LewisM
19-03-2014, 10:59 PM
Or something like that :)
Picked up a black diamond ED80 from Hugh "Pluto" out of the trader - I wanted this to replace the FS60 I had to sell to help fund the now finalised Takahashi FSQ106EDXIII purchase. We agreed on a good price, told him I did not need the finder, EP's and motor focuser etc, and up she came. He warned me the 2 speed focuser was now not working, but at the time, I considered just replacing the focuser anyway with a Feathertouch or Baader.
Well, it arrived yesterday, and I only got to it this morning. First off was attending to the focuser. yup, no dual speed at all. I notice the knobs are on the wrong sides.... ipso facto and reverso abducto, I disassembled the crayford, put them on the correct sides (tightening down the small grub screw that locks the dual speed race in place in the frame and VOILA! Good as new! For good measure, I also put some heat shrink tube on the pinion - ok, it's not not as smooth as it was (higher tension) but by golly does it hold a LOT more weight without slipping now! I also stoned the drawtube flat so the pinion makes complete contact across this (the witness wear showed it only contacted evenly on a SMALL edge area).
Now, Skywatcher have always had BAD paint schemes. I mean REALLY bad - from that AWFUL blue of the early stuff, to the worse gold, and the not as bad black diamond tubes with the cruddy gloss white trim. I had to change this, so I took inspiration from Takahashi :)
Off to the auto repair shop, and I came away with 2 cans of OLD Holts Duplicolor Toyota Gypsum. It is a near PERFECT match to Takahashi blue-green. It is gloss, so a can of satin clear was also in order.
That sorted, onto the tube and dew shield. Again, armed with images of Tak tubes, I select Shetland White from the current range. A VERY nice not white, not cream colour. It's fairly glossy, but still a little satin, so bought a can of clear gloss too.
Disassemble the scope again. Mask up, fill apertures with foam and bubble wrap and start spraying. First the focuser assembly in Tak green. Man alive does it look NICE even glossy, but I waited 15 minutes, and hit it with a couple passes of satin clear. SWEET! SO Takahashi it's remarkable! Went so far as to spritz the dewshield cap the same colour too :)
Tube next, and was not expecting good coverage over the black but it really covered well - 2 light coats with 15 min drying in between, then a solid coat. I also sprayed the already white dewshield and lens cell the same colour just to be sure. Waited a little, then 2 misty coats with gloss, and looking fantastic!
I will leave these a week before handling.
In the meantime, I got creative on the computer and designed a dewshield stripe just like Tak does on the new series, with simply ED80 in italic bolt font. Will take the design to my laser cut decal maker tomorrow and have him print it up in the same Tak blue, with white ED80 :)
Will post pics as soon as it is reassembled.
I figure life is too short to have scopes that you don't like the look of, so change em!
Oh, and HOPEFULLY the aluminium case the ED80 came in fits an FSQ106 with some modification :)
Picked up a black diamond ED80 from Hugh "Pluto" out of the trader - I wanted this to replace the FS60 I had to sell to help fund the now finalised Takahashi FSQ106EDXIII purchase. We agreed on a good price, told him I did not need the finder, EP's and motor focuser etc, and up she came. He warned me the 2 speed focuser was now not working, but at the time, I considered just replacing the focuser anyway with a Feathertouch or Baader.
Well, it arrived yesterday, and I only got to it this morning. First off was attending to the focuser. yup, no dual speed at all. I notice the knobs are on the wrong sides.... ipso facto and reverso abducto, I disassembled the crayford, put them on the correct sides (tightening down the small grub screw that locks the dual speed race in place in the frame and VOILA! Good as new! For good measure, I also put some heat shrink tube on the pinion - ok, it's not not as smooth as it was (higher tension) but by golly does it hold a LOT more weight without slipping now! I also stoned the drawtube flat so the pinion makes complete contact across this (the witness wear showed it only contacted evenly on a SMALL edge area).
Now, Skywatcher have always had BAD paint schemes. I mean REALLY bad - from that AWFUL blue of the early stuff, to the worse gold, and the not as bad black diamond tubes with the cruddy gloss white trim. I had to change this, so I took inspiration from Takahashi :)
Off to the auto repair shop, and I came away with 2 cans of OLD Holts Duplicolor Toyota Gypsum. It is a near PERFECT match to Takahashi blue-green. It is gloss, so a can of satin clear was also in order.
That sorted, onto the tube and dew shield. Again, armed with images of Tak tubes, I select Shetland White from the current range. A VERY nice not white, not cream colour. It's fairly glossy, but still a little satin, so bought a can of clear gloss too.
Disassemble the scope again. Mask up, fill apertures with foam and bubble wrap and start spraying. First the focuser assembly in Tak green. Man alive does it look NICE even glossy, but I waited 15 minutes, and hit it with a couple passes of satin clear. SWEET! SO Takahashi it's remarkable! Went so far as to spritz the dewshield cap the same colour too :)
Tube next, and was not expecting good coverage over the black but it really covered well - 2 light coats with 15 min drying in between, then a solid coat. I also sprayed the already white dewshield and lens cell the same colour just to be sure. Waited a little, then 2 misty coats with gloss, and looking fantastic!
I will leave these a week before handling.
In the meantime, I got creative on the computer and designed a dewshield stripe just like Tak does on the new series, with simply ED80 in italic bolt font. Will take the design to my laser cut decal maker tomorrow and have him print it up in the same Tak blue, with white ED80 :)
Will post pics as soon as it is reassembled.
I figure life is too short to have scopes that you don't like the look of, so change em!
Oh, and HOPEFULLY the aluminium case the ED80 came in fits an FSQ106 with some modification :)