lunt Hope it gets better - Lunt LS50THa

[MarsG76]

Don't worry with practice it does get a lot better, but remember that seeing affects the detail of the sun just like any astronomical observation.... perhaps you had very poor seeing.

 

[Moonshane]

Bear in mind also that a winged eyecap (I made some) can really help and the longer you look the more you see.

[ArmyAirForce]

I had a pressure tuner failure on my 50THa and after sending it back to the service centre ( via the UK dealer ), the whole scope was replaced as it wasn't the O rings that was the failure point. They sent an O ring kit out first, but when that didn't sort it, told me to send it back. 

Here's a video of what it was doing as soon as I got it tuned.....

 

[Tyson M]

A video is worth a thousand words. ^

Don't be put off by pressure tuner niggles. Once you get a good one / new scope, it offers great control. I had issues with my 50 but stuck it out. 

 

My new 60PT B1200 is a dream to use. Everything I wanted in a grab and go Solar scope. 

[Highburymark]

From the photo you posted the pressure tuner definitely looks well used - if it was like that out of the box I'd send it straight back. It should be pristine. 

[Live_Steam_Mad]

On 26/07/2017 at 19:31, DIGITALid said:

Thank you for your response.  The echelon?  I don't believe I did.  All I did was pressure tune and adjust the (I guess helical) focus ring.  I don't get nearly as close a view as you have.  When I use my 17mm eyepiece I see the big orange ball.  In focus, but no surface detail at all.

I just got First Light with my own brand new LS50THa / B600 PT. Plenty of surface detail, quite easy to see, especially at higher magnifications (8mm TeleVue Radian and Dioptrx). Breathtakng proms with loads of detail. A couple of dark fissures / rifts on the surface. Mine came on-band at about middle travel of the tuner. Sounds like something's wrong with yours. I'd be contacting Lunt. Hope you get this resolved. Let us know how it worked out.

Regards,

Alistair G.

[JMDean]

On 29/07/2017 at 18:31, DRT said:

I have had a Lunt 50 for a couple of years and never had any issues with it. I find the best way to tune it is to put in a relatively low power eyepiece (15mm plossl?) so that the whole disk is in the central sweet spot of the FOV and then tune slowly until you can see prominences around the disk (assuming they are there). Once they start to appear just slowly move the tuner in an out until you find the optimum position where the prominences at their brightest. Assuming it is a clear day, you should now be able to see surface detail that is not too dissimilar to this picture...

I agree with others that it is likely that your tuner is not properly sealed but hopefully the above gives you an expectation of what these scopes can deliver.

Good luck!

I have just bought a Lunt 60 tilt tune, do you see this trough the eyepiece? I only see a fuzzy orange blob. Is this as good as gets visually? I use a baader zoom eyepiece 24-8 and I have tried all lengths. The tuner seems to make no difference visually, I see a bit of difference with my zwo colour planetary imager, but it’s still very underwhelming. I know mono is better, but still I expected to see much more visually.

[John]

There is not much happening on the Sun just now. You can monitor whether there is anything worth seeing using the GONG website:

http://halpha.nso.edu/

When I had a Lunt 50 I found that I needed quite a bit of practice to get my eye "tuned in" to picking out detail. Also the sweet spot for tuning the etalong seemed quite narrow and relatively far along the pressure tuners travel.

Using a shade or observing hood helps as well.

[Nigella Bryant]

On 26/07/2017 at 09:47, niallk said:

- Following this thread with interest: I hope to get one of these at some point.  I've read many threads about the pressure tuner needing to go almost the whole way in, and also about o-rings and re-greasing... some people getting a kit sent out from Lunt.

I hope you get help here, and start seeing stunning views soon!  The impression I have reading up is that Lunt give very good support. Best of luck

Hi, yes my pressure tuner is almost all the way in, I've also regreased it as the original grease had got stiff to use. Also I've found you have to take off the tunner and rescrew to get a correct tunning, especially if the scope hasn't been used for a little while. Image's all taken with my lunt 60mm 

Edited July 24, 2019 by Nigella Bryant

[niallk]

10 hours ago, Nigella Bryant said:

Hi, yes my pressure tuner is almost all the way in, I've also regreased it as the original grease had got stiff to use. Also I've found you have to take off the tunner and rescrew to get a correct tunning, especially if the scope hasn't been used for a little while. Image's all taken with my lunt 60mm 

Lovely!!!

That post you just quoted from me was 2 yrs ago, and a month or two after it I did take the plunge and purchased a Lunt 50mm.  Then I got a 50mm DS unit for it 😁  Terribly expensive,  but I love it 😎

Edited July 24, 2019 by niallk

[Live_Steam_Mad]

15 hours ago, JMDean said:

I have just bought a Lunt 60 tilt tune, do you see this trough the eyepiece? I only see a fuzzy orange blob. Is this as good as gets visually? I use a baader zoom eyepiece 24-8 and I have tried all lengths. The tuner seems to make no difference visually, I see a bit of difference with my zwo colour planetary imager, but it’s still very underwhelming. I know mono is better, but still I expected to see much more visually.

I have a Lunt 50 and also a Lunt 60 Tilt tuned, I see views very similar to this, especially in my LS60. I see plenty of details, and strong surface granulation everyday, in all of my eyepieces from 18mm to 5mm, and also through my Vixen-made TeleVue 8-24mm Click Stop Dioptrx compatible Zoom eyepiece. The tuner makes an enormous difference in both scopes. I don't use cameras at the moment. When I double stack the LS50 I see a preposterously large amount of details. This is all without a black cloth, but with a ScopeStuff Solar Shield. Using the black cloth makes everything easier to see. My LS60 Tilt tuned scope comes to it's optimum tuning right near the end of the tuning range where the resistance suddenly goes slack to no resistance at all. There is some backlash in my Tilt tuner that annoys me though. My LS50 comes on band near the end of it's tuning range close to maximum of being screwed in. I am at 54m above Sea Level, and in England.

Regards,

AG

Edited July 25, 2019 by Live_Steam_Mad