Repairing my F5 refractor
- John Baars Online
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Repairing my F5 refractor
Apparently there was no damage. But a little test on a fake star (bright flashlight behind a black cardboard with tiny holes in it) showed that one of the two lenses had shifted. Not much, but enough to annoy me. So that had to be set right again.
Because in this cheap scope there are no adjustment bolts for that, the whole lens cell has to be taken off, three rings removed, lens has to be lifted out of the lens cell, slid back together properly, lens lowered back into the lens cell, replace rings, mount lens cell back to the tube and finally test.
That test in particular is crucial, of course. Because ten to one that it is still not positioned correctly, corrected too much or an additional error has been introduced. Several times I was close, but not good enough. After a good dozen or so attempts it was back as I remembered it from the correction I had made once after purchase. Besides common sense, good luck comes around the corner, but trial and error is also just around the corner without adjustment bolts.
Lens cell and instrument to loosen the lock ring.
A metal ring, a flat plastic ring and an O-ring. Lens is already lifted here.
Fortunately, I had set markers last time, so the orientation of the lenses remained the same. And now just "sliding" those lenses around. Of course, we are talking about tenths of millimeters. Or even hundredths. Human fingers are amazingly accurate at judging whether a side is slightly protruding or smooth.
Raising the lens cell again must be done without touching the lens, an extremely precise job.
By way of illustration a simulated image from Aberrator. All values are estimated and thus not measured. What matters is the illustration. The top row is before correction, the bottom after.
From left to right : Focus, Intrafocus and Extrafocus. Especially the extrafocus image gives good info on the degree of skew.
On the fake star I used a barlow and a Pentax XO2.5 eyepiece, so a magnification of 400X. More than enough, because in practice this F5 scope does not reach that.
There you go, it's good to go again!
GrabnGo on Alt/AZ : *SW Startravel 102 F/5 refractor( widefield, Sun, push-to), *OMC140 Maksutov F/14.3 ( planets).
Most used Eyepieces: *Panoptic 24, *Morpheus 14, *Leica ASPH zoom, *Zeiss barlow, *Pentax XO5.
Commonly used bino's : *Jena 10X50 , * Canon 10X30 IS, *Swarovski Habicht 7X42, * Celestron 15X70, *Kasai 2.3X40
Rijswijk Public Observatory: * Astro-Physics Starfire 130 f/8, * 6 inch Newton, * C9.25, * Meade 14 inch LX600 ACF, *Lunt.
Amateur astronomer since 1970.
- Lady Fraktor
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Re: Repairing my F5 refractor
Great that you had the patience and got it working properly again John.
The only culture I have is from yogurt
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Re: Repairing my F5 refractor
Mounts: SW: SkyTee2, AzGTi; iOptron: AZMP; ES: Twilight I; Bresser: EXOS2; UA: MicroStar.
Binos: APM: 100-90 APO; Canon: IS 15x50; Orion: Binoviewer, LG II 15x70, WV 10x50, Nikon: AE 16x50, 10x50, 8x40.
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Diagonals: Baader: BBHS mirror, Zeiss Spec T2 prism, Clicklock dielectric; TeleVue: Evebrite dielectric; AltairAstro: 2" prism.
Filters: Lumicon: DeepSky, UHC, OIII, H-beta; Baader: Moon & SkyGlow, Contrast Booster, UHC-S, 6-color set; Astronomik: UHC.
Solar: HA: Lunt 50mm single stack, W/L: Meade Herschel wedge.
Observing: DSOs: 3122 (Completed: Messier, Herschel 1, 2, 3. In progress: H2,500: 2196, S110: 77). Doubles: 2461, Comets: 34, Asteroids: 261
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Re: Repairing my F5 refractor
Refractors: Meade AR-5 127mm f/9.3, Meade ST-80 f/5 and Meade 60mm f/12, Jason 60mm f/15 #313, Jason 60mm f/12 #306 S7, Bushnell Sky Chief III 60mm f/15.
Reflectors/Catadioptrics: Meade 10" F/4 Schmidt-Newtonian, Galileo 120mm f/8.3 Newtonian, Meade 2045D 4" f/10 SCT, Meade ETX-90EC f/13.8 & Sarblue 60mm f/12.5 Maksutov-Cassegrains.
Mounts: Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro & Meade LXD55 Equatorial mounts, ES Twilight II and Meade 2102 ALT/AZ mounts, a modified 10" SkyQuest Dobsonian mount, various 60mm EQ mounts.
Misc: Celestron 20x80mm binoculars, Revolution II Imager/accessories, & lots of optical accessories/eyepieces.
Projects: 8" f/2.9 and 65mm f/10 reflectors, Dobson-style binocular mirror mount.
- John Baars Online
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Re: Repairing my F5 refractor
Thanks!Lady Fraktor wrote: ↑Tue Oct 17, 2023 4:17 pm The most horrifying sound when a refractor falls!
Great that you had the patience and got it working properly again John.
I agree, it is a horrifying sound. I suppose you have heard it before too?
It reminded me of the sound of breaking a 35 mm Panoptic a long time ago:-(
GrabnGo on Alt/AZ : *SW Startravel 102 F/5 refractor( widefield, Sun, push-to), *OMC140 Maksutov F/14.3 ( planets).
Most used Eyepieces: *Panoptic 24, *Morpheus 14, *Leica ASPH zoom, *Zeiss barlow, *Pentax XO5.
Commonly used bino's : *Jena 10X50 , * Canon 10X30 IS, *Swarovski Habicht 7X42, * Celestron 15X70, *Kasai 2.3X40
Rijswijk Public Observatory: * Astro-Physics Starfire 130 f/8, * 6 inch Newton, * C9.25, * Meade 14 inch LX600 ACF, *Lunt.
