Lodestar screws and TS strain relief adapter

[gingergeek]

Yesterday I got a Starlight Express Lodestar from Bern of MA at Astrofest. Because of the issues I have heard with cables on the Lodestar failing I picked up a TS Lodestar strain relief adapter at the same time. However due to the additional 3mm of adapter the screws will now not secure into the screw thread so I will need a longer thread up to 1cm (total) in order for this to attach securely.

I know quite a few people have this camera and adapter, does anyone know the screw thread size so I can source a longer version ? I have emailed Starlight Instruments but I figured the experts on this forum would probably know as well !

BTW - It was finally nice to meet Bern from MA, Steve from Atik and Carole Pope, a fun day out.

[Merlin66]

Hmmm

I use that strain adaptor and can't remember ever changing the screws........is the end plate firmly in position?

[gingergeek]

Yes the backplate is firmly in position, the screw thread length is 7-8mm. Looking inside the camera the internal struts do not touch the faceplate and some 1mm short

[Merlin66]

I'll go out to the observatory and remove a screw and confirm the length I have....I think it's an M3 thread..

[Merlin66]

OK.

Just removed the screws from the Lodestar and they are M3 x 8mm long set screws....

I'd suggest removing the strain adaptor and tighting the screws firmly into the body (this may pull the thread tighter to the end cover) and then re-fitting the adaptor.

If this doesn't work, I can only assume that something has changed in the build of the Lodestar over the past year or so......

[gingergeek]

My gratitude to you for taking the effort, my thread length is also 8mm but still I cannot get it bite. I reckon the fact the internal thread poles are 1mm short of the backplate is the issue. I will do a search for M3 10mm screws

Thankyou very much for your assistance. I'll let you know if I get a successful outcome.

[Tinker1947]

These people do various types of M3 screw, stainless steel ect

http://www.a2a4.com/

[gingergeek]

Thanks for that - I will look for 10mm+ screws to be sure

[gingergeek]

In case anyone is interested I fixed my issue with M3 screws of 12mm thread depth, found some in my computer bits. To give them credit StarLight Instruments emailed me back with the screw size information as well and an offer to help to provide some - very nice !

All I need is some clear skies to try the Lodestar out and then either move to a OAG instead of the ST80 since I was thinking of dual setup of ED80 with WO ZS71 2013 ED (waiting for a review) and an imaging CCD but can't decide on the size (want to avoid a noisy Kodak chip) so probably a atik460ex even though it is a tad smaller than I want.

Many thanks to all that assisted

[Jessun]

Glad you got it sorted. I use the standard screws with no issues. Might just look it over again.

Kodak CCD's are all different, and for some larger sizes, what are the choices?

It's a delight planning an imaging setup! I'm still looking, but I try to start at image scale, arcsec per pixels suited to my typical seeing - having binning in the back of my head, then FOV, then how fast I'd like to expose. I've done this a number of times now and I sadly always end up with a 16003 CCD of some brand and an OS 300mm Riccardi Honders.... SO... back to the drawing board. This time include budget !

/Jesper

[Merlin66]

So, what did Starlight say the current standard screw length was???

Why did the original screws not work?

[gingergeek]

Starlight said that 8mm was the supplied screw length. Don't know why they would not bite, my internal thread is 1mm short of the back plate so with that and the adapter thickness I was probably just short by a cats whisker. So personally I think 12mm screws would be a wise choice to account for this, but what I know .... I'm a newb