Maintenance of Telescopes

[leighqt]

What maintenance is required with Telescopes, are there any scopes that don't require them ,as I have read up on Collmination and think I would struggle.

[DirkSteele]

Collimation is nothing to fear. It can be confusing when you first read about it, but with practice it becomes something that takes no time at all. There are plenty of videos on youtube that show what is required and failing that try going along to an astronomy club meeting where the more experienced members will be more than happy to demonstrate. In my experience, seeing it done makes it far easier to understand what is required rather than reading instructions.

Of course in answer to your question, refractors and most Maksutov Cassegrains need little if any collimation. Newtonian reflectors and Schmidt Cassegrain scopes among the more popular amateur designs which will require collimation more often. But for the record, when I owned a Newtonian, it perhaps needed collimation a few times a year.

[leighqt]

Thanks for the quick reply, I have to admit I only read one article on it,and guess it freaked me out somewhat,

[damnut]

Hi There,

Whichever scope you get it will require maintenance of sorts beit cleaning or collimation. Just take your time doing so, there are plenty of guides on SGL and loads of vids on youtube so you can be guided at each step.

The thing to remember is if you think of cleaning your mirrors follow these steps :---

1. Make cup of tea.

2. Think about cleaning mirror. If Thirsty goto step 1

3. Goto step 2.

Hwyl!

[leighqt]

Love your style Damien

[damnut]

Hi Leanne,

Mirrors need cleaning eventually but you would be amazed at how dirty threy need to be before doing so! There has been more damage to mirrors by over cleaning than not doing so!!

[swamp thing]

Very wise words from Damian.

[Herbig]

Refractors probably need least maintenance.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Refractors probably need least maintenance.

Very true and also as true for SCT's. Both are robust beasts that really need no user care. SCT's however are magnets for dew,which frac's dont seem to collect as much.

Other then that...........................

[John]

Refractors need little maintenance but they can still need to be collimated from time to time. The biggest issue I've found with the ones I've owned though is the focuser axis not being square with the optical axis of the scope. This needs to be sorted before collimating the objective lens. Once both these tasks are done though they seldom require much further attention.