Would much appreciate any help available!

[Sma012]

Hello :)

I'm new to telescopes and i just bought myself a Saxon Maksutov Cassegrain, so i thought i'd join up.

Okay, I've tried to set up my new telescope once it arrived on my door step and i got pretty far. I set the equatorial mount up and i got the finder scope on and approxiamtely aligned with the telescope. I then played around with the knobs and what not while looking through the finder scope to see how things work and it was all going well. This last part is the problem, i tried to view the sky through the scope with a 30mm Plossyl eyepiece which came with the scope and all i get is Black or Dark Blue. The Next day i tried it on the moon and i got lots of light. So i took the eyepiece out, and the moon was enlarged waaay too much. I was focused on the rim and it was big and fuzzy and shaking! when the telescope wasn't moving. So i twisted the focusing knob but nothing happened.

I figured it needed collimating, so read the instructions and i thought it was fine looking through the rear end with my eye smack bang in the centre of the Secondary mirror but when i tried it on the night sky again all i get is black or Dark blue when my finder scope lights up lots of pretty little dots i didn't know were there.

Specific details of my viewing are below:

Diagonal mirror off looking through the back = close objects give are focussed and look great, everything else is fuzzy once you point at something about 20 metres away. Focusing knob does nothing. Pointed at the sky i just see dark blue or black.

Diagonal mirror on looking through the back = Same as above just smaller

Eyepiece in and it all goes to the ****. If Pointed to the sky all i get is dark blue or black. Pointed toward lights a fair far away i see fuzzy light. I Can't see anything clearly its too blurd out and the focuser doesn't seem to do anything. Pointed to the moon and i can't see anything except the white glow. None of its features except for its bright straining light.

Looking through the eyepiece on its own out of the telescope it seems fine. Clear and like it should.

I would say its the focuser, obviously, BUT whats with the no stars in the sky? Even when pointed at the brightest i see squat and this is brand new only bought about a month ago.

I understand going to a star gazing night would be a lot easier and most likely very helpful but until i can figure out where and how i would very much appreciate any opinions on the matter.

Kind Regards :D

[bloodhound31]

Does your focusser have a lock knob? Without being there I have no idea what it is, but most times this turns out to be something simple that is staring at you in the face. Is there a mirror lock that stops the primary from moving forward or back? Are there any transport lock screws in the rear cell of the scope. I'm asking because I am not familiar with your particular scope, but I know other scopes can have these things.

Try looking for something simple and obvious, so obvious is just seems stoopid!

When the moon comes out, grab a white piece of paper and hold it behind the focus tube. Take the diagonal mirror and the eyepiece out. See if you can get the moon to project onto the paper by adjusting the distance of the paper from the focuser. That should tell you if your scope is ok.

Failing that, there might be something about the relationship between your eyepieces and diagonal. Are they new? Did they come with the scope? Can you take it back to a shop?

keep trying mate, you will nut it out. If you were in Canberra, I would say, bring it over to my place and I will have a go at helping you solve the mystery.

Good luck mate.

Baz.

[astroron]

Hi John Welcome to iceinspace:)
From what you have described it seems that your focuser is either not working or it is wound out to far .
Go out during the day and using a low power eye piece (30mm or so) and find an object about in the telescope about 200-300 meters away then adjust your finder scope in line with the object in the telescope.
As you have pointed out go along to an astronomy group night to get more info:thumbsup:

[Sma012]

Thanks Ron,

I've tried that but anything that far away i can see. Its just reallly blury. Looks like a band of mixed colours and the focuser doesn't change this.

The focuser doesn't have a lock knob. No transport lock screws that i can see.

Diagonal and Eyepiece are new and work beautifully on their own. I don't know of any shops i can go to for this but i suppose i need to find one :D

I'll try holding it to the moon tonight if its out.

Thanks very much for the help and suggestions

[Robert9]

Welcome to IIS. Pity its not happier times.
Your problem sounds a bit like the focuser control is inoperative, perhaps come adrift from the mirror cell.
Robert

[bloodhound31]

Thinking about it, I would say Robert may be pretty close to the mark with this diagnosis. If you are turning your focus knob, and absolutely nothing is changing, then it seems likely.

