DaveL59

Someone local to me is selling one of these Vaonis Stellina Robotic Smart Telescope ST80, excellent condition! | eBay Different altogether I know, but in some ways having the display on a tablet so many can see at once might be even better? I'm almost tempted to pop round and have a demo but tbh I can't justify the cost with the skies here being pretty awful of late.

any reason to do that? Thing is that adding an extra spring would mean the main collimation screws have more load to compress and you potentially risk stripping the thread in the mirror carrier if making adjustments that require the springs to be compressed a lot.

I've so many but my faves to use are probably: Nikon Micron M CF 7x15 which are easily pocketted and generally live in my camera bag Hensoldt Jagd 6x42 Dialyt which give easy relaxed views Nikon Sportstar EX 8x25 Copitar 8x20 (compact reverse porro, think there's a minolta version of this also) Foton 7x35 (nice solid russian bin) Chinon 10x40 Swift Audubon HR/5 8.5x44 (also have a MKii of these) Minolta Classic Sport WP 10x50 All these are regular straight-thru designs, after all they're aimed at ground level observing in the main. Ones with angled eyepieces allow you to look down into the bino so when viewing at altitude objects you aren't cranking your neck back, much the same as using a telescope with a diagonal rather than straight, just more comfortable. Binos like this are likely more aimed at sky observation which tends to be large and expensive specialist gear for the like of us stargazers.

Ahh Swifts are generally pretty good and have a handy tripod mount. I did consider getting a pair of large Swift 20x in the past but never did as I couldn't see them getting much use being they aren't fitted with angled eyepieces, neck ache becomes a problem as well as needing a tripod/monopod that can be used high enough to support them in use. Not exactly hand holdable those big Swift bins. I do have a 15x50 pair of japanese bins that are of the skeleton/micro style which work quite well (far right in the pic) I've a bit of a collection of these types ranging from 5/6x up to the 15x as well as a number of other regular ZCF and DCF roof models 🙂

Ahh I hear you on the frustrations when trying to dismantle, I've a Hensoldt Wetzlar Jagd Dialyt that I can't get the objectives out as the lens rings won't budge. Likely alloy corrosion has locked them into place and short of a mini-flame torch I'll never shift the rings. Annoying as the lenses rattle slightly, so I used black sealing wax to set the lenses so they no longer rattle. Hell of a cheat but you don't see the wax around the rim and it's worked just fine. Cleaning the inner side of those objectives was run too being 3 inches down a tube. Vintage bino's are often good tho collimation and wear from age may need addressing. They're not usually weatherproof either. I tend to use a pair of Minolta 10x50's for night viewing, which I picked up at a great price (£26 IIRC) and they're multi-coated, rubber cased and weatherproof. Yikes re the prox warning but not unexpected these days in any space that has a good number of people. Surprising (more) that folks are still running the NHS apps, I expect many have turned those off or deleted now that "it's all over so we're safe...", so far I've not had any alerts but I tend not to be in crowded spaces too often.

very interesting read, thanks Ags, might consider getting one of these to try out too. Wonders if we'll see a sudden spike in demand for the Celestron prisms and a big price hike 😉

Hi Trevor I'd suggest that the turret nosepiece is likely either a push fit or screws in and possible is secured with some thread locking adhesive. Third photo does show what looks to be a join where the turret meets the drawtube, hence my thinking. Some heat might help get it to free up, hairdryer better than a blowtorch but if you do try the latter get a micro-flame type and shield the rubber grip of the focuser so you don't melt it. You might even find that a stint in the freezer would help but bag the scope up and put a dessicant pad in the bag first. If you have access to a pin wrench, those 2 holes in the turret backplate left on the scope could help you apply leverage, just use reasonable force rather than lots so as not to damage other parts of the focuser mechanism 🙂

I get what you're saying but in reality that is a very basic alt-az tripod and mount so probably very wobbly in use. Quality of the eyepieces is also likely to be poor as these will likely be the cheapest that they can ship, H20 and maybe a 6 or 4mm SR that will give poor viewing, may even be the harder to find 0.965 inch type that you'd struggle to get better quality replacements for and probably cost more than you're paying for this scope. In many ways you'd be better to look for a good known brand and pay a little more, either used or if you can stretch to it, new.

awww but they're such a big help so I can see what I'm doing when I pick the locks... 😉 Nah I don't really do that, well only on my own doors when needed

I'd guess that being a metal assembly that some grease, a smidge, would be good to gain a smooth action, but what is the underlying mechanism? If its a helicoid then a good synthetic damping grease would work, I use this on camera lenses, basically pick the thickness based on the coarsness of the thread you plan to use it on: Helicoid Grease -6x15ml Complete Bundle- for Camera Lens Focus Ring Optical Lube | eBay I guess you could also use superlube but typically you'd want some drag or the focuser would feel pretty slack. PS - you can but the individual grease can rather than an entire set, just do a search on the bay-of-e 😉 After all £90 for a full set for a single item being repaired is a bit much.

