A nasty little accident...

[rocketandroll]

Well... tonight almost just became my most expensive night of imaging so far.

So... I set up my brand new custom imaging Newt on the Heq5. I am kneeling there trying to polar align when there is a crack and I feel a sudden pain in my head.

The next thing I know I'm face down on the floor and a grand's worth of scope is sitting, mirror down, on the tarmac next to me.

Thank god my head broke it's fall is all I can say. Apart from a bit more slop in the focuser which I am hoping I can tweak out, and it now being way out of collimation... there appears to be no damage.

I have decided first light on the Newt can wait till next year now and I'm shooting M42 with my frac instead.

Important lesson learnt... when tightening the bolts on the dovetail with cold fingers in the dark... make sure you aren't just tightening on the edge of the dovetail and it is properly seated.

I'm still shaking a bit :-(

Ben

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

[twotter]

Glad to hear you're alright!

[Rob wright]

Hope your not hurt too bad and the scope is ok

Accidents do tend to happen an we all live and learn as they say

[Celeste]

Ouch! Lesson learnt I guess....glad your ok though

[Macavity]

Sorry to hear of your misadventures. Glad you're OK.

Having "bounced" a MAK127 (onto wood thankfully) I tend now to put the Dovetail bar and rings onto the mount first, then "lob" the scope therein. I've actually drilled an enlarged hole through the bar and put an M6 tapped hole in the HEQ5 cup, so I can insert a "safety" bolt, if I'm leaving the scope unattended for any time.

[Stephen]

Glad you're OK mate, good point well made about the dovetail though - done that a time or two myself

[Tinker1947]

Good to hear your ok, i try to mount my scope in daylight then hold the bottom and turn it so i can check the dovetails are together and tight.

[Simms]

Glad to hear it landed on something soft!!

Just kidding, glad you`re OK.

[brantuk]

Glad you're ok Ben - we've all had a scope fall on us at some time lol - so you ain't alone matey

[rocketandroll]

Thanks all.

At least the evening wasn't a total loss... looks like I've got an hour and a bit of good data on M42 through the Megrez at least.

Too cold now though... gonna call it a night and go home, take some paracetamol!!

Ben

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

[steelfixer]

Ben what are you like.

I don,t know I spend time modding your adapter and you try to break it first time out.What are you like ?? lol

Do you want to borrow the laser to recollomate the newt ?? or maybe just a crash helmet.

Glad to hear all is ok with the kit. If you need anything just give me a shout down the unit.

Graham

[Catanonia]

snigger

Nah sounds painful and expensive mate and as said you were lucky it landed on something soft. Those dovetails are a pain with cold fingers and dark nights. I assume you didn't centre and flush the dovetail before tighting ?

Fimgers crossed no damge was done to the newt, but no doubt it will need a good colimation.

[Tim]

It's such a sickening feeling isn't it?

I remember one time I first took my scope on holiday, and for some reason decided to loosen one of the legs on the tripod. The whole assembly, C9.25 and HEQ5 Pro and weights etc started to topple. I threw myself under it and the counterweight bar hit me just underneath the ankle bone. The pain was incredible, but the worry over the kit being wrecked was worse!

Anyways, hope yours is ok, Newts are pretty tough really compared to other styles

[Shibby]

Ben, glad you and the scope are alright! Only a dedicated astronomer would say "Thank god my head broke it's fall"

I understand some of your frustration - I dropped something onto the mirror of my brand new scope leaving a nice chip in it. Thankfully I can't see any ill effects but I wasn't a happy bunny at the time!

[Carbon Brush]

Big problem sorting dovetail fixing in the cold and dark. Gorilla length arms needed to cradle the OTA and reach over for the fixings. Good advice from McCavity.

I once had my 20Kg of MN78 & finder slide out of the dovetail as it went over the zenith. Big bang as it hit the floor then fell over. I think this weight from 1M up on my my toes could have menat broken bones but fortunately it missed. Huge panic as I shone a torch down the tube to look for the secondary smashed into the primary, etc. But all looked OK. I put it back on the mount and continued viewing. Being russian built it even kept it's collimation!

Lesson learned about safety stops on the dovetail.

[nightfisher]

It's such a sickening feeling isn't it?

