accidental damage

[GrahamJ]

I hope you can offer advice. My Tal 100 rs, which I have had outside once since I bought it on the 23dec has suffered damage. The whole thing fell over, hit the dining table & landed on the floor. There is a dent in the telescope tube about 9"from the objective, I have had it outside this morning & aligned the scope with the finder, the optics seem ok. Is it likely to have caused any serious damage? If anyone can advise I would be gratefull.

[reddoss]

The best thing would be to do a star test to see if the collimation is OK, here is a link about star testing http://aberrator.astronomy.net/html/star-testing.html

[The Sailor]

Graham, all I can offer is check it out at night and if all appears okay then you have got away with it. The same happened to my 6" SCT, fell off the mount onto the concrete, carried it inside and gave it a once over, dents and scratches. After a cleaning I like you left it till the next morning and done a check and everything appeared okay, done a check that night and all was well, focusing and handling were normal.

Jim

[GrahamJ]

Thanks for that, does the dent itself present a problem ,other than cosmetic?.

[The Sailor]

Fraid mine was more than a dent, after bouncing across the yard it had a gouge in the side but I have not see any problems in performance

Jim

[GrahamJ]

Oh dear,as soon as I get a clear sky I will have a good look,and let you know. Haven't had a clear sky for ages.

[GrahamJ]

Out of interest, is it possible to buy just a new tube on its own & just transfer the optics & focuser etc.

[The Sailor]

Maybe, but it would have to be secondhad, doubt if such things are spare parts, maybe other have a better answer. Regarding my SCT, I doubt if I would be able to sell it and as it is working okay I will just put up with the dents and scratches

Jim

[GrahamJ]

I think you are right, its just so annoying when its brand new, I suppose I could always lain accidental damage on my house insurance. Thanks for your interest.

[GrahamJ]

Good news,well for me at least,clear sky, got the scope set up, not too well as it turned out, found the Orion nebula as clear as a bell, looks like I got away with it.Phew.

[Marki]

Glad to hear that! Thats not somerthing you'll do twice (fingers crossed). The 100rs is a pretty robust beast, though, and the odd scratch or knock on the tube just adds character and a tale to tell . Mine has had a couple of near misses and got some scratches and the odd ding to show for it, but so far the optics have survived intact.

[Moonshane]

shouldn't be a problem if the views look OK. you'd have to knock it more than the width of the baffles to imfringe on the view - unlikely from what you say.

[nightfisher]

Glad to hear its okay optically, i doubt you would get a new tube, if the dent bothers you (it would me) you could get a friendly paint shop to repair it

[Moonshane]

ps a wanted ad on here or AB&S might result in someone with a busted optic selling the tube.

[GrahamJ]

Thanks for all your observations, your right about the dent bothering me, sad isn't it but I had actually thought about contacting a car repair shop, incidentally I got my 7x56 binod out tonight fabulous sky. I tried to find M35 in gemini, I have had several goes at it with no luck. is it me of is it hard to locate.