Red Dot Finder Problems

[Apple15pie]

Hi all

I finally got a telescope (Heritage 130p for christmas ), found collimating reletively simple, the only thing left to sort out is the RDF. I have attached it and tried lining it up as the instrusctions say, turning the altitude and azimuth nobs, but i cant get close to the bright object (Jupiter). Both nobs are turned all the way and are tight and will not turn anymore, unless i undo them. But I am still out. The main problem is the altitude. The red dot is above and a bit to the right of jupiter. This is ok for low power, but if i want to jump straight in with the 10mm EP, it complicates things

Any advice?

Dan

[YouCannotBeSirius]

I have a similar on-going problem with my optical finder. As it happens the company I bought from should've sent a RDF rather than OF so one is on its way to me at the moment. But until then I have to find everything with a wonky OF and the wide relief 20mm EP. I read that it's a common problem and some people suggest filing down various parts of the holder, or using an external piece of something to loosen the screws allowing the OF to move position yet remain in place steady enough.

I suppose one upside is that I'm getting better and finding stuff with the telescope, it just takes longer than it would with a properly position RDF/OF. The other thing I do is, knowing Jupiter centred in the OF is a little off to the left through the EP so I adjust the OF accordingly so it's off through the OF but centred in the EP, if you know what I mean... probably not the most technical advice but it works for me. I'm pretty new to the telescope too, but there are lots of people with great advice around here so I'm sure there'll be better solutions/advice than mine. Good luck!

[hobsey]

As Jupiter is constantly moving and at quite a rate, your best bet is to align the RDF during the daylight on something in the distance that isn't moving.

[bomberbaz]

If I am right the foot is screwed to the tube. You could loosen the foot and twist it a little to get azimuth and see about putting something under it to push it up a littlecfor altitude.

If you do try this, ensure your scope is horizontal to prevent something dropping onto your mirror

[allcart]

which RDF is this. got a pic of it.?

[timetraveler3]

Align it during the day.  I set up a firearm target on my garage door and find it in the eyepiece, (a bit tricky at first)  Once the target is centered then align your RDF to be spot on. Make sure the screws are tightened down good, and double check alignment again.  Keep both eyes open when using it.  It takes practice to use but I can now find things pretty readily.

[Charic]

You need to align to something stationary such as Polaris, but as timetraveler3 says, align your scope during the day. You first need to find something just using the telescope, then lock the telescope into that position. For example a tower or chimney or something, and some distance away too. I focus about 5 miles away? Once the telescope is locked, only then do you try and align your finders, to target the same object in the distance. Once both the telescope and the finder scopes are central on the target, you can smile, knowing that the finder is now correctly aligned to the telescope. When  you next target something at night through the finder, your telescope should also be centred. Use a High focal length EP to start with.

[baggywrinkle]

One thing I found is that there was there not enough adjustment on my SE6 RDF, so I made a shim of card to go under the mounting plate for the RDF. It worked. 

[Apple15pie]

Thanks for all the help guys, ill try aligning it now during the day and see if that helps, ill also try and find out what one it is...

I dont think putting some card underneath would help because i want the RDF to be lower, but ill see what i can do

[hobsey]

I dont think putting some card underneath would help because i want the RDF to be lower,

You could put a piece of card just under the back section on the finder shoe to cause the front of the RDF to point further down at an angle.

[Apple15pie]

You could put a piece of card just under the back section on the finder shoe to cause the front of the RDF to point further down at an angle.

Genius, cant believe i didnt think of that!

[bomberbaz]

Genius, cant believe i didnt think of that!

dohhhhhh! Hehe

And dont forget you should be able to alter azimuth by loosening the foot and giing a little twist.

[Astralstroll]

I had all manner of issues with the RDF finder supplied with my LightBridge. Some times it was spot on, other times it was way off and the adjustments were somewhat hard work to get a satisfactory alignment. In the end I opted for a Telrad and haven't looked back since. One day I should get around to stripping the original RDF down to see why it wasn't easy to align.

Whichever finder I use, I always align on Polaris first as the lack of movement of Polaris makes alignment much easier that with most other objects in the night sky.

[Horatio]

Had the same problem with the supplied RDF on my Nexstar 6SE, used card as a shim (as advised by one of the members) at the back as couldn't depress it enough.  I don't know if its me but it seems absolutely shocking that with all that engineering and electronics on the scope/mount and GOTO handset you have to use some card to bodge the finder so that you're able to use the scope.  C'mon Celestron what the hell are they thinking, surely they should get their act together as this seems a common problem. I never has this with my Meade.  Even now with this 'bodged finder' I'm not very happy with it, seems hyper sensitive almost as if by just turning it off and on it is altering the alignment by a few thousands arc secs.  I know it will be a Telrad for me also in the future. 

(Shouldn't be too hard on Celestron, they used sticky back plastic, toilet rolls and fairy liquid washing up bottles to get Apollo 13 back to Earth!)

[Dayleh]

Ive just purchased a skywatcher 130 and had the same problem. Turns out i twisted the adjustment control too much and it came off, so when i screwed it back on the screw was loose. I just tilted forward the front of the RDF so it was facing down and tightened he screw with a screwdriver and had much more freedom when altering the dot. 

[employee2-4601]

On 31 December 2013 at 20:56, Horatio said:

Shouldn't be too hard on Celestron, they used sticky back plastic, toilet rolls and fairy liquid washing up bottles to get Apollo 13 back to Earth!

And don't forget the socks! ;-)

[Mak the Night]

On 31/12/2013 at 20:56, Horatio said:

 

(Shouldn't be too hard on Celestron, they used sticky back plastic, toilet rolls and fairy liquid washing up bottles to get Apollo 13 back to Earth!)

I thought that was TeleVue ...

So, which one is Al Nagler?

[The Admiral]

I realise this is an old thread, but I had the same problems with a Baader Skysurfer mounted on my Altair refractor. There was no way I could get it to align, and thanks to the excellent service of FLO, I got a replacement, but even that didn't align. Fortunately, FLO were gracious enough to refund my money. I wouldn't be prepared to shim, as I want to be able to re-mount the finder any time and know it is sufficiently well aligned. In the end I got one of these, and it works perfectly. Decent metal construction too.

Ian

[Mak the Night]

I think it's just a problem with the mass produced plastic reflex sights often included with many scopes now. The Orion EZ II at the top replaced the borked one that came with my Skymax. The X/Y axis controls wouldn't work properly. The other two are also giveaways that I  acquired later with various scopes, I'm pretty sure I've never used the last one in this picture. They're difficult for me to use due to disability. When set-up though, for line of sight aiming, when they are working they are pretty decent. Although I find the LED a bit bright.