Lunt white light solar wedge filter installation

[04Stefan07]

I have the version of the white light filter that doesn't have the ND Filter pre installed. I cannot find any instructions on how to properly install the ND and polorising filter into the wedge.

Can anyone help?

Cheers.

[alocky]

Hi Stefan - is yours a 2" or 11/4" ? I originally bought a 1.25 and had the same trouble, after nearly blinding myself on first use as there was no warning that the nd3 filter was missing. When they finally did send one, there was nowhere for it to fit on the eyepiece side of the wedge - obviously it can't go on the objective side. There was simply no way it could work. If you threaded them onto an eyepiece and put it in, the filters would hit the wedge long before the eyepiece would be seated.

I finally gave up and went for the 2" version instead, which works fine. If you post a picture I'll be able to see if it's the same problem.
I was impressed with Lunt's responsiveness ( although had I been US based I probably could have sued them for potential eye damage) but this almost sounds like they've shipped the same unit I had 5 years ago...
Cheers,
Andrew.

[MortonH]

I have the 1.25" version and it also came with the ND filter uninstalled. You need to unscrew the eyepiece holder and then the ND filter will screw into the bottom of it. You then reattach to the wedge.

Since the polarising filter is optional, this is screwed into whatever eyepiece you're using. I found this inconvenient so I bought a short extension tube from MyAstroShop:

http://myastroshop.com.au/products/details.asp?id=MAS-034A

The polariser stays on the bottom of the extension tube and then you can switch eyepieces as you like. Note that the MyAstroShop extension adds 26mm to the optical path and I can still reach focus. Bintel sells a similar one but it adds 35mm and I wouldn't be able to reach focus with it.

Hope this helps.

Morton

[04Stefan07]

Thank you for the reply guys.

I have the 1.25" version.

Pictures are attached.

[alocky]

That's definitely not the same- it looks like the eyepiece holder should screw off. Mine couldn't.
Cheers,
Andrew.

[brian nordstrom]

:shrug:who did you buy yours from. ?
I got mine from Bintel and it came with the nd.filter pre installed , you should contact the seller and demand that they send the ' visual ' version as they are not allowed to sell the wedge without it , google this as there was considerable discussions on CN,s on this as quite a few American ametures threatened sueing Lunt for this reason , ' they don't work as advertised and are dangerous '.
I have the. 1 1/4 inch version and it works very well and has the filter pre-installed.

Got mine from Bintel about 2 years ago. .

I too got sick of changing the polarizing filter every time I changed an eyepiece so grabbed a Meade variable polarizing filter that fits into the wedge and the eyepiece into it. , adds 25mm to the light path and works very well.

Brian.