I HATE astro metal accessories! Who else oes?

[Pingster]

I HATE metal astro accesories... sorry i a have to say it again!

Yesterday i pulled my new ES127CF from its case. Its balanced so badly, front heavy... so the dew sheld always slides forwards and the objective side dips.

It swung down and struck the metal case locking clips putting a deep scratch on the perfect CF dew shield. Im so annoyed. Why oh why oh why did ES not rubberize the clips knowing that would happen? GRAA.

A year ago i dropped the aluminium eyepice side cap from my baby 60mm Tak. It hit the floor and theres a nasty dent in it. It looks ugly and makes me mad everytime i look at it. Had it been plastic like normal one it would have been fine.

I have a denki II bino and comes with a metal screw on cap at the scope side. It scatches up the sides of my other accesiors if i accidentally place them on it in the dark.....

I have a sky tee... which i LOVE even tho its one of the most stupidly designed things i own. I mean how can you design somthing that knocks and scatches against other parts of it without warning in the dark? The metal parts of my sky tee has scratched and dented various hard plastic knobs on the mount including a massive paint scratch on the counter weight.

Have astro companies not heard of soft touch rubbrised star shaped knobs for easy use late in the nights?

I hate nice shiny metal astro accesories. Plz dealers and manufactors.... read this and provide us some alternatives.... 

Rant over :'D

 

[D4N]

Even worse is when you are trying to adjust something in sub zero conditions but your hands stick to the metal painfully and the bits are too fiddly to do with gloves on.

Still, some bits need to be made of metal and whilst plastic coatings would be fine I don't think I would want anything load bearing that was completely plastic.

[Macavity]

A FAIR (and rather just) rant!

I guess I've become "philosophical" about things? SO MANY (Astro) things work at 
the 90% level? On a limited budget, almost everything requires a modest re-think?
Hardware Mods? Sometimes (sadly) immediate upgrade and/or more purchases! 

In some sense, and in the past, I have have viewed these things as a "challenge"! lol
Less so now? I suppose that's the price I pay for not being a RICH Astronomer.  

P.S. The Sky Tee is a firaly admirable thing, but would certainly benefit from a bit
of "tuning". I sense many problems could be resolved by buying the extension! 

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-mounts/skywatcher-eq5heq5-extension-tube.html

Wishing I hadn't SOLD the one I had - Out of necessity at the time. Ever thus?

[Pingster]

Why did i not think of the extention... then again it does weight 10kg with tripod already and more weight would be painful.

 

I recently purchased a Telepic Enrole... the most heady duty... and i have to be honest and it maybe helpful for others. The Enrole is good for smaller scopes. But over 100mm... the sky tee kicks its bottom.  

You cant beat the slow-mo... on the sky tee,  just buy the extention 

I dont mean i want all my stuff plastic... i just want it tubber coated or plastic where its sensible.

Rubber coated for handknobs and on stupid bits that scatch up the rest of our beautiful gear.  

[YKSE]

2 hours ago, Pingster said:

I hate nice shiny metal astro accesories.

On defence of these shiny metals, they do give nice quality impressions and provide the site with many much nicer pictures than grey plastic accesories

[ollypenrice]

Hmmm, I'm not a plastic fan in general. It degrades over time and particularly in sunlight. As for star shaped knobs, rubberizing metal ones would be OK but plastic knobs on steel threaded bolts are a pain in time. The plastic separates from the shaft or cracks. I've had this on old Televue mounts and a newer iOptron. I quite like metal. So I guess I like the expression which begins, 'All metal....' People do Material Science degrees in which they are taught of the self lubricating virtues of nylon, etc.  Ask a mechanic and you'll get a different description of nylon parts in engineering. Ask me and I'd have to reply via PM, given the word filter!!!

Olly

[Earl]

I prefer metal over plastic overall, yet at times it does add unnesecary faff, like threaded lens caps, however they dont fall out.

but if you spend a few k on a scope to get a plastic lens cap you can feel somewhat meh too.

[iPeace]

52 minutes ago, Pingster said:

Why did i not thinknof the extention... then again it does weight 10kg with tripod already and more weight wpuld be painful.

 

I recently purchased a Telopic Enrole... the most heady duty... and i have to be honest and it maybe helpful for others. The Enrole is good for smaller scopes. But over 100mm... the sky tee kicks its bottom.  

You cant be the slow-mo... just by the extention 

The combination of Ercole and extension pillar is a joy to use for me, that includes the 120ED.

I like slow-mo but don't miss it; often glad I don't have it.

I seriously considered a SkyTee but have read too many rants about it.

The Ercole is indestructible and never gets in its own way; I tend to like such things.

[Stu]

20 minutes ago, iPeace said:

The combination of Ercole and extension pillar is a joy to use for me, that includes the 120ED.

I like slow-mo but don't miss it; often glad I don't have it.

I seriously considered a SkyTee but have read too many rants about it.

The Ercole is indestructible and never gets in its own way; I tend to like such things.

I do agree with that, the Ercole is a great mount, indestructible as said. I used a 20kg 150ED on mine a few times, it coped admirably despite being significantly over its weight limit.

Slo-Mo controls are a very personal thing. My poor brain can't co-ordinate having to look through an eyepiece aswell as reaching round to find one of two knobs to adjust in the dark. Grabbing the scope and moving it is just more intuitive to me.

