So glad I bought a new telescope....

[Guest]

My friend's Meade 114-900 reflector had that problem with the finderscope mount, so I fitted a RDF - that suffered from the same problem, but at least the greater range of adjustment helped! 

[jetstream]

8 minutes ago, Louis D said:

, to get the Synta 200p/8" Dobs to work effectively, there are plenty of threads on here and CN detailing how to improve them to make them reasonably usable.  Had they bought a Teeter scope to begin with, they wouldn't have had to mess with it

The 200p's work very well as is but do respond to flocking and stray light control- just like my VX10...

Rob Teeter made good scopes, I've chatted with him but in reality price matters and its too bad hes had to re think his telescope business.

[jetstream]

19 minutes ago, John said:

I can understand that. I find that I need to have the finders on my scopes very precisely aligned with the main scope views to aid the finding process. Aligning along the scope tube is very hit and miss !

Mostly miss ......

 

If it were me John I'd check the optics on this 150 Heritage closely and if they are top notch I'd forgive this minor niggle and get that RDF on target... thoughts?

Edited June 24, 2020 by jetstream

[Starwiz]

52 minutes ago, John said:

Here is another guess - they used a similar pattern to the 130 but did not make an adjustment to allow for the parallax effect that the larger diameter optics and tube would create ?

Would parallax matter at infinity?

John

[John]

3 minutes ago, Starwiz said:

Would parallax matter at infinity?

John

Probably not. It was just a guess. Maybe I picked the wrong term. The tube design has changed though to accommodate the larger optics so I was simply wondering if the design and positioning of the finder mount might need to be adjusted slightly to take account of that. The RDF itself has a reasonable degree of adjustment in azimuth and altitude so for it not to be possible to get it aligned with the main scope, the mounting rail on the scope must be some way off of alignment.

@jetstream If there is simple a mod to sort it out then, yep I can overlook it, provided that the optics are decent. If the solution is that the owner needs to invest in a replacement finder at, lets say, £30 cost then that's a scoop out of the astro budget that might hurt if you are on a tight budget.

Mind you, the Celestron Astromasters have been supplied with truly awful finders for quite a few years and Celestron / Synta have not done anything about those 

 

[jetstream]

8 minutes ago, John said:

the mounting rail on the scope must be some way off of alignment.

Thinking about this I recall finding the dot can be challenging at times and we need to be in the right spot physically for it to work right- I assume the OP is lined up himself? My Rigel will throw "ghosts" in the screen when viewing off axis.

 

8 minutes ago, John said:

simple a mod to sort it out then

Shim?

8 minutes ago, John said:

If the solution is that the owner needs to invest in a replacement finder at, lets say, £30 cost then that's a scoop out of the astro budget that might hurt if you are on a tight budget.

Edited June 24, 2020 by jetstream

[Dannomiss]

2 minutes ago, John said:

is that the owner needs to invest in a replacement finder at, lets say, £30 cost then that's a scoop out of the astro budget that might hurt if you are on a tight budget.

exactly my point. My original budget was £150 which jumped to £200.... it was that much because I didn't know if I would like astronomy or not. But if the RDF is wrong, does mean i will need to invest in another £30 for a manufacturers fault

[Dannomiss]

Thinking about it - if you paid £10,000 for a new car and the indicator light on the right side wasn't working, it would be pretty annoying. In the scheme of things its only aminor issue and to replace the bulb would be a few pounds in comparison to the whole card... but you need that indicator light for the card to work properly and be road worthy. In my mind its no different to a £200 telescope... if one bit isn't working, it will be frustrating to use 🙂 thats the best analogy I have lol

 

[John]

Could you post a photo of the finder mounted on the scope next to the focuser ?

Maybe from a few angles and when the finder is as closely aligned with the main scope as possible ?

It will help work out what will hopefully be a simple fix to the problem.

Currently I can only find one photo of your scope and the finder is not well shown in that.

Sorry if you have already posted these somewhere else and I can't find them.

 

[Dannomiss]

17 minutes ago, John said:

Could you post a photo of the finder mounted on the scope next to the focuser? 

[John]

Thanks - those are really helpful.

The finder is installed perfectly as far as I can see.

You have the adjustment in azimuth (left and right) right over to one side presumably to try and get the dot to match your scope eyepiece view.

So somehow we need to skew the finder mounting in that direction a bit more to allow the adjustment to put the dot where it needs to be.

Hope that makes sense - just got to think of how to do it neatly !

[Pixies]

I have just spoken to a friend with the same model. His RDF can be aligned just fine.

[John]

5 minutes ago, Pixies said:

I have just spoken to a friend with the same model. His RDF can be aligned just fine.

