Help with a celestron starhopper 10"

[BenBroad]

Hi,

I need to check what kind of problem I got here, it seems the inner part where you screw the handles in has come out a bit thus preventing me from tightening my telescope properly. (Probably why when I'm trying to move it up and down its very jerky)

(click to enlarge)

[EA2007]

This is precisly the problem I had and have just outlined to another user.........

This is ridiculous, how can Celestron supply something that fails so badly!!! Its obvious that plastic cannot support metal....idiots.

The only solution I found was to heat the metal part with a blowtorch and then sink it into the plastic cap. The heat melts the plastic but then cools later to hold it in place.........however, this is only a temporary solution and if you tighten the handles too much again t is easy to reveal the problem again.

[A McEwan]

It's not just Celestron. My GSO has the same problem. I need to try using locking nuts on the inside of the tube to hold the bolts in place more firmly. They should be metal really.

[John]

I've just checked my Skywatcher Skyliner 200P and the design is very similar except that the upper part of the bearing seems to be made of pretty thick plastic and the threaded piece of metal that the handles screw into is recessed about 8mm. Mine is a relatively new scope - about 4 months old.

I have never needed to really tighten those handles much - just enough to add enough friction to hold the scope where it's pointed so maybe my bearings have not come under the strain that yours have. I do carry the scope around using them though but the weight of the tube in the mount is taken by the 2 white teflon knobs which each of the tube side bearings sit on - is that how the Celestron design works as well ?.

It might be worth asking Adam from David Hinds Ltd for advice on this as they are the main dealers for Celestron in the UK. He might be able to source you some replacement bearings.

John

[BenBroad]

Thanks for the answers, I'll see what I can do about it.

I took out my meade DS 2080 tonight, and couldnt even get it aligned. As far as I know it was right on north and level, but selecting Arcturus it seemed to be way off, the one star I could see was above it, and eventually found it. The next star started was a bit better to find. So with the alignment done, it tried to find several things, but each time I saw nothing. Hmm tried again, had more success on the first but on the 2nd star it toppled over as my lense was rather heavy.

So I'm wondering do other people have problems getting this telescope aligned?, I think Celestron's Nexstar 3 star alignment is very tempting. And its getting more tempting everyday.