I was offered an older VC200L last week for a very good price - $450, including postage from Vic to here in QLD. Seller (an IIS member) did mention it had some issues - finder rear lens cell displaced, focuser issues, and seriously out of collimation. I took the gamble, since I was intending to probably modify it anyway, so what the heck.
It turned up today, triple boxed (in an OLD R200SS box mind you ), lots of bubble wrap.
First thing I removed was the finder scope and bracket. Indeed, it seemed like it had been dropped. I was not too concerned, as I have 2 spare old Vixen 6x30 finder scopes and brackets anyway, but decided to have a crack at it. The plastic housing DID eventually come off with some careful torsional twisting and unscrewing. I chased one line of thread a little, then voila! She screwed back in just like new! Checked it out against one of my spares, and it is even a little sharper picture than my others LOL
Then unwrapped the beast herself. OLD style alright, with the OLD decals, the piggyback SOLID mount on the rear cell, and all magnificent Vixen hammertone green cast parts (I love hammertone green). Not a scratch on the OTA, main mirror CLEAN and not even looking like any deterioration whatsoever, same with the secondary. I was rightly happy by now.
Went to the focuser - the pinion was bent (NOTE - I said WAS - it's straight now ) There's a small chip taken out of one of the rack's "teeth", so I took the drawtube out, and CAREFULLY filed and wet-stoned the rack - turned out perfectly, and after adjusting engagement height via the pinion cover screws, it's pretty schmick - not perfect - still feel a LITTLE bind when it passes the damaged point, but more than acceptable (until I can purchase a new or 2nd hand replacement anyway).
Integral field flattener was covered in drawtube grease "spray", so some careful cleaning with isopropanone and then some Bintel UHTC cleaner saw it good as new.
Collimation - yeah, it's out alright - with the visual back removed (looking down the drawtube), I can see perhaps 95% of the secondary at best - It's off to the left in a big way. I am just HOPING