smash ********

[Dean]

Hi can anybody give me advise on what i can do next?

Tonight was my second attempt to have a go at some imaging with my new set up after 2 months of unclear skys the moon and other things and what happens crash my Equinox 80 drops out my mount.

The focuser now just slides out when held upright.

Is it serious and can anybody give me advice on what the best thing to do next is?

Thanks Dean

[barkis]

Oh dear, another scope falls off the mount. The second one in a couple of days.

Well something seems to be very wrong. Can the focuser be removed from the OTA.? It should be removed to check where the damage has occurred.

What about other parts of the scope. Can you see anywhere else that has been affected by the fall? Lens OK is it.?

Have you tried to adjust any of the screws on the focuser, to see if friction can be increased. If it hit the right area, perhaps the force has pushed on the drawtube, and forced the screws back on the threads, allowing the focusing tube to fall out.

You need to thoroughly inspect it for damage. It is difficult to suggest a fix without seeing it Dean. I just hope it is not too bad mate.

Ron.

[Dean]

Thanks Ron you have given me some hope. I can not see any other damage it landed onto the diagonal first. Will try and get hold of the right screwdriver bits tomorrow.

Do you think there could be any unseen damage done to the scopes optics?

[barkis]

I guess there is a possibility of lens damage. Not necessarily cracked or broken, but some misalignment of the elements due to the shock of the Impact. Let's hope that is not the case though. You may have got away without serious damage, so concentrate on establishing what is happening with your focuser, and if there is any other damage, a star test will soon reveal it.

I hope it is OK though Dean. We live in hope.

Ron.

[adamsp123]

Oh Dear, join the horror club , might not be as bad as you think, mine didn't seem to suffer to much optically.

Hopefully you will just need to do some adjustments to the focuser.

Wish you luck Pete

[CELESCOPE]

Whoops , bad yuks , have you adjusted the very small allen screw under the tube ,think its around 2 or 3 mm in size , this is the tension screw , not the locking screw, its way down into the body.

Rog

[Doc]

Hope everything works out OK.

As Roger has already pointed out there's a tension screw in the focuser. My focuser went very slack and by tightening this it cured it.

[Tim]

In a previous life I was a window cleaner. When you are 30 ft up a ladder, you quickly tune the reflexes to catch items falling close to you.

I dont know whether it was tiredness or stupidness, but when switching tubes the other night I undid the fastening nut for my C9.25 and it just started sliding out. My window cleaning reflexes came into play without me thinking about it, and caught it, but it was very close. I know you will feel badly, but a lot of us have done similar. I hope oyu can sort your problem out.

TJ

[Dean]

Thanks for all your advice, I think that has done the job.

A very big thanks Dean

[Dean]

Thanks for all of your advise i think that has done the job.

A very big thanks Dean