Darn it - scope fell !!!!!!

[John]

I heard one of the worst sounds I've heard for a long time tonight - the sound of my lovely Vixen ED102SS refractor falling off the mount, dropping 5 feet onto our concrete patio

I thought the dovetail clamp was tight but .... it wasn't. Turned my back to select a different eyepiece then heard that dreadfull clatter and thud.

I'm back in now assessing the damage which, in all fairness, could be a lot worse. The end of the dew shield has some nasty paint damage / chips but is still the right shape, the objective looks untouched. The scope appears to have landed on the TV 32mm plossl which was in the diagonal. The plossl has a mashed rubber eye cup and a big dink on the metal rim around the eyelens. Optics seem OK though. The focuser has also taken a bash and I think the pinion shaft is slightly bent and the focuser is tightening up at spots in it's travel. The RDF took a small scrape too.

I've probably got off rather lightly all things considered

Shakes you up though

I still managed to see comet Lovejoy Q2 with the scope and eyepiece. The scope will certainly live to fight again but I'm not sure about the 32mm plossl.

Hope others have enjoyed the clear, cold skies though

[Moonshane]

Really sorry to hear that mate. At least the objective is sound. You can I believe buy the stainless steel shafts relatively easily from many online suppliers, you just need some callipers to measure the gauge or take to a machine shop?

Maybe a Tv eyecup extension might be in order for the 32? I'd highly recommend it.

hope all remains well with further use.

[baggywrinkle]

Ouch....glad it's not too bad.

[Stu]

What a shame John, such a lovely scope. It is easily done, particularly in this cold weather. I think things can come lose as they cool down even if they were tight in the first place.

As said, could have been worse, I hope you are able to repair the damage. At Jules' suggestion, I sourced a replacement stainless steel shaft for a focuser (which was bent), off eBay. Worked very nicely.

[paul mc c]

Your right,no worse feeling than dropping any of your gear,hopefully its not to bad mate.

[Scooot]

Sorry to hear this as well John. If it is worse than you think your house insurance might cover it if you have accidental damage cover.

[John]

Thanks for the suggestions and sympathy folks - much appreciated

I'm hopeful the pinion shaft can be straightened - it's only a slight bend. The dew shield can be touched up or even just ignored for now as it's only cosmetic. Good idea about the eye cup extension Shane though the dent in the top of the metal rim of the eyepiece might prevent it from fitting ?.

On reflection it could have been a lot worse as I'd toyed with putting the Ethos 21mm in the drawtube to view the comet but used the TV 32 plossl instead. Could have been a different story if I'd done that

We live and learn - must double check the dovetail clamps next time. This one has a little lip that catches on the DT bar just before the main face comes in contact but normally I jiggle it past there and make sure the full clamp face is tight on the bar. I forgot this tonight.

Time for a new DT clamp me thinks !

Thanks again for the nice and helpful responses

[Chris]

Very sorry to hear your bad luck John, I hope like you say its not too bad and can be sorted out. As above it might be worth checking home insurance. Sods law this kind of thing wouldn't happen to an SW Evostar 102 would it, it had to be something expensive, still thank goodness you weren't using one of your Ethos!

[Stu]

I'm pleased things aren't too bad John... Losing a 21 Ethos might have been a different story!

Regarding the shaft, they are very tricky to straighten accurately enough for smooth movement. You may be lucky, but I suspect a new shaft will be a better solution

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[John]

Thanks Stu and Chris

I'll see how the pinion shaft fares but you may well be right Stu. It's the original Vixen focuser so I'd prefer to keep it if I can. It's possible that the shaft from a Skywatcher Evostar or Startravel frac focuser might be a straight fit - I think Synta copied the Vixen design for their R&P focusers.

[Stu]

If it's an R&P you may well be ok. I was assuming a Crayford for SW reason.

Good luck anyway John

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[Charic]

John, I felt the slip of my binoculars, on lifting the dining chair, but fortunately the strap around the seat back stopped the optics from hitting  solid slabs of concrete.

Although you have received some damage, as you say, could have been worse.  I would imagine too that trying to grab anything in the dark could be awkward too!

I've seen many rubber/foam floor matting systems recently that they use in schools, and some  giant jigsaw type rubber tiles........I'm wondering if this could be used/modified to fit around the telescope as an absorber, for the eyepiece, or spectacles or whatever else falls in the dark of night.I have an EP  case, but really need to get myself a small camping table with an edge guard to prevent roll-off. I know your damage is already done, the horse may have bolted, but a rubber mat may save some future mishap.

Still, all the more reason to go and buy something new, now that something is already broken. mentally, It'll never be the same?   

[Macavity]

Sickening feeling, isn't it.  I "bounced" a MAK127 on the observatory floor. It left a large dent in the chipboard, but survived collimated! I doubt a heavier scope (like my MAK150) would have fared as well. If I do put an APO atop the latter, I'll have to be much more careful.

But I do now drill an outsized hole through the balance point of all my dovetail bars and screw an M8 bolt through into a tapped hole in the mount head. Of course this works best, if you remember to put the screw in, before the OTA - Which I haven't at the moment. 

Vaguely thinking about chains and carabiner clips to circumvent the personal laziness issue...

