieces and performs nicely. If I were to sell one scope it'd be the SW130 as I find the TAL-1 as good even with a little less aperture and a lot more solid and stable, just no RA motor like the SW130 has, but that's not so big of a deal.

Decided to do a bit more on the OTA, strip it right back to bare metal as the thick original paint is hard to get feathered nicely where it's gotten war wounds through use. After my first sanding I noticed some ripples under the paint after washing the tube down too which says the paint isn't well attached. Rough wet+dry and a block and it came away reasonably easily, even managed to get most of it done before a rain shower and the last little bit completed once it passed and before the next sprinkle hit So when I've space in the shed it'll be primer and paint and hopefully get a neat run-free finish that I can leave curing for several days while I make a start on the AZ-EQ mount head. I expect the scarring was down to the plastic caps used in the tube rings to bear against the OTA, of which a couple have failed (domed head sheared away), so once the paint had chipped it's just scarred away as the OTA was rotated/moved. I think when I get to the OTA carrier I'll remove what's left and go with just felt/flock linings on the rings which should be kinder on the paint. More on that later when I get to this part.