Nexstar 130SLT

[rasbury]

Hey People - Merry Christmas.

Well Santa was good to me and brought me a Celestron Nexstar 130 SLT - seems like a great piece of kit to me , I am a complete novice to this so please be kind!!!!

Going by the instructions it seems like it should be quite a simple set up but my problems started quite early in the set up procedure:

I am trying to set up the Star pointer - I am centering something in the distance in the eyepiece (25mm) and then looking through the Star pointer to centre my red dot but the red dot is miles away from where it should be. Even by turning the Azimuth adjustment knob fully round it is still a long way short of coming round to where it should be.. When i look into the scope it looks like one of the 'spider vanes' has a slight ding in it. I am thinking that the whole thing has possibly been knocked and it is now miss-aligned. I have been in touch with the supplier and told them it is faulty and am currently waiting on further instructions from them.

Is it possible i am missing something???

Any info would be appreciated before i send it back for replacement.

Many Thanks

Rasbury

[Mr Q]

About all you can do is try to center it on a distant object at least a 1/4 mile away. If the adjustment knobs won't align the red dot (turned up all the way for daytime use) then check that the finder is securely against the tube before tightening the mounting screw. If that fails, like you thought, the tube has been dinged and (from the description of the spider vane being distorted) has to be returned. BTW, this is the same finder I have on a 70mm refractor and it is only a marginal finder in operation.

[Welrod50]

Red dot finder aside, if the vane is mis-shaped I would send it back. I know it's dissappointing, but it's dark and rainy lately and who knows what else may go/is wrong with it. Sort it now and benefit in the long run.

Finder - should only need a bit of adjustment, so I suspect it's broken or faulty too.

Best of luck to you

[rasbury]

Thanks for the info guys.

Looks like i'm gonna send it back for a refund and add a bit of cash to upgrade. Thinking about a slight change in direction and going for a 10" Meade Lightbridge Dobsonian - Good Move???