[nightfisher]

John, i feel your pain, some year back i rushed home from work (needed the bathroom) legged it upstairs to find my TAL lying on the floor, still to this day cant see why it did it, ghosts maybe, i had at the time made a servo for the focuser, this had taken the brunt but the 4mm stainless shaft was bent, i managed to source a piece from ebay and it worked a treat, i hate to say it but trying to straighten this unit is rather hard, however if you remove it and take it to a small engineering company, it can be done, good luck with this. We had a very clear night last night and i did not go out as we have a lot of snow on the ground, my present home location is plaged with a good few steps and i just know i would have slipped on the some what icy steps so for this reason i did not take advantage of clear skies 

[Dave In Vermont]

I've been down this dark & dismal lane before. I feel the pain. On the brighter note:

As the optics are undamaged - all is well. It's a war-veteran now! Just triple-check it next time.

As an aside: An old friend of mine would buy the most expensive stuff he could - such as TV's. Fearing (rightly so considering where he lived) burglars coming in to take it away, he would strip them down. He was a scientist so he knew what to do without getting fried. Thus his home looked like a disaster had happened to all that was there. He was never robbed! And everything worked perfectly!

I must give him a call.

Hang in there -

Dave

[DRT]

Good idea about the eye cup extension Shane though the dent in the top of the metal rim of the eyepiece might prevent it from fitting ?.

John,

Sorry to hear this tale but glad the damage isn't too bad.

There are two types of TV eye cup extension - the twist-on type might be difficult to fit if the rim is bent but there is an older type which is secured with grub screws that might still work if it isn't too bent out of shape. I hope you can save the 32mm Plossl - it's a lovely eyepiece.

Derek

[John]

Thanks again for all the support folks

I'm sure I can sort the issues out one way or another and it could have been a lot worse. First thing I'm going to do is order a better dovetail clamp for the mount I think

[nightfisher]

John, what mount did you have the Vixen set up with ? i recently bought a Baader clamp for my skytee for a very fair price from FLO

[Macavity]

I have every confidence...

It was the upgrade, "to avoid damaging the dovetail", that dumped my scope.

These days, I'm content to have the notches in my dovetail. I also quite like these

clamps that include the extra oblique screw - Gives the scope a better chance?

[Beulah]

Goodness me, my heart would have stopped to have heard the noise.

Glad the damage is minimal though. It is frustrating, as it could affect resale value. There are dings and scratches on my favourite scopes...acquired from loading into cars, etc. It cannot be avoided, sometimes; but I will never sell the scopes.

Refractors are pretty tough!

[jabeoo1]

Sorry to hear this happened.  I have just started using a vixen dove tail set up and am paranoid about it.   I am used to my dob that has no where to go except its resting place of aimed and down. I kind of wish there was a back stopper so if the plate slips it comes to rest against it, or am i missing something here about the vulnerability of this design ?

[Qualia]

I'm so sorry, John and I hope everything gets sorted. You must be a little sick to the stomach. 

It's my main concern when using the two fracs; that something is going to slip, especially around the dovetail area. There are two areas of concern:

• between the dovetail and scope on the TV 76, there is a little play between the engagement of the dovetail (a rock solid ADM type) and the TV clamshell receiver (the two screws are of the right width but just a thread or two too long).
• I've also found that you can clamp down on the mount's screws and it feels tight, but if you look at it on-end, you see that the dovetail is sometimes tilted and not fully seated. When I use the mounts (in my case a CG 5 or AZ 4) and the weight shifts, the dovetail can suddenly tilt into place, leaving it free to slide forward or backward out of the clamp.

The current solution to these two problems is to visually check the dovetail every time it is used. If it is too dark, I'll use the red torch. I also give everything a good tug before and after everything is tightened. Every. Single. Time. The downside is that no matter how concentrated I am at the eyepiece, I'm never completely relaxed when using the fracs.

Once again, I am really sorry for what has happened and hope the damage isn't too bad. The only consolation I can offer is that being such an experienced and dedicated observer this event has purely come about as the result of commitment, intelligence, and focused effort. What more could be asked for from anyone!

May the force be with you, John

[Pig]

Ouch John, very sorry to hear about the accident and the damage to your beloved scope. We do get so attached to these darn things.

I am sure you will get it all sorted soon

[John]

John, what mount did you have the Vixen set up with ? i recently bought a Baader clamp for my skytee for a very fair price from FLO

It was a Giro II Jules. The clamp on that side is the Telescope Services one below except on mine the locking knob has been replaced with a better quality one. There is a little lip at the leading edge of the moving section of the clamp, which I've marked with a red arrow on the photo, and this can catch on the edge of the DT bar making you think for a moment that it's fully clamped but there is actually a few mm of travel left before the full face of the clamp presses against the length of the DT bar. Last night I swapped scopes in rather a hurry to see the comet because my ED120 had dewed up. When clamping the Vixen I must have thought that the clamp was tight when it was only the above lip holding it in place in reality so it fell out of the clamp when I let go of the tube for a moment.

I think I might go back to a more conventional clamp with locking screws. They will mark up the DT bar more but I'd rather that and feel secure that the scope is being held firmly. DT bars are there to get marks on them after all !

[Mark at Beaufort]

John I am so sorry to read this thread because I know how much you love your Vixen. Its the worst nightmare to see a lovely piece of equipment fall onto concrete. I bought the better ADM dovetail for the SkyTee 2 but even now I check both ends to make sure the scope is properly secure especially when its carrying a heavy OTA.

I do hope hope you can repair the various bits because the Vixen was such a great frac.

Take care my friend