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Sending it back to the factory seems the only sensible thig to do. How can I accomplish this?
As for the sorry history of this whole process, here it is.
When I reached this stage of disassembly with the end off and the primary exposed, the baffle tube unscrewed with difficulty and in the end, the retaining ring as shown in the picture also came with it. Leaving the mirror sitting in the base of the scope.
At that stage, I wasn’t aware I had a problem since I believed the mirror was held in place by something more than gravity. I put it away out of the air while I flocked the baffle. It was only after that had been done, when I retrieved the base to reassemble the scope that it became apparent the mirror was not firmly held. As I moved it, the mirror shifted and nearly fell. In the process, I managed to get a great thumbprint on it and that’s when life got difficult in the extreme.
The mirror had to be cleaned and since it had already materially shifted position, there was no turning back. I took the mirror out of its base and did the usual careful washing routing as with any mirror.
Now, the nightmare continued. After the mirror was cleaned, I moved to reassemble it. There were 2 plastic shims (big washers) under the mirror and a plastic insert that protected the central hole in the scope. With everything back in place, I refitted the retaining ring shown in the photo above and tensioned it up firmly but not overly so. There was still serious movement in the primary mirror despite the collar being as firmly screwed up as I could get it without risking the mirror. I rattled. It was not firmly held.
This was a disaster. I am confident there were only 2 shims and that I reinstalled them but the mirror was no longer firmly held in its cage. I made another shim out of thin plastic sheet and fitted it under the mirror with the others. This seemed to make the difference and the central collar and baffle tube tightened up onto the mirror and held it firmly in place. I fitted it believing that somehow, I had removed another shim that I had misplaced. At 62 I am not beyond forgetting things so I assumed I had had a seniors moment at a critical time and had somehow managed to lose a shim. Somehow, I don’t believe it but it is the only explanation that makes sense to me.
The scope was ready for reassembly but obviously the orientation/placement of the mirror was entirely random.
I reassembled it fully and hoped for the best. That was not to be.
I have obviously compounded my errors many times over by attempting to collimate by adjusting the primary first. But the last of my RC woes is not over. I have a FeatherTouch focuser coming from the States to replace the GSO version and it will be useless if I can’t get the scope right.
That represents a lot of money down the gurgler because I tried to fix the defects in this scope.
Peter
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