AN OBSERVATORY FOR THE GARDEN

Shiney's one of those people you have to go back and apologise for, Sheal, if you take him any where

 

Hi Jiffy, you missed the white plastic bottle of Isopropanol Alcohol next to the WD40 which I use for cleaning my camera and telescope lens, mirrors and eyepieces!!......it's definitely not for drinking!!!!
When you're cleaning any optical glass/lenses you have to be very careful not to damage or scratch the surfaces so the likes of Cotton Buds, soft brushes, cans of pressurised air, Air puffers, soft cleaning cloths, micro cloths are part of the armoury. Optical glass usually have various "exotic" coatings on them for anti-reflection and light refraction so any cleaning is done gently and slowly. Although that big glass corrector lens on the front of the "Beast" looks fairly clean and sparkly, it isn't. I've gently and carefully cleaned the outside of the Lens but it does need cleaning, eventually, on the inside. That means taking it off the Telescope and, trying not too breathe to hard, use the Cotton Buds and cleaning fluid to clean it of dust, stains and marks that are there in a bid to make it as perfect as possible. You have to put the Lens back exactly in it's original position so that nothing is changed optically so I will have to mark the positions to make it easier to get it back on correctly.
I did try today to take the Telescope off the Fork today so that I can use it on the Mount and tripod that I use for my other Telescopes and immediately got stopped by an unexpected problem. Over the last 35 years I have collected all sizes of the tools that you find you need to fix "this and that" and I can say that I vary rarely can't find whatever I need...........but, it has happened. I thought I had every size of Allen Key Wrench that there was but, No, I've found the main tool I need is a 9/64 inch Allen Key Wrench...........and after sorting through the seemingly vast collection of them I find I haven't got one!!! . So I've had to got on the Net and order yet another set of Allen Key Wrenches of both metric and imperial sizes which should arrive tomorrow on a next day delivery. So I've put back the taking the telescope off the mount and fork until they arrive while muttering under my breath!!

 

There are times, Sheal, that if you take Shiney anywhere where you have to go back and apologise.

 

You have to be careful with it as it's more flammable than Rocket Fuel!!

 

I've only got the 500 cc bottle, Joolz!!, but it goes a long way and will last me a couple of years. It really does work well on optical mirrors, lenses etc, but best applied on soft clean cloth or cotton buds.......it ain't cheap either!!

 

I'm right in the middle of taking the Forks off the Telescope. You know when you follow instructions about how to do a thing and they say, with a confident, all knowing, smile, "it's easy!"....that that isn't going to be so!! I'm struggling getting at bolts that are in the most awkward and unreachable places on the forks...they do it on purpose, I'm sure!!

 

You're right, Sheal. I went away and made a mug of tea, sat by the Beast and then started again. There were 4 large Allen Key bolts on either side of the base holding the forks vertical and tight against the Telescope and they were really tight and, of course, in the most awkward positions. They've all come loose with a Crack!, and then slowly unscrewed. The the fork arms slackened and the Telescope slid free.....success!!!! No scratches to the paintwork or damage to either the Telescope or the base. I've put the Telescope in a huge storage box on a bed of foam rubber for now and I'll put the Fork and base back together tomorrow.