So what is different in the way that the 2 finders are mounted / adjusted ?. Maybe @Dannomiss does have a faulty unit ?

I know that @Lockie had some issues with the finder on the one that he was loaned for review and I think @JeremyS might have had similar.

Trouble for me is that I'm shooting "blind" on this, not having an example of the scope to hand to play with.

[jetstream]

3 minutes ago, John said:

Thanks - those are really helpful.

The finder is installed perfectly as far as I can see.

You have the adjustment in azimuth (left and right) right over to one side presumably to try and get the dot to match your scope eyepiece view.

So somehow we need to skew the finder mounting in that direction a bit more to allow the adjustment to put the dot where it needs to be.

Hope that makes sense - just got to think of how to do it neatly !

In the long past John I've used shims to align hunting optics because of poorly drilled mounting holes. You can use anything thin for the shim- I used to have dedicated brass shims made just for this but any thin plastic or even paper, matchbook cover can be used. It can be placed just on a quarter of the shoe at the front or back depending on the direction needed. Usually only a very thin shim is required to skew the finder to work.

 

[John]

9 minutes ago, jetstream said:

In the long past John I've used shims to align hunting optics because of poorly drilled mounting holes. You can use anything thin for the shim- I used to have dedicated brass shims made just for this but any thin plastic or even paper, matchbook cover can be used. It can be placed just on a quarter of the shoe at the front or back depending on the direction needed. Usually only a very thin shim is required to skew the finder to work.

 

I've done the same Gerry. Some insulation tape on the front end of one side of the finder foot or shoe often does the trick.

I'm just trying to work out what would have the same effect on this design

 

[Chaz2b]

Just thinking, a Televue starfinder is more than his whole setup! I don’t like red dot finders much, the minute you want to set up, the battery’s flat! No, a proper glass scope finder for me. I have three red dot finders, came with the scopes, and they are all carp!

chaz

Edited June 24, 2020 by Chaz2b

[Corncrake]

10 minutes ago, John said:

 Maybe @Dannomiss does have a faulty unit ?

That would seem likely if FLO are sending out a replacement, they must have had this situation more than once or twice.

If it was incorrect fitting by the hapless user FLO would have been well able to advise.

If it was a systemic long enduring fault from the days of the 130 like some  reports suggest, I dont think FLO would have put up with that !

I must get round to ordering one for me !

 

[John]

It's a very new scope - just on the market. It will be popular in due course but there might not be many out there yet.

@Chaz2bThe red dot finder in your picture is the Baader Sky Surfer III - it's pretty good I found when I had one

[Dannomiss]

6 minutes ago, Corncrake said:

by the hapless user

Who are you calling a hapless user 😂😂

[Chaz2b]

13 minutes ago, John said:

It's a very new scope - just on the market. It will be popular in due course but there might not be many out there yet.

@Chaz2bThe red dot finder in your picture is the Baader Sky Surfer III - it's pretty good I found when I had one

No cap to protect the battery! Ain’t that good, but as I said, when battery runs out....

chaz

[jetstream]

23 minutes ago, John said:

I've done the same Gerry. Some insulation tape on the front end of one side of the finder foot or shoe often does the trick.

I'm just trying to work out what would have the same effect on this design

 

As long as there is enough room when the screws are partially backed out it should be able to be skewed in either direction and tape is a good idea. The OP could line the scope on something with the finder screws loose a move it to see if it lines up and how much is needed.

Obviously there there is no burr or plastic moulding holding it out?

[Corncrake]

17 minutes ago, Dannomiss said:

Who are you calling a hapless user 😂😂

Ah ! You noticed !! I was a little, ummmm, uncertain if I should type that in the singular or plural 

Another aspect : one faulty RDF is (Importance of)  unfortunate two -Lockie as well- would be downright careless ! (/being Ernest)

Edited June 24, 2020 by Corncrake

[Dannomiss]

19 minutes ago, Corncrake said:

Ah ! You noticed !! I was a little, ummmm, uncertain if I should type that in the singular or plural 

Another aspect : one faulty RDF is (Importance of)  unfortunate two -Lockie as well- would be downright careless ! (/being Ernest)

The GREAT thing is once the replacement RDF finder arrives and I try it, FLO have said if it still doesn't align up, they will replace the whole scope. 👍

[Dannomiss]

If there's a problem with replacement may swap it for this instead... 

[Corncrake]

50 minutes ago, Dannomiss said:

If there's a problem with replacement may swap it for this instead...

Yes, that looks like a nice finder 🤣🤣

errr, we are still talking about the finder , , , , are we ? heheee.