Does anyone know this equipment

[bobsuel (Bob)]

Hi all, just signed up, I recently bought a telescope with equatorial mount on Ebay, used it a couple of times and found the a plastic component withing the mount has failed, when you screw in to tighten the mount into position the plastic piece between the screw and the internal axel has broken, there are absolutely no markings anywhere on the telescope or mount to say who manufactured it, I was hoping someone might recognize it and tell me who might have made it or where I might get the broken piece replaced, I think the telescope was originally bought at a Dick Smith Store. I have attached pictures of the telescope, mount and broken piece.


Bob Leonard

[taminga16 (Greg)]

Bob,

It might be a good idea to find a bloke with a shed in your area and have him make a replacement part.

Regards,

Greg.

[dpastern (Dave Pastern)]

Hi Bob,

Did you buy the mount off EBay new, or was it advertised as 2nd hand? The reseller *must* honour any warranty. That's for starters. They must offer a warranty. The warranty *must* be reasonable. If it is not reasonable, then your local department of fair trading will make a decision on what should be considered reasonable. Just because it's EBay, doesn't mean that they can avoid trade practices requirements.

Of course, if the seller is located overseas...

The mount is a chinese clone, and not a good one by all accounts. I had a look late last year at EBay (I knew they were bad quality, but couldn't resist looking at EBay ads anyways), and there were quite a few of them up for sale. From memory, some of the sellers said "no warranty" on their pages, something that is actually illegal for them to do. When a seller is saying that, I tend to stay away, far far away.

I don't want to sound elitist, but you would have been far better served approaching a dedicated Telescope shop. You would have almost certainly gotten a far better quality item, both mechanically, and I bet, optically. That said...

Try politely approaching the seller and see what they say. If they're unhelpful, raise a complaint with EBay. Typically, EBay will do S.F.A, unless they are given a court order to do so. Good luck.

Dave

PS If you don't mind me asking, how much did you pay for the setup?

[marki]

These scopes are/were sold by Dick Smiths (a couple of years ago, now?). The lab tech at work bought one for the school I work at just to see how it would go. Not good I am afraid, they simply fell apart and wobbled like crazy but they only cost $180.00 at the time. From memory the only identifying mark on the box was DSE (Dick Smith Electronics).

Mark

[stephenb (Stephen)]

Hi Bob, Welcome to the forum.

I sincerley hope this experience doesn't put you off the hobby.

I agree with Dave, eBay is full of cheap Chinese-clone telescopes and accessories, and it appears you may have purchased one of these. Again, you do not clarify if this was supposed to me a "new with warranty" or a "secondhand" sale. Irrespective, you should clarify this with the seller and follow up any breach of sale to eBay. Having said that, I've been through the dispute resolution process with eBay and a dubious seller and it can be exhaustive and you feel like it is not worth pursuing.

If you decide to buy another telescope, I strongly urge you to pop into the Beginners Section here to ask as many questions as you can. You will get some beaut advice from the membership here.

Good luck.

Stephen

[Ian Robinson]

You bought it through Ebay , so I suspect you bought it with Paypal.

I'd try to contact the seller to get a refund , or at least get it fixed.

Failing that TRANSACTION DISPUTE (not as advertised) and let Paypal deal with it.

[bmitchell82 (Brendan)]

THATS A DICK SMITH SPECIAL
great guide scope

[bobsuel (Bob)]

Thanks David, I paid $130 for it but only want to fix it to resell it as after it broke I went out and bought a new 12" Dobsonian and I am very happy with that and the other one looks like a toy.
Many tahnks for the info
Bob

[dpastern (Dave Pastern)]

Well, that's great news. I bet you're loving that 12" dob!

Dave

[stephenb (Stephen)]

Congrats on the new Dobsonian, Bob. You're going to enjoy it. What make/model did you get?

[bobsuel (Bob)]

Hi Stephen, I bought a Bintel BT302-B.......Bob

[bobsuel (Bob)]

Yes I think I am in Love

[bmitchell82 (Brendan)]

another minon to the enclave of the night god has been assimilated!

[Blue Skies (Jacquie)]

I wouldn't worry about fixing the mount, just sell the optical tube. As mentioned above, someone might like it for a guide scope. I've found it's usually not worth trying to fix those cheap smaller mounts unless you're a really handy person with good workshop skills. Getting someone else to make a replacement part will probably cost you more than you will sell it for.

[bojan]

I bought similar mount from Bintel for $50 (as surplus and no warranty of course) and after fixing it (some work on lathe, re-greasing, new bushing for bearings and adding a tracking motor) it is excellent for wide angle photos (up to 200 mm lens).
So in my opinion, it is worth fixing it, but it is not capable of carrying anything heavier than camera and lens (+ counterweight, 2 kg in total).

[danielsun]

Looks almost exactly like one of my first scopes which is a Tasco only difference I can see to mine is that mine is a black mount and black tube.
If you contact Tasco I am sure they could help. Mine had very cheap eye peices and the view through it was poor.

Cheers Daniel.