Amateur astronomer since 1970.
- AstroBee Online
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Re: Repairing my F5 refractor
Scopes: Celestron EdgeHD14", Explore Scientific ED152CF & ED127 APO's, StellarVue SV70T, Classic Orange-Tube C-8, Lunt 80mm Ha double-stack solar scope.
Mounts: Astro-Physics Mach One, iOptron CEM70EC Mount, iOptron ZEQ25 Mount.
Cameras: ZWO ASI2600mm Pro, ZWO 2600MC Pro, ZWO ASI1600mm
Filters: 36mm Chroma LRGB & 3nm Ha, OIII, SII, L-Pro, L-eXtreme
Eyepieces: 27mm TeleVue Panoptic, 4mm TeleVue Radian, Explore Scientific 82° 30mm, 6.7mm , Baader 13mm Hyperion, Explore Scientific 70° 10mm, 15mm, 20mm, Meade 8.8mm UWA
Software: N.I.N.A., SharpCapPro, PixInsight, PhotoShop CC, Phd2, Stellarium
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- John Baars Online
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Re: Repairing my F5 refractor
The heaviest blow was the Vixen Dovetail on the wooden table, from there it tumbled further down. The impact in the wood is the silent witness. So the dovetail took the heaviest blow.
GrabnGo on Alt/AZ : *SW Startravel 102 F/5 refractor( widefield, Sun, push-to), *OMC140 Maksutov F/14.3 ( planets).
Most used Eyepieces: *Panoptic 24, *Morpheus 14, *Leica ASPH zoom, *Zeiss barlow, *Pentax XO5.
Commonly used bino's : *Jena 10X50 , * Canon 10X30 IS, *Swarovski Habicht 7X42, * Celestron 15X70, *Kasai 2.3X40
Rijswijk Public Observatory: * Astro-Physics Starfire 130 f/8, * 6 inch Newton, * C9.25, * Meade 14 inch LX600 ACF, *Lunt.
Amateur astronomer since 1970.
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Re: Repairing my F5 refractor
Scopes: Explore Scientific ED80CF, Skywatcher 200 Quattro Imaging Newt, SeeStar S50 for EAA.
Mounts: Orion Atlas EQ-g mount & Skywatcher EQ5 Pro.
ZWO mini guider.
Image cameras: ZWO ASI1600 MM Cool, ZWO ASI533mc-Pro, ZWO ASI174mm-C (for use with my Quark chromosphere), ZWO ASI120MC
Filters: LRGB, Ha 7nm, O-III 7nm, S-II 7nm
Eyepieces: a few.
Primary software: Cartes du Ciel, N.I.N.A, StarTools V1.4.
- Lady Fraktor
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Re: Repairing my F5 refractor
My C6-R fell over onto a cobblestone patio. The focuser took most of the damage but the impact shook the lens out of collimation.John Baars wrote: ↑Tue Oct 17, 2023 5:16 pmI suppose you have heard it before too?Lady Fraktor wrote: ↑Tue Oct 17, 2023 4:17 pm The most horrifying sound when a refractor falls!
Great that you had the patience and got it working properly again John.
The only culture I have is from yogurt
- Ylem Online
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Re: Repairing my F5 refractor
No bounce, just thud, I had a C90 lose a battle with gravity, it survived with some scratches.
-Jeff
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- John Baars Online
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Re: Repairing my F5 refractor
Too bad...Lady Fraktor wrote: ↑Tue Oct 17, 2023 9:19 pm My C6-R fell over onto a cobblestone patio. The focuser took most of the damage but the impact shook the lens out of collimation.
GrabnGo on Alt/AZ : *SW Startravel 102 F/5 refractor( widefield, Sun, push-to), *OMC140 Maksutov F/14.3 ( planets).
Most used Eyepieces: *Panoptic 24, *Morpheus 14, *Leica ASPH zoom, *Zeiss barlow, *Pentax XO5.
Commonly used bino's : *Jena 10X50 , * Canon 10X30 IS, *Swarovski Habicht 7X42, * Celestron 15X70, *Kasai 2.3X40
Rijswijk Public Observatory: * Astro-Physics Starfire 130 f/8, * 6 inch Newton, * C9.25, * Meade 14 inch LX600 ACF, *Lunt.
Amateur astronomer since 1970.
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Re: Repairing my F5 refractor
REFRACTOR , TS-Optics Doublet SD-APO 125 mm f/7.8 . Lunt 80mm MT Ha Doublet Refractor .
EYEPIECES, Delos , Delite and 26mm Nagler t5 , 2 zoom Svbony 7-21 , Orion Premium Linear BinoViewer .
FILTER , Nebustar 2 tele vue . Apm solar wedge . contrast booster 2 inches .
Mounts , cg-4 motorized , eq6 pro belt drive .
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Re: Repairing my F5 refractor
Graeme
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Re: Repairing my F5 refractor
cameras : asi 1600mm-c/asi1600mm-c,asi120mc,prostar lp guidecam, nikkon d60, sony a7,asi 290 mm
mounts : eq6 pro/eq8/mesu 200 v2
filters : 2'' astronomik lp/badder lrgb h-a,sII,oIII,h-b,Baader Solar Continuum, chroma 3nm ha,sii,oiii,nii,rgb,lowglow,uv/ir,Thousand Oaks Solar Filter,1.25'' #47 violet,pro planet 742 ir,pro planet 807 ir,pro planet 642 bp ir.
extras : skywatcher f4 aplanatic cc, Baader MPCC MKIII Coma Corrector,Orion Field Flattener,zwo 1.25''adc.starlight maxi 2" 9x filter wheel,tele vue 2x barlow .
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