hawksquawks

Looking to get opinions on Star Link and the damage it's doing.

Hello I am servicing my EQ3-2 mount as it appears to have been poorly maintained by the last owner, over tightened screws on the worm gear ETC, I have managed to sort this and it appears no damage was done to the worm gear. however I am not sure of what grease I can use on the mount. possibly something halfords sell also I found this stuff here, would this be okay? https://www.halfords.com/search?q=Bikehut+Teflon+Grease

Thanks at least i know what scope this is now. would you say £125 was a good price to pay for it? also i uploaded an image just above takes with the scope I am not sure is the chromatic aberration is excessive with a DSLR, looking with an eyepiece it all appeared fine.

Okay I have been out and tested the scope I took a photo with my DSLR, the chromatic aberration is very bad in photos but not bad at all using an eyepiece can this be explained?

I am not sure what scope it is I purchased it off eBay £125 I was mostly after a mount then I saw this listing so could not go wrong for the price. if anyone want's to ID the scope feel free.

Thanks everyone for the advice, I will leave it alone for the time being TBH my 90mm is far worst and appears to be riddled with fungus and that's not had any affect on views currently, anyway more on that in a separate post. as for the current scope I will take steps to reduce the risk of fungal buildup by leaving it in the sun, I guess setting up a good couple of hours before dark each night and point the scope towards the sun will keep it in check? Ill see how it performs over the coming weeks and I decide were to go based on that, of course with the current covid crisis ill likely need to wait before i could get it cleaned anyway.

Thanks for all the advice I will skip collimation, looking into it on youtube it appears pretty simple using a laser. here is a picture in the damage between the cells, it goes all around the out optics but this is the worst place.

Thanks I did send this guy an email on Friday hoping for a quote I never got a response I suspect due to current events. if you have had experience with him before do you know what sort of cost i would be looking at?

Hello I made topic regarding my telescope cleaning mishap a few days ago. While cleaning i split liquid onto the lens and some of it managed to get between the cells although I have managed to resolve the misting ETC it's left very noticeable streaks between the cells mostly around the edges of the lens. Being an OCD person I would like to get this cleaned, but alas I don't have the level of experience I would be willing to chance on my 120mm refractor. Does anyone know of any professional services that will clean the cells but also collimate the cells also?

It's tuned out better than I expected still unsure about the edges tho, that said thanks for all the input and suggestions everyone.

Evening all thought id share my project with you so just over a week ago I purchased a 120mm telescope without a dew shield so I decided to make one myself. First off I made a simple cylinder measured to the correct size for my telescope using 123d design took less than 2 minutes to complete Here it is loaded into cura nothing amazing LOL After finishing the print that took just over 7 hours even with a 1.0 nozzle at 0.5 layer high I started to clean up the fitting so see if it fitted the scope, no photo but it fitted fine. you can see how ruff the layers are but this is ideal to bond resin to The photo below shows the inside freshly coated with resin After the resin application I started sanding this process has been repeated twice to get the pits out of the tube, need to do a third run on this tomorrow as for the outside of the tube I fiber glassed it pic below shows the tube just after application as you can see it requires allot of sanding. After around an hour of sanding and allot of dust (wear a mask!) this is the result starting to look smooth but still pitted. This image shows the second application of resin to fill the pits, at this point I have decided to stop tonight but i will sand smooth tomorrow in ready for painting With the dew shield almost finished, it's time to consider the dew cap. already designed in 123d just need to print it Ill update when this project is finished.

If the recoat is cheaper than buying a new scope of the same size then I would go for a recoat, the benefit of doing so will save another scope from the land fill. That said you may be able to find a second hand telescope that's cheaper than a recoat id consider that option also. I managed to pick up a 120mm refractor with an EQ3-2 mount for £125, and in the past a 130mm reflector for just £60

Final update, so after leaving it with the fan blowing air over night it's cleared up very well, there are still streaks around the edge of the lens left by the water ingress that cannot be removed without splitting the lens, I am going to assume these marks will not affect image quality ? beyond that i feel crisis averted.

Sorry for double posting some further images showing a better extent of the problem so aside from being misted up badly between cells, the water has now cleared from the cell but has left marks inside around the edge of the optics worst affected area shown in the red box, what impact with these marks have on image quality? I am trying to gauge whether or not to split the cells at this point, if it does not affect the image it won't be worth the risk. unless when the misting goes it revels any more nasty surprises 😐 EDIT update I have propped the lens in front on a fan blowing cool air into the back of the lens, appears to be clearing Ill leave it until I wake up ill update at that time.

Thanks for the advice I will remove the cell could I dry it out with a hair dryer or heater fan? it's not going to be sunny for awhile And i would like to get this sorted before the next clear night.