Arrghhh...

[gobes]

Just dropped my 10mm eyeppiece, and my barlow on the floor (in a carpeted bedroom). Am I likely to have done any damage?

[kniclander]

I would think not

[James]

Unless you are unlucky, I'd think not. I've dropped a Hyperion Zoom from 4ft onto concrete and suffered no ill effects (well the eyepiece was fine but I was pretty stressed ).

Give them a little shake - if they rattle then whoops... if not then don't worry!

James

[Talitha]

If the eyepiece rattles, you can tighten up that little internal ring (someone please help me with the proper terminology ).. it's got 2 little opposing notches in it, and it holds the lens firmly in place.

When a few of my eyepieces started to rattle (never dropped them, though.. temp changes, maybe?) I placed a very small jeweler's screwdriver into one of the notches and gently nudged the ring, applying just enough pressure to tighten it so the lens wouldn't rattle anymore. They've been fine ever since.

Oh, and be sure the screwdriver doesn't slip and scrape the lens.

[ollypenrice]

It'll be fine. Someone dropped my then-new 35mm Panoptic onto tarmac the first night I took it to the club...

Olly.

[crepitis]

If the eyepiece rattles, you can tighten up that little internal ring (someone please help me with the proper terminology ).. it's got 2 little opposing notches in it, and it holds the lens firmly in place.

When a few of my eyepieces started to rattle (never dropped them, though.. temp changes, maybe?) I placed a very small jeweler's screwdriver into one of the notches and gently nudged the ring, applying just enough pressure to tighten it so the lens wouldn't rattle anymore. They've been fine ever since

Thanks for that tip Talitha, Ive just tightened up the ring on a "Rattling" eyepiece that I havent used for a long time as I was worried something was going to fall out of it , it rattled so badly.

Now , after a quick adjustment ...no more rattle

[BlueAstra]

You could try a star test with a good EP by racking the focus in and out while looking at a star. If good collimation and optics you should see a symmetric circular pattern of concentric rings either side of focus. Try it with the dropped B and good EP to see if it is substantially different. Then try the dropped EP by itself. There are other posts on collimation if you want more information on the technique.

[Talitha]

Now , after a quick adjustment ...no more rattle

That's wonderful, I'm glad it helped!

(still don't know the proper name for that little ring, though:p)

[adamsp123]

Hope it is OK, make you wince doesn't it? but you should try my drop test method by adding a 10" scope to it!

Pete

[Jarvo]

Eyepiece will be fine Gobes. Can't say the same for your nerves though. I once dropped my DSLR onto the grass into the garden. Still worked fine afterwards.

Jarvo