Oiling telescope

[Alastair McDonald]

This is probalbly a dumb question, but I was given a Jessops telescope for
my Christmas and it is a bit stiff when pointing it at stars, and following
them as they move. Should I oil or grease it? Or is that a no-no? Should the
telescope move completely freely or is a bit of stiffness needed to prevent
wobble?

Cheers, Alastair.

[Martin Brown]

Depending on the design of the telescope mount there are usually
friction clamps to lock the scope in place and maybe slow motion worm
screws to make fine positional adjustments. A bit of lubrication on any
stiff worm wheels or bearings will do no harm but obviously you don't
want to get any on the brake/clamp or the optics!

Some Dobsonian designs rely on being fairly accurately in balance and a
bit of bearing stiction to keep them pointing in the right direction.

You may need to make the tripod a bit more rigid in due course.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

[Alastair McDonald]

"Martin Brown" <|||newspam|||@nezumi.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:uPbJs.72693$EO2....@newsfe04.iad...

Thanks Martin,

I have greased the plastic sheet in the azimuth bearing and oiled the
altitude bearing. It has not made a lot of difference, but I read on
Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dobsonian_telescope ) that
"Dobson's use of Teflon on all bearing surfaces and the large diameter of
the bearings created a smooth action with a moderate amount of friction, so
that a clamp mechanism is not necessary to prevent unintentional motion of
the telescope." So perhaps it is meant to be stiffish. There is a clamp for
altitude, which is now fairly loose.

Off to a star party on Badbury Rings tonight, so I will see how it goes.

Cheers, Alastair.
>
> --
> Regards,
> Martin Brown