Baz.

[Robert9]

Horrible thought John. Is it possible that you went the wrong way and twisted the focusing knob beyond the stop and stripped the thread? Yuk!
Robert

[astroron]

John,Where did you buy your scope?
Try Bintel in Sydney for some help.
Number is in the phone book.

[Sma012]

I bought the scope from Frontier Optics. Who actually told me about this forum.

I'll try it all out tonight, I haven't forced the focusing knob in either direction very much. I've turned a few times round but it has stopped and made me really force it. I assume that, that would have happened if i went past the stop but even so, wouldn't i be able to see stars looking up at the night sky just blurred if this was the case?

[Robert9]

Not if its way out of focus John. Glad to hear that the knob hasn't been forced. There should be some indication on the knob as to which way to focus for infinite. The knobs are of necessity on a very fine thread, and if the focus is set close up you may need a number of turns to get the stars in focus. Have you tried looking at something nearby, eg a tree or a fence. You may find that something closer is more or less in focus and twiddling the focuser when viewing at that range may give you more of an indication of the condition of the focuser.
Robert

[Terry B]

You arn't reaching focus. Try aiming it at something during the day. Put the diagonal in. Get an eyepiece and hold it in the diagonal. Don't lock it in. Pull the eyepiece out slowly whilst looking through it. You may need to move it all the way out of the diagonal.
Hopefully an image of something will start to appear in the eyepiece. If it does then the focus is the problem.
You will then need to adjust the focus until you can get an image with the eyepiece in the diagonal.

[astroron]

John can you take some photo's of your focuser and scope and post them on this thread:thumbsup:

[Sma012]

Oh really...Thats good news. It gives me hope.

Something close, 5 - 10m away is most definately more in focus than other objects say, 200 - 300m a way. The view is still fuzzy though. I think when i tried to twiddle the focus yesterday nothing happened, I'll try again this afternoon and post the results. I hope its just my inexperience.

Thank you Robert

[bloodhound31]

My Celestron mirror used to take dozens of full turns of the focus knob to go from near trees and bushes to distant stars and the moon.

As Robert said, the threads on these are quite fine, to allow for fine adjustment once you get there.

[Sma012]

Alright. As the moon wasn't out today and the sky was a bit cloudy i can't say much for looking upward BUT

Results for other situations are as follows:

Looking through a 30mm eyepiece everything is blurred regardless of how far away or how close it is. Rotating the focuser all the way right until it gets tight (but not too tight) does nothing. The same when the focuser goes all the way left.

Looking through the diagonal without an eyepiece, objects right in front of it are focused until about 10 or 15 meters out when it all becomes blurry. Rotating the focuser all the way right until it gets tight (but not to tight does nothing). The same when the focuser goes all the way left.

When moving the eyepiece in and out of the diagonal no image appears at all. Just stays the same as if it was in the diagonal.

Will try my luck on the moon tomorrow hopefully. It was not out tonight.

Thanks for the input Terry and Barry.

[Terry B]

Someting isnt correct.
Try shining a light down the tube to highlight the primary mirror. Then move the focus from 1 extreme to the other. You should be able to see some movement of the primary mirror. If not then there is something broken with the focus mechanism- either its locked down somehow or not functioning.

[Sma012]

Unfortunately I see no movement.

[Terry B]

:confuse3:
I think it needs to go back for a replacement.

[Sma012]

Dammnit. Thank you very much for all of your help everybody.

[Robert9]

I have to agree with Terry and my original assessment - the focuser ain't working. Looks like a trip back to the supplier. What a pain.

[Sma012]

Yeah...I actually would have preferred that but i bought it from an online company and its being sent back at the suppliers request.

Which delays my viewings even more!!

Aww maaan and something with Saturns Moons is coming up as well. Really sucks.

Thanks Robert for your help, and everyone else.