that's great news, yeah dried grease can be a real pain on vintage gear unfortunately. Not seen that type of eyepiece before to be honest, likely specific to that model line or other spotting scopes of that type? I wonder if the barrel on the eyepiece can be cross-fitted to a star diagonal so it can be securely mounted if you go that route. I noticed on the youtube vid that he slipped the diagonal in rather than screwed it so I assume not. Made me think a solution would be needed to hold the diagonal secure in use else it hits the deck in the dark when you east expect it.

ouch that's so near but yet not quite near enough 😞 When I did this mod on my TAL-1 after replacing the russian 32mm focuser with a 1.25 inch one I checked the screw sizes and also spring lengths and then ordered replacements that were suitably longer to lift the mirror the desired amount. Hopefully this'll take you to the pic of my modified mirror mounting Posts above in that thread may help in terms of what I'd ordered but of course you'd need to alter to suit your scope, being a different make etc. You could also use spacers to offset the spring requirement and that'd probably work just fine too. Sounds like you only need to shift the mirror a small amount so might be worth seeing how much slack there is in the existing screws if that'd allow you to lift it just a few mm.

Nice looking scope there 🙂 There does look to be some corrosion where the turret meets the collar which could freeze the threads making it hard to remove. I'm guessing that silver tube the turret screws into is the drawtube for the focuser and the silver collar is part of the focuser and nothing to do with the turret. Looks like the turret screws into that silver tube, or perhaps is a push fit. You could try extending the focuser outward then use a hairdryer to heat up the area next to the turret and then try again to unscrew it. That may soften any glue in there or help break any corrosion bond. Remove the eyepieces from the turret first too, just in case. I'm loath to suggest using a penetrating oil since if you can't fully dismantle then it'd be a pain to try clean it all away but if you suspect glue then nail varnish remover may help. Just be careful using that and heat and of course usual precautions when handling heated metal too 😉

I found the on a web search, interesting little scope tho he reports optical aberrations from likely pinched optics and he's since heavily mod'd it Polarex 80mm spotting scope (skysurfer.eu) Doesn't show how he removed the original turret tho. There's also a few posts on CN on the Polarex and Unitron versions, hard to know what to suggest as its always possible a previous owner has used glue or threadlock to secure parts. Any sign of small set screws around the securing ring at all as that's another possibility. Some pics of it might help 🙂

read that a few mins ago, very nice captures 🙂

I was lucky enough to spot one of mine before it managed to hop from the ladder into the loft, saved me a lot of fun trying to herd it back out. I've also had a couple years ago that found the builders scaffolding very interesting to explore up to the roof of the house. Getting back down tho, not so easy, nothing to grip on metal poles so I had to set planks for them to find their way back to ground.

awww poor kitty, probably went up the ladder to have a prowl around but then no easy way down other than a long drop to the ground below. Hopefully it made a good landing and is ok. One of mine fell off a first floor window box onto the concrete drive when he was 10 months or so and was fine, thankfully so hope this one was too 🙂

ah but in fact a good malt is improved with water, just a splash tho mind. Just don't drink it after you've washed the barlow with it, never know what other stuff the golden liquid will have been contaminated with.

card arrived in the post yesterday, a collage of pics from one of our recent outings

ahh, probably read the post before you edited it lol. Shame about the broken bits, those clamp screws for the axes are awkward as the thread is narrow compared to the main body of the shaft tho it might be possible to make something using threaded stand-offs if you can fine any to match the thread. The tube rings are harder as you'd have to either repair what's there or custom make. By the way you have a TAL100? I was able to hang my 100RS off that wee TAL-M mount tho it is somewhat too long/heavy so it'd likely fit into the same rings on your other TAL mount... worth a look 🙂

yeah that's odd as mine isn't like that apart from one area where the PO may have spilt something (juice or something). I replaced the foam in the box with felt tho as it was pretty shot. What parts are you missing? and yeah, sorry about the length of that thread 😛

it's a great little scope, the TAL-M and gives good views. I've even accidentally forgot to pull the finder out and was running higer mag via it and was surprised how well that even showed 🙂 The one I picked up was in poor shape, paint-wise and had some rock in the mount, now sorted. The refurb thread I did for it is here Does yours also have the extension tube for the eyepiece? Mine didn't so I fab'd one using acrylic tube and that worked very nicely on Jupiter and Saturn with the extra magnification being very usable. Sounds like you may also be missing the K15 eyepiece, mine was missing the 25mm funnily enough. I do have a spare 15mm, let me know if you need it.

Know what you mean, Tal100RS and others sat idle mostly, but then we've not really had much decent weather for quite some time. Funny too tho, the LT70 was the second most expensive scope I bought, but then I did get the rest pre-loved, cheapest being the little NatGeo at £10 and the vintage 3-inch brass/leather for £20 😉

I have the same and made my own carrier to use on other scopes, but yeah the LT70 itself isn't so bad considering if you fit a decent diagonal and eyepieces. While its sat at my house I do use it perhaps more than the others since its so light and quick n easy to pop outside for a quick look. It'll be gone to my daughter's in a couple months tho, hopefully once she's moved house. She'll get the LT70 starsense, sybony dielectric diagonal and svbony 7-21mm zoom once they've settled in and done any remodelling works.

very neat, tho surprised to see you kneeling when the box would've made a perfect seat/bench, even better if it had been padded too 😉