Assistance / Practical in Person Advice seasions

[Robert Chandler]

Not sure who to address this to particularly.

Now that we are on the way to reopening under the government's spring road map. Stage 3 from May 17 (tbc) will allow for socially distanced gatherings upto 30 people outside and rule of six inside (my simplistic interpretation). Will the society be opening up to visits to Kenley for practical advice surgeries / how to sessions for beginners like myself.

My particular issue is that I am having all sorts of difficulties using my Celestron Edge HD 8 and AVX mount that it is just sitting gathering dust. I would also like to better understand basic maintenance such as collimation. Yes I can watch (and have) watched hours of you tube videos but would benefit from advice from someone (in a socially distanced way) of what I am doing wrong, for payment if necessary.

Just a thought as there may be others that would also gain from the knowledge of more experienced members / enthusiasts.

Robert

[Tony Roberts]

Hello Robert,

Yes the committee has talked about this and will do so at our next meeting in a weeks time.

What you have outlined is the same as we are considering and you have identified the same conditions as we have regarding numbers, social distancing, etc.

We will only be able to offer this after we enter the next point of relaxation and it will be by invitation only, so there won’t appear to be much happening until we announce the openings. We will put you on the list, could anyone else interested please contact us so we can add you to the list.

With regret our previous practice of free public openings every clear Saturday evening is unlikely to be restarted until autumn 

Tony.

Sent from my iPad

On 20 Apr 2021, at 22:55, Robert Chandler <rob...@appendixb.co.uk> wrote:



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[William Bottaci]

Hello Bob, good to hear from you again.
I thought to first address this to you personally as I have experience of collimating telescopes.

Only last night I collimated an 11-inch Celestron SCT for a friend, fellow member, we're in the same bubble. He's selling it because he wants to concentrate on imaging and it's too big/long for general imaging. I've collimated this particular one three times now, twice at Kenley, and the first one was when he first bought it 2nd-hand, it was badly out. I could tell it was out of range but we went to Kenley in daylight and I used my daylight star (bright torch with small hole, I set that up by the gate and we were in the clubhouse, because it was raining. It turned out that the person before took off the front for primary focal plane imaging and he hadn't put it back right.

I've also recently took off the corrector and cleaned both side of the plate, and both primary and secondary; in his words it's like new. I have all the kit and tools; you have to be more careful with the mirrors and use different liquids, with deionised water a must for finishing off all surfaces.

I use a variety of methods, laser and old fashioned visual; they all work. Last year on the last day of February I was invited up to Sandy Bedfordshire to do a talk on collimation and collimate their society Newtonian.

How is you situation now? I could come up to you; it's not a long job. Or we can do at Kenley; Tony has said we can use the space there and the electricity. Or do it over the telephone, but needs care and attention - there are techniques to do and don’t. We don't want any equipment not being used.

I've been imaging with said friend and learned a lot so far, theory as well as practice as that is my bent.
William

[William Bottaci]

I just realised that this email was sent to the group instead of just the one person; a case of being hurried on time.
Apologies - a bit late now; but what can you do?
Everyone else should disregard, especially anything on Kenley as what was said is not a general policy.

Anyway, as and when we can meet again, and time permitting, I'm happy to do any such maintenance work if anyone requires - serves me right.
William



2021-04-21

Hello Bob, good to hear from you again.
I thought to first address this to you personally as I have experience of collimating telescopes.

Only last night I collimated an 11-inch Celestron SCT for a friend, fellow member, we're in the same bubble. He's selling it because he wants to concentrate on imaging and it's too big/long for general imaging. I've collimated this particular one three times now, twice at Kenley, and the first one was when he first bought it 2nd-hand, it was badly out. I could tell it was out of range but we went to Kenley in daylight and I used my daylight star (bright torch with small hole) I set that up by the gate and we were in the clubhouse, because it was raining. It turned out that the person before took off the front for primary focal plane imaging and he hadn't put it back right.

I've also recently took off the corrector and cleaned both sides of the plate, and both primary and secondary; in his words it's like new. I have all the kit and tools; you have to be more careful with the mirrors and use different liquids, with deionised water a must for finishing off all surfaces.

I use a variety of methods, laser and old fashioned visual; they all work. Last year on the last day of February I was invited up to Sandy Bedfordshire to do a talk on collimation and collimate their society Newtonian.

How is your situation now? I could come up to you; it's not a long job. Or we can do at Kenley; Tony has said we can use the space there and the electricity. Or do it over the telephone, but needs care and attention - there are techniques to do and don’t. We don't want any equipment not being used.