Broken finderscope

[A_N_other_beginner]

I'm still not entirely sure how, but I've managed to pull the mount for my Skywatcher 9x50 RACI off the OTA, causing it to hit the floor. One part is obviously damaged - there's a slightly conical piece of plastic connecting the main body (OTA?) of the finder and the diagonal, threaded at either end. The larger thread has split; I've tried glueing and taping it in place but I can't repair it. That said, when I connect it all up optically it still looks fit for purpose - it's just the plastic connector.

Does anyone know if that connecting piece of plastic is available seperately to avoid buying a new finder? I've seen some adapters for using it as a guide scope that would appear to be the right thread at one end, but I'm not sure what is needed at the 'diagonal' end - i.e. what thread.

It's a long shot, but does anyone know if I can save myself the cost of a new finderscope?

[Ronclarke]

Photo might help get some answers?

[John]

I know the piece of plastic you mean. Not sure if replacements are available. Looking at my 9x50 RACI finder Its just an adapter / spacer to narrow the 2 inch finder body aperture down to a smaller aperture which the diagonal screws into. I guess it could be replaced with a wooden spacer - the conical shape does not matter but the depth of the spacer should be the same. The internal thread of the finder body is a touch over the 2 inch filter size (annoyingly).

You might find that bonding the parts together with a strong adhesive such as Araldite is the best short term approach. I think this is the part we are concerned about ?:

 

[A_N_other_beginner]

2 minutes ago, John said:

I know the piece of plastic you mean. Not sure if replacements are available. Looking at my 9x50 RACI finder Its just an adapter / spacer to narrow the 2 inch finder body aperture down to a smaller aperture which the diagonal screws into. I guess it could be replaced with a wooden spacer - the conical shape does not matter but the depth of the spacer should be the same. The internal thread of the finder body is a touch over the 2 inch filter size (annoyingly).

You might find that bonding the parts together with a strong adhesive such as Araldite is the best short term approach. I think this is the part we are concerned about ?:

 

That's the part that's broken, thanks. And I've tried a bonding the split together, it's not worked unfortunately - the split is along the smaller of the two threads (it's not snapped entirely in half, but on the thread was about the worst point for it to happen.)

[John]

I'm sure you are not the first that this has happened to - if the finder falls onto the diagonal that plastic adapter takes the impact and it's not strong.

Hopefully someone who has managed to repair it / replace it will contribue soon.

[Rob]

We have a number of 3d printer guys in the forum. Maybe contact with one of them may help?. I'm sure some arrangement could be come to.

Regards

Rob

[Neil H]

Hi I had item with that type of crack the same way . What I was  did was put a tiny cable the around the flat part so the crack was closed then hot glue on the cable tie to hold it in place it's worth a try 

Edited December 24, 2019 by Neil H

[A_N_other_beginner]

On 24/12/2019 at 13:47, Neil H said:

Hi I had item with that type of crack the same way . What I was  did was put a tiny cable the around the flat part so the crack was closed then hot glue on the cable tie to hold it in place it's worth a try 

Just the hot glue gun seems to have done the trick - it made a mess of the threads filling them in but a bit of time scraping the worst of the excess away seems to have done the job nicely. On a quick daytime glance it all looks to be optically where it was before, I'll just have to be a bit more careful with it.

Thanks for the advice.

[Waldemar]

In case other people have a problem with broken parts that are hard to repair
Bondic is a new kind of glue that needs to be hardened by UV light like when a dentist fills cavities: https://notaglue.com/
It makes a very solid connection and glues about everything ... 

I am not in any way affiliated with them, just love the product.