New member, gifted old Meade Telescope

[willburrrr2003]

Good morning everyone, years ago I had a great sky view and would get my cheap telescope out and look at the moon,Mars,  and Jupiter.  I could see the big spot and 3 moons.  It was pretty cool., even with a cheap finicky telescope that would loose the image if I sneezed lol.   That was 2009.  Fast forward to present...I was given a Meade 114eq-dh4 telescope last week.  My friend bought it new many years ago, tried to use it a few times....got frustrated and stuck it in a corner never to be messed with since.  It's a bit dusty, but has all the starfinder controller, motors, and battery pack and all the original lenses.  I am excited to get this telescope cleaned up and in use.  Can you folks recommend how to clean this telescope up without damaging it?

Regards,

    Will 

Edited December 19, 2023 by willburrrr2003
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[RT65CB-SWL]

Hi @willburrrr2003 and welcome to SGL. 

I will have ago. Things you will need...

• a clean bowl.
• plenty of soft unbleached tissue and/or surgical grade cotton wool.
• a rubbish bin for the above.
• a mild washing up liquid/detergent.
• warm water.
• distilled water... plenty of it!
• disposable gloves.
• roll of masking tape or sticky labels to mark the position of primary mirror cell before removing and aid during reassembly
• a camera and notepad to write things down as a reminder of what goes where.
• a few hand tools, (ie air blower [not compressed air in an aerosol can], soft brush, screwdriver, spanner, Allen/hex key).
• patience.

Remove the mirror cell and secondary, including the spider, (ie the thing that holds the secondary). Not sure whether the mirrors can be separated. If they can, then leave to soak in bowl of warm water and washing up liquid/detergent for a few minutes. You maybneed to do it a few times. When the above items and mirror looks clean, gently wipe the surface using one pass of tissue or cotton wool and dispose. When done, rinse off with distilled water and repeat the wipe procedure until clean. Leave to dry naturally before reassembly.

For the eyepieces and finder-scope do not disassemble. Get some lens cleaning fluid and apply sparingly to cotton wool and or cotton buds and and gently wipe the lenses. Never apply direct to the lens. Plenty of tutorials on video sharing sites on how to clean eyepieces.

For the OTA, a soft brush to remove any FOD [Foreign Object Debris], ie cobwebs, from inside the tube. For the outside of the tube, any polish or foam cleaner can be used.

Apply some grease to the RA & DEC gears and sparingly apply some to the draw tube toothed strip.

Once all reassembled, then you need to collimate it. Plenty of tutorials here and on video sharing sites on collimation.

DISCLAIMER... I accept no responsibility for any damage and damages or misinformation. All information above is from my personal experience.

Edited December 20, 2023 by RT65CB-SWL

[willburrrr2003]

Hello @RT65CB-SWL, thanks for your reply and the great info!!

Regards,

    Will

[orly_andico]

An f/8 newtonian should be optically a good one. But those eyepieces are terrible (the 25mm MA may be OK/marginal - but not the others and definitely not the Ramsden).

In any case you really want 2 eyepieces - one for wide field (a 32mm Plossl should be a good choice giving you 28X with a field of a bit less than 2 degrees); and also something in the 10mm range giving you 91X for planets.

Unfortunately the existing eyepieces are 0.965" diameter - and so the focuser probably also is.  You'd need to find 0.965" eyepieces or somehow adapt the focuser to take 1.25" eyepieces which are far more common.

These old Meade keypads had an issue with the rubber keys where the keys would stop responding to key presses. You may want to see if all the keys still work. That handset appears to be the Autostar 494; if the keys don't work you can either buy a keypad refurb kit (basically carbon grindings in glue, that you would paint onto the keypad contacts)

https://www.trainshop.co.uk/maintenance/19827-keypad-fix-permanently-repairs-all-rubber-keypad.html

or buy another Autostar controller. A 495/497 which has more keys is around 50 quid and is much more user friendly than a 494.

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/843110-autostar-hand-controller-compatibility/

 

Edited December 20, 2023 by orly_andico

[RT65CB-SWL]

Following on from @orly_andico about 0.965” - 1.25” adapters, they do exist and can purchased from the usual online warehouses. Modern eyepieces, (ie Plossl’s or BST’s), would be a big improvement.

Will it will focus is another issue you may have to think about should you upgrade to 1.25” eyepieces or buy a ‘newer’ telescope is up to you. 0.965” can be still found, but usually are of what you already have. Compared to the supplied 0.965” eyepieces that came with the second telescope I owned, I purchased a 0.965” / 6mm Ortho. It was an improvement. I decided to keep it when I gave the telescope away to a neighbours son many moons ago.

To give you some idea of size, below is an image of my 0.965” / 6mm Ortho [left] next to a 1.25” - 0.965” adapter [right] that I use from time to time.

 

Edited December 20, 2023 by RT65CB-SWL

[orly_andico]

That is my concern.. 0.965" to 1.25" adapters will add a significant amount of back-focus which may compromise the scope's ability to reach focus unless the primary is moved up in the tube.

I had one of those 25mm MA's - came with my first "real" telescope, an ETX-60AT, 20 years ago. It's OK. Not great.  The 9mm MA is much worse due to the small eyelens and tiny eye relief. I have not had the misfortune of using symmetrical Ramsdens...

EDIT: the manual says "modified Achromatic" which I took to be the Meade MA's (those are Kellners) - but then says it is an H 25mm which is a Huygenian.  Which is across the board terrible.

Edited December 20, 2023 by orly_andico

[Moonlune]

I am going through a similar process with my Bushnell Voyager 900mm f l reflector.  Good luck and I shall follow with interest.  I have just purchased a set of Plossl lenses, which are a great improvement on the standard (old) lenses that came with it.  Still just looking at the moon and brightest stars until I get familiar with the kit.  I used the clear silicone grease on the gearing (wipe on/wipe off) as it saves you getting grease on hands and clothing whilst feeling your way in the dark!  My reflectors were pretty clean, so haven't attempted a clean yet.  I wiped over the scope with atibax wipes and then used a household polish on the shiny stuff!  A new paint brush was great for the nooks and crannies.