[Chaos-l] ES Comet Hunter Repair Experience

[Tony Garcia]

I have had no problem with adjusting collimation, all of that has been
fine. It does seem to always lose collimation between sessions and I wonder
if in my case the screws could be a little tighter.  On the other hand I am
now using a high end laser collimator so that could be collimation snobbery
on my part!

The focuser has caused me some issues.  It doesn't adjust in out-travel
very well, for a while not at all. But I have discovered the cure was
careful adjustment of the various friction screws.  The last time I did
this I almost dialed it, it's much better, but in the field I'm finding
it's still not quite right.

Jayme was suggesting I call it in as a warranty issue and I am still
considering that but I think it's just a matter of adjusting the screws so
Ill give that another try.

I am at times annoyed around having to screw on the tube extender on the
focuser for visual or unscrew it for photography(especially in the dark
with cold fingers!).  It's a minor annoyance but it makes me wonder if I
could eliminate the annoyance and my minor focusing problems by completely
replacing the focuser with a higher end model.

Overall, I've had a very good experience with the scope, its light and
travels easily and I've used it quite a bit.  As you can see I've also had
a few "made in china" issues but all of these have not been big issues and
I've had some great views through it.  Here is a moon shot I took at medoc
recently through the scope.(attached)

Upon re-reading my email, maybe the theme on my particular scope's assembly
was that the screws were "too loose".  I suppose that is better than the
too tight experience.




On Thu, Nov 29, 2012 at 6:38 PM, Mark Montazer <mark at montazer.org> wrote:

> Just wanted to contribute my experience with Explore Scientific to the
> group as I know at least one of us (Tony G) has an identical scope to mine.
>
> I purchased a new ES Levy Comet Hunter earlier this year and though it was
> generally fine, I was having trouble with collimation. My experience with
> customer support could have been better. It took a really long time to
> convince them that something was wrong but once I did the process went
> smoothly and rapidly.
>
> The symptoms were that the locking screws within the primary adjustment
> thumbscrews were not functional and adjustments didn't feel natural. After
> receiving a new set of components from ES, I removed the mirror-cell from
> the tube and disassembled it.
>
> The first thing I noticed was that the mirror retaining clips were really
> tight. ES customer service said the mirror be slightly loose and able to
> turn a little. The next issue was that the opposing adjustment screws were
> installed far too tight by the factory. They were actually bound to the
> adjustment screws and would back out when making adjustments.
>
> After a quick mirror de-dusting with an air bulb, I reassembled everything
> according to ES customer support directions. Collimation (with both
> peephole eyepiece and SCA laser) went very smoothly. It went from way off
> to the best collimation yet in a matter of a minute or two. Preliminary
> results look very promising.
>
> The problem shouldn't have existed in the first place, but at least
> everything got resolved. Hopefully my experience can be of use to someone
> else in the future.
>
> Mark
>
>
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