I remember one time I first took my scope on holiday, and for some reason decided to loosen one of the legs on the tripod. The whole assembly, C9.25 and HEQ5 Pro and weights etc started to topple. I threw myself under it and the counterweight bar hit me just underneath the ankle bone. The pain was incredible, but the worry over the kit being wrecked was worse!

Anyways, hope yours is ok, Newts are pretty tough really compared to other styles

ouch, ouch and more ouch, bet that made your eyes water!

ben, a lesson learnt there hope you and scope are ok, no lasting damage

[jonathan]

I'm always paranoid about that happening to my OTA too, it seems all too easy to tighten with it not in the slot properly.

[rocketandroll]

Yep... other than a little scratch on the back edge, the collimation being WAY off and the focuser being a bit 'odd' now (it had my 32mm Televue in there at full extension with a 2" extender too when it hit, so the force must have been like smacking the end of the extended focuser draw tube with a mallet) it seems ok.

I'm gonna have a play with the focuser... see if I can get it back to the smooth operation it had before the 'incident' and if not I'll remove it and send it back to Orion to get it looked at. It at least still works, it's just really not very smooth any more.

Looking back on it now... I really am so lucky. I was right next to a low concrete wall with a sharp edge, it missed that. My most expensive EP was in there at the time, that could easily have fallen out five foot on to concrete... or worse still, it could have been my camera in there.

Had I not been polar aligning when it gave way (it had been moved around for 10 minutes before it happened without falling out) I am pretty sure I'd be looking at a replacement primary at the very least, could have totalled a grand or more of equipment.

My head is fine now... so it was worth the pain to save the scope :-)

I will definitely be mounting the rings on there first then laying the OTA into the rings next time.... that's good advice.

Anyway, at least I got this to show for the evening:

Better than a smack in the head.... oh... wait....

Ben

[faulksy]

nice pic mate. glad you and your scope are ok. what a nightmare mate. makes me feel sick just thinking about it

[Drakester]

Ben, There's an obvious punchline about seeing stars in there, but I'll refrain !

Glad there wasn't too much damage done.

Still really enjoying your old Meade Apo. Hopefully imaging with it soon.

Cheers, Matt

[carastro]

Oh dear Ben, lucky escape though.

Yes I have had the experience of not getting the dovetails completely bedded in. It was when I tried to slide the scopes up further to balance that the problem arose not from original mounting, and of course at this stage everything is mounted so you can balance it all.

It's so difficult in the dark and cold with a huge weight. Luckily for me I had done a good enough job not to actually fall out, but it was a close thing.

Carole

[rocketandroll]

Ben, There's an obvious punchline about seeing stars in there, but I'll refrain !

Glad there wasn't too much damage done.

Still really enjoying your old Meade Apo. Hopefully imaging with it soon.

Cheers, Matt

Hey Matt!!

Glad it's still going strong!

One thing that M42 pic showed me... I REALLY should have got a Bahtinov mask for the meade before I started taking pics with it... my M42 data from it in March is very slightly out of focus... I think I had one which I gave you with the scope? Well worth using it!

Good luck

Ben

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Glad no irreparable damage has been done (to you and the scope). I have endless fears of dropping my scope, not tightening bolts properly, etc. The C8 does not require "gorilla-length arms", but I still work with great care seating the dovetail properly, tightening the screws, and check out the seating again before letting go of the OTA.

[Macavity]

I will definitely be mounting the rings on there first then laying the OTA into the rings next time.... that's good advice.

It's a personal thing - And something I still ponder? Mostly born out of being a "bit decrepit" now! Although I can still hold an 8"/F4 reflector aloft, with one hand, while I "screw it in", it ain't my idea of fun! It's more tedious - I store / carry the scope in it's tube rings... take it out... put it back in etc.

I did worry about "cone errors" (or something!) - But frankly, most of my previous "alignment errors" were resolved by more traditional means... Simply doing a (relatively) *proper* Polar Alignment. Patience was never my strong point though... and often my undoing (sic!) in this case.

[Astro Imp]

Glad that all ended reasonably well. I trust you'll get your focuser sorted.

I tend now to put the Dovetail bar and rings onto the mount first, then "lob" the scope therein.

I have been doing this for some time but was ticked off in an earlier thread for this practice as I was told that that was what the dovetails were for. Nice to see there are others of us doing it "wrong".