5 May 2005

I got my telescope today. It survived shipping well.

People name things like bets, or cars of boats. Train cars have names as do airplanes. Observatories have names. So why should my portable observatory be any different. I am going to call it Some Assembly Necessary because it is going to take some work to get it up and running.

Cosmetically it isn’t going to win any prizes. But it looks like, given some work, it will perform OK.

The receivers that slide over the rail had two strips of a textured slipper material glued to them. I guess they tool up some of the slop in the fitting of the rail into receiver but, being slippery like Teflon, allowed the pieces to slide together. On each receiver one of these strips is missing. I am sure this is a stock item somewhere if I knew what it was called to Google it.

The inside surface of the receivers was covered with felt. This is torn and worn and will need to be replaced but that is a minor problem as adhesive backed felt should be easy to come by.

The Primary End

The primary mirror has a few small, shallow scratches on it but nothing bad.

Collimation is going to be a problem. The receiver that the rail slides into on the primary cage is loose. There is slop in all directions in the screw hole so it will be hard to get it tightened down in the proper orientation. Even more so because it is screwed down from the inside and it will require removing the mirror to get to the back screw head. The plate that the mirror is mounted on is held in place by rivets that are going to be hard to get out. I can see now why they guy I bought this from never got around to doing anything with it.

The heads of the screws that lock the collimation in place are rusted but it does not look like it will adversely affect their operability.

The rough textured black coating on the inside of the cell is scratched off in several places revealing the fairly shiny anodized aluminum finish underneath it. When I get the mirror out I will have to spray the inside of the cell with a flat black paint.

The Secondary End

The secondary cage is in good condition. The mirror is in good shape. The interior finish is in good shape everywhere but on some of the screw heads are corroded. The major problem on this end is that the screw that should lock the eyepiece in place is missing.

Conclusion

There are some problems with the scope that should have been disclosed in the advertisement and my communication with the seller. But I don’t think there is anything wrong that cannot be righted. It is just going to take a little longer to get this scope in operation than I had anticipated.