Equipment Maintenance - Forums

Topic starter

Apr 3, 2020

Hi,

I am curious about maintenance over time, cleaning ,etc.

What do you do? I am specifically curious about refractors and mounts (I have the HEQ5).

Additionally, what do you do if (when) your equipment gets a lot of condensation?

Thanks,
- Max -

schmaks

Topic starter

Apr 5, 2020

Still curious—anyone?

Thanks!

astropical

Apr 6, 2020

Still curious—anyone?Thanks!

Hey lonesome boy :-)

Regarding refractor cleaning, an air bulb is a must-have for loose dust removal. No need to touch the lenses with anything else. Even though slightly contaminated, cleaning is not crucial as image quality won't be affected. The objective lens is not focused. Before cleaning I recommend to read this article written by a friend of mine:
https://www.nexstarsite.com/OddsNEnds/CleaningOpticsGlass.htm

I have my little refractor for about a year and never had to clean it (well, we are having a significant shortage of clear nights).

When I get lots of condensation (Okinawan summer nights are hot and humid, indeed, not mentioning the rainy season), I usually break up, get the scope inside on the devil and later into its case with a mountain of silicagel :-)

Sorry, I can't provide any advice for your specific mount, but generally, keep it dry and clean. Never disassemble unless you know exactly what you are doing. Whenever I feel the gears are dirty, I fire the mount up, take the hand control and rotate both axis at maximum slew rate to pulp the dirt, praying it will help -- so far no regrets :-)

Cheers
Robert

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Dave

Jun 24, 2020

I have an Orion Sirius mount (HEQ5) that is essentially permanently set up in my observatory. I clean off the dust periodically, but otherwise, there is little to do for maintenance. I did the Rowan belt modification (here: http://www.rowanastronomy.com/productsa1.htm#heq5beltkit) and while I was at it, did the AstroBaby strip down and refresh. http://www.astro-baby.com/heq5-rebuild/heq5-m1.htm. I found that the worm gear bearings were in poor condition - the rotation of the worm gear was "bumpy" and "sticky" due to the bearings being dirty and likely lower quality. I replaced them and set my backlash upon reassembly. I used SuperLube for all the lubrication, and been quite happy with the results.

As to my scope, I have a Stellarvue SVQ100 refractor, and had not cleaned the front objective lens since new. I found that I was seeing a lot of dust motes in my flats, and so I used my dust brush and an optical grade cleaner and microfiber meant for camera equipment. I cleaned both the front element and the rear element. Very happy with the results on the cleaning too. The rear element was surprisingly dirty given I have a camera connected all the time.

As for condensation, we do get a bunch of dew during the fall (mostly) and I have a Kendrick dew strap for the front of the scope. I don't have one for the camera/focuser end. But the camera remains dew free.

HTH

Dave
Thunder Creek Observatory

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