Polish your dob!

[WakeyTiger]

Not sure if this has already been posted, but I found a good tip for smoothing the alt adjustment on my Skywatcher 200P tonight, as it was a bit 'sticky'.

First, remove the tube from the mount. Then, get some furniture polish, and polish the mount sides furiously, in the location where the red friction ring on the tube would rub.

Also, give the 4 white plastic stoppers a good rub too.

Finally, on the OTA guides, give the black rim a good polish...the surface which mounts onto the 4 white side mounts mentioned above...

Re-assemble, and enjoy the smoothness!!

Got my dob fully flocked up, lazy-susanned, polished and collimated now. Also gave the primary a light clean while it was out, using a Baader wonder cloth.

Can I have some clear skies now please?

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[Damo636]

Also gave the primary a light clean while it was out, using a Baader wonder cloth.

[John]

Good tip on smoothing the scope movements but, as Damo indicates, the Baader fluid (assuming you were using some with the cloth) is not for mirrors - lenses only.

It's best not to touch the mirrors unless they are really dirty and then use a strong blower brush to blow away as much dust / debris as possible before a gentle wash in distilled water.

[swamp thing]

Also gave the primary a light clean while it was out, using a Baader wonder cloth.

Oh!

Not such a good idea.

[earth titan]

Eeek

Distilled water if you must, but not wonder fluid and a cloth.....

At least it wasn't furniture polish....

[stevetynant]

Not sure if this has already been posted, but I found a good tip for smoothing the alt adjustment on my Skywatcher 200P tonight, as it was a bit 'sticky'.

First, remove the tube from the mount. Then, get some furniture polish, and polish the mount sides furiously, in the location where the red friction ring on the tube would rub.

Also, give the 4 white plastic stoppers a good rub too.

Finally, on the OTA guides, give the black rim a good polish...the surface which mounts onto the 4 white side mounts mentioned above...

Re-assemble, and enjoy the smoothness!!

Got my dob fully flocked up, lazy-susanned, polished and collimated now. Also gave the primary a light clean while it was out, using a Baader wonder cloth.

Can I have some clear skies now please?

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

I've been thinking of ways to increase the smoothness of the Alt Movement but got to balance this suggestion against carrying the Tube up and down the stairs- would be my luck to have it so polished it just slips straight out of my arms

[ollypenrice]

Mirrors, no! My own system is to shower the 20 inch mirror in the shower in tepid water, not at high pressure or from a great distance, to swill off the dust. Then I mix a bit of isopropyl alchohol and detergent in distilled water and let that sit on the mirror to dissolve the hard stuff. A final shower is then followed by a good distilled water rinse. I drain it and pick off blobs of water with the corner of a kitchen paper. No wiping of any kind, ever. Aluminium is so easy to scratch.

Teflon-Formica Dob bearings need the right polish for the particular components. Mine are the classic virgin Teflon pads on Textured Formica and ONLY Turtle Wax will do. I tried a different sillicone car polish and the moving friction dropped well below the static friction so it stuck and then moved with a start and overshot. Nightmare. It was pretty well out of action till some Turtle Wax arrived from the UK.

Olly

[Mike73]

Yep agree with Olly.

Turtle wax is the stuff. I don't do mine very often though as its nice to keep a tiny bit of stiction.

[spaceboy]

Another vote for turtle wax! And hope you haven't damaged your primary WT.

[WakeyTiger]

Hi all, I didnt use wonder fluid on the mirror, I just very (very) lightly dusted the worst off the mirror with the cloth. No damage done as far as I can see, I was very careful...

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[Moonshane]

Teflon-Formica Dob bearings need the right polish for the particular components. Mine are the classic virgin Teflon pads on Textured Formica and ONLY Turtle Wax will do. I tried a different sillicone car polish and the moving friction dropped well below the static friction so it stuck and then moved with a start and overshot. Nightmare. It was pretty well out of action till some Turtle Wax arrived from the UK.

Olly

totally agree Olly on all counts. formica/teflon/turtle is the best formula I have found but there's always more than one way to skin a cat - if it works, it works.

[WakeyTiger]

Got me worried about the primary now... ;-) how would I know if it were damaged? Nothing visible on the surface, and too cloudy tonight for a test...

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[Moonshane]

if you can see no damage then I'd not worry. maybe breathe on the mirror as this might highlight anything. if you were gentle then the harder coatings these days should mean you will be fine. not a good idea to do things that way regularly though.

[WakeyTiger]

Thanks for all the advice, I think all is well. I just couldn't resist removing that dead spider from the primary... Won't touch it again :thumbup:

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[spaceboy]

Best getting one of these for in the future http://www.amazon.co.uk/Giottos-GTAA1900-Rocket-Air-Blower/dp/B00017LSPI/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336081745&sr=8-1-spell

[Gina]

Agreed! I bought exactly that - excellent

[John]

Yep the rocket blowers are great. Mine is an Astro Boot one - no fins but big capacity and a lot of puff !

[spaceboy]

I have one of these also John. In fact I have several due to making up the astroboot cart to 3 items (sick of buying small plastic boxes for free postage ) Not a smidge on a rocket blower it has to be said.