Tube ring grip?

[BlueAstra]

Just took my new scope out for its first session last night. It was more a engineering test really, just to see how things went together. One problem I had was that with the weight of the scope (mirror, focusser, camera), it kept slipping down the tube rings, and rotating within the rings. What methods do people use to prevent this? The scope is a 10" carbon fibre Newtonian in CCN rings.

[ccdscopeman]

Tighten the rings up!

[BlueAstra]

Yes, I had tried that.

[Helen]

You can use cork on the inside of the rings to give more grip. Model train websites sell self adhesive stuff to go under train tracks that works very well.

Helen

[BlueAstra]

Thanks, sounds exactly what I need! And I get to look in a toy shop.

[Greg]

Glue a couple of squares of old bicycle inner tubes to the inside of the rings, that will take up the imperfections and help grip the tube..

Greg

[cotterless45]

This'll do the job, if you're up to a bit of bodging;

http://www.astro-baby.com/articles/rotating%20rings/Rotating%20Rings%20Project.htm

[Astro_Baby]

You could just add some sctra layers of felt. My TAL 100 has two to three layers of felt appplied to its tube rings which makes them very soft and mushy and allows the rings to be tightened up and give a good grip without risking any damage to the scopes enamel finish.

A nice contrasting color might look good. If you have a CF tube red felt might make the whole thing look rather stylish or you could go for that Star Destroyer look and go all black.

[BlueAstra]

Thanks for all the replies. A quick fix on the night was 3 layers of insulation tape, which seemed to hold. I found some self adhesive foam strip, about 5mm thick, which I've tried. This seems to be solid, but I now can't quite close the ring bolt fully. I don't want to stress the tube too much, I have nightmares of hearing the CF crack!

[Moonshane]

I used cork on the rotating ring on my 16" dob - not that I rotate it much but it was needed to prevent slippage and it worked a treat. at that weight it should solve your problems.

I got a roll of it from ebay for a few quid.

[thommo10]

on my 200p I made a large jubilee clip out of a kit, and put draft excluder which is adesive on one side and stuck it to the inside of the clip,