Piggy back screws and the damage they cause

[spaceboy]

I have come across several scopes for sale that have been cosmetically damaged sometime quite badly by piggy back screws on OTA rings. This I assume is caused by people winding their cameras on not realizing they are at the same time unthreading the screw straight in to the OTA then unwittingly scraping their paint work off when they then have to rebalance the scope to accommodate the additional weight of the camera. Add to the fact that more often than not it's a night and the scope may well be balanced several more times before you realize your blunder.

OK a scope is for looking through and not at, so as long as the OTA itself isn't damaged then it is only an aesthetic compromise, but even so I'm know it often goes to affect the resale value.

I just think it is an unnecessary addition to the scope in the first place if I'm honest. I'd rather the scope came with a better 10mm ep than have a screw that has the potential to strip paint in a moment of curious piggy backing. I wouldn't mind but does anyone who is serious about imaging even use these screws as they are?

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Wouldn't happen to the piggyback mount on the C8 OTA (at least not in the version from 20 years back). The option of piggyback imaging is useful, and proper design shouldn't cause damage

[xtreemchaos]

ive done it to my 200p, fixed the scraped paint with my daughters black sparkly nail varnish, carnt tell its been done now. charl.

[ollypenrice]

To be honest I probably wouldn't even notice if I'd done this. I love the phrase, 'Working telescope.'

I'm told that some people won't buy eyepieces which have barrels marked by lockscrews. No worries, guys, sell 'em to me!!

Olly

[Alien 13]

18 minutes ago, xtreemchaos said:

ive done it to my 200p, fixed the scraped paint with my daughters black sparkly nail varnish, carnt tell its been done now. charl.

I have to say I always have a few pots on standby, red for connector solder joints black for DSLR/lens touch up and clear for general purpose protection.

Alan

[spaceboy]

8 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

To be honest I probably wouldn't even notice if I'd done this. I love the phrase, 'Working telescope.'

I'm told that some people won't buy eyepieces which have barrels marked by lockscrews. No worries, guys, sell 'em to me!!

Olly

AND that's another one! Why is it they are happy to use thumbscrews that mark up your nice eyepieces yet they nylon tip the counterweight screws ?? OK maybe not nylon tip them but why not use softer thumbscrew like ally or brass. They seem to like using softer metal for the alt adjust bendy bolts on EQ mounts.

[xtreemchaos]

2 minutes ago, Alien 13 said:

I have to say I always have a few pots on standby, red for connector solder joints black for DSLR/lens touch up and clear for general purpose protection

 yer Alan, its good stuff, my daughter left me a good supply of colours when she moved out. but i must say scratches and scrapes on the tubes have never stop me buying, its the glass that matters.  charl.

[RobertI]

Damage to Newtonian tubes indirectly caused by the rings does seem quite common, I guess the design makes it alll too easy. I'd be upset if I dented or seriously scratched the tubes of any of my scopes, but I can live with scratches on dovetails and eyepice barrels as they are hard to avoid.

[Aaron F Johnson]

I have found for scratches the product Gs-47 works very well...dents are another matter...scopes are for looking through but resale and upgrade are important things to think about. I once came across a questar 3.5 dented tube for sale the poor guy actually thinking it was still worth thousands. Valuable lessons I hope not to learn...