Silly malnourished orange dovetail...

[E621Keith]

I'm barely disassembling. I will take the corrector plate off and just tip off the telescope trying to shake the nut off and get it to fall down . I don't really see what the big deal about flocking is anyway...what advantages does it give you if you're not mainly imaging?

Flocking a tube gives you better contrast, because flocking material is usually darker than the flat black paint. SCT can benefit from flocking just like other scope, but the biggest improvement seems to come from flocking the baffle tube rather than the main tube.

Flocking a telescope requires opening the tube which put the telescope at greater risk of damage. Normally, it's best not to open a SCT just to flock it. However, since you have to open you scope anyway, I thought this is another thing you can do.

[emadmoussa]

OK, I got back from work yesterday with the intention of performing some surgery on the C11 to take the foreign object out.

Well, nothing has been done. Why?

The way the corrector plate is fitted looked different to all the photo references I collected off the internet. According to Zoltan from 365Astronomy, I probably have the new Celestron build. But anyway, if it was meant to come off It would come off.

So, in order to get the little nut out I had to see it. Guess what? No sign of it anywhere...I tipped the telescope off on its front, gently smack its bum like a little child. Nothing moved or stirred. I mounted it, spun it repeatedly slowly and swiftly, shook it, vibrated it, pushed it and really really tortured it. Absolutely nothing...I decided to repeat the same process with different mirror positions. Still nothing. I even rolled it repeatedly on the floor. The only thing left was set it on fire. Not recommended by the way

I finally decided to leave it be. Not surgeries. The only slim chance of the nut coming loose is with the telescope pointed to the ground, which is not really a thing I do at all. Unless of course stars started growing on the patio floor.

So for now, I'd assume it's safe to leave it as it is. After all I don't treat the telescope roughly (ignore the torture above) or take it out quite often

[barkis]

I find it strange that nuts would be used internally anyway. Anything attached to the tube would have captivated threads, not nuts.

Perhaps you were misled in the first place, thinking it was a nut you heard falling inside.

Fitting a dovetail to the end castings would have larger cap screws in the castings for that purpose I would have thought.

Certainly larger than the ones fixing the castings to the tube.

I'm not at all familiar with the Celestron Edge units, so perhaps your Manual, or someone who owns the same scope could comment.

Ron.

[emadmoussa]

I find it strange that nuts would be used internally anyway. Anything attached to the tube would have captivated threads, not nuts.

Perhaps you were misled in the first place, thinking it was a nut you heard falling inside.

Fitting a dovetail to the end castings would have larger cap screws in the castings for that purpose I would have thought.

Certainly larger than the ones fixing the castings to the tube.

I'm not at all familiar with the Celestron Edge units, so perhaps your Manual, or someone who owns the same scope could comment.

Ron.

I've got a Celestron C11 XLT, not Edge HD.

And yes, it's a bit weird having nuts on the inside.

[barkis]

I've got a Celestron C11 XLT, not Edge HD.

Oh!, I thought it was an Edge. Nevertheless, Nuts internal are a NoNo.

[Zakalwe]

Oh!, I thought it was an Edge. Nevertheless, Nuts internal are a NoNo.

They do have internal nuts. There's some at the back securing the tube to the rear casting. They also have plate at the front that reinforce where the dovetail screws thread into the OTA

[barkis]

I stand corrected.

[E621Keith]

Using nuts on the inside of OTA is a disaster waiting to happen. I'm surprise Celestron made such a serious design oversight.

[emadmoussa]

Using nuts on the inside of OTA is a disaster waiting to happen. I'm surprise Celestron made such a serious design oversight.

Well, I didn't realize there were nuts on the inside until this ''disaster" ended the waiting

[emadmoussa]

They do have internal nuts. There's some at the back securing the tube to the rear casting. They also have plate at the front that reinforce where the dovetail screws thread into the OTA

My tube is slightly different despite being a C11 as well. The screws in similar position, but the the corrector ring is fitted a little bit differently. Turns out it's ''Fastar Compatible''...Not even sure what the advantage of ''Fastar Compatible'' is

[barkis]

It means you can fit a camera to the front of your corrector plate, using the proper kit of course, which ain't cheap, but it turns the scope into an extremely fast

photon catcher. Imaging faint objects in a short space of time.

F speed increased to about F2, or something like that.

Ron

[emadmoussa]

It means you can fit a camera to the front of your corrector plate, using the proper kit of course, which ain't cheap, but it turns the scope into an extremely fast

photon catcher. Imaging faint objects in a short space of time.

F speed increased to about F2, or something like that.

Ron

It's good to know I've got a versatile scope that I didn't really plan on getting