Anyway, plastic vs rubberized vs metal. Hmm, I do like the permanence of metal, my previous TV76 and 85 felt like they were hewn from solid ingots, bulletproof really. Yes they had the odd dent or scratch here and there, but that was all part of their history and character. A scratch on new Carbon fibre I will accept would be pretty annoying but you can't rubberise every potentially damaging surface.

Actually I tend to do more damage with a few metal items I've got which have very sharp edges to them - a couple of ADM dovetails which will dig a nice chunk out of the wooden table it put down carelessly, not popular with Mrs Stu!

[D4N]

1 hour ago, Earl said:

I prefer metal over plastic overall, yet at times it does add unnesecary faff, like threaded lens caps, however they dont fall out.

but if you spend a few k on a scope to get a plastic lens cap you can feel somewhat meh too.

Plastic lens caps are no good for darks, my scope has a threaded aluminium cap and I have a T2 one for my CCD as well.

[Earl]

19 hours ago, D4N said:

Plastic lens caps are no good for darks, my scope has a threaded aluminium cap and I have a T2 one for my CCD as well.

Never had that problem as my ccd had a shutter, the ota had a flipflat which is far from light sealed too.

[Steve Ward]

Sounds to me that you want all manufacturers to take into account clumsy clots clattering their kit around and dropping stuff ... front heavy refractors - how very dare they ... 

[jabeoo1]

Why don't they provide both options?   Both at the same price, that way people that choose plastic give them a mark up in profit for no effort on their behalf.  Everyone happy. 

 

Taking a deeper perspective, 

Astronomers all know nothing lasts forever.  Like us every scope will be obliterated in the end.  Its why we have a scope, to allow us to see part of that process playing out.  A dink in my gear don't matter, a scratch on the glass making the view rubbish...thats another thing !

[Pingster]

Exactly Jabeoo1. 

 

Whats the point of having a beautiful OTA and focuses when one bump into a metal latch, knob puts a big dent or scratch, these rubber knobs only cost 50p or less wholesale. Ive just replaced many of my knobs with soft touch rubber. They are so mucher easier to turn already. Pictures coming soon.

 

Not all of use can setup in a dark spot at home... its all the carrying to dark spots that causes these clumsy clot situations. When you are half fearing for your life hoping your observing spot is not opposite a camp of killers.

[Pingster]

My thumbs are thanking me already. The ones that replaced the tripod legs knobs are so much kinder on the thumb and fingers. 

 

[Steve Ward]

23 minutes ago, Pingster said:

Not all of use can setup in a dark spot at home... its all the carrying to dark spots that causes these clumsy clot situations. When you are half fearing for your life hoping your observing spot is not opposite a camp of killers.

Back garden of 178 Vallance Rd was never going to be a good idea for an observing site I guess ... 

[Pingster]

May sound silly, but using these knobs... they feel like the feathertouch focuser of knobs. Pure bliss.

[Telescope40]

Hi Pingster. .  Those knobs look rather good.  Do they fit Skywatcher kit , I presume ??

 

 Any chance of a link

 

Thx   John

[Pingster]

Measure carefully as i orignally measured them 1mm in dai too small, lucky i reaized before i ordered. You can get any size you need. And so far ive not found a product that did not work.

http://www.vital-parts.co.uk/soft-touch-lobe-style-4923-p.asp

I love them. Remeber to apply silicon lubricant on thread.

 

[faulksy]

On 15/09/2016 at 09:45, Pingster said:

I HATE metal astro accesories... sorry i a have to say it again!

Yesterday i pulled my new ES127CF from its case. Its balanced so badly, front heavy... so the dew sheld always slides forwards and the objective side dips.

It swung down and struck the metal case locking clips putting a deep scratch on the perfect CF dew shield. Im so annoyed. Why oh why oh why did ES not rubberize the clips knowing that would happen? GRAA.

A year ago i dropped the aluminium eyepice side cap from my baby 60mm Tak. It hit the floor and theres a nasty dent in it. It looks ugly and makes me mad everytime i look at it. Had it been plastic like normal one it would have been fine.

I have a denki II bino and comes with a metal screw on cap at the scope side. It scatches up the sides of my other accesiors if i accidentally place them on it in the dark.....

I have a sky tee... which i LOVE even tho its one of the most stupidly designed things i own. I mean how can you design somthing that knocks and scatches against other parts of it without warning in the dark? The metal parts of my sky tee has scratched and dented various hard plastic knobs on the mount including a massive paint scratch on the counter weight.

Have astro companies not heard of soft touch rubbrised star shaped knobs for easy use late in the nights?

I hate nice shiny metal astro accesories. Plz dealers and manufactors.... read this and provide us some alternatives.... 

Rant over :'D

 

i think the moral of this story is  not to be so clumsy

[Pingster]

4 minutes ago, faulksy said:

i think the moral of this story is  not to be so clumsy

Or it will force you to get Feathertouch knobs

[Pingster]

See this angry skywatcer anodized aluminum junk? See the marks on it? Every one of them revels its nasty history nicking, marking, denting bits of my gear. The only mark its making now is a bulg in my trash bag.

Replaced it with a happy smiling, Astro gear hugging soft touch rubber knob. Mentally i already feel de-stressed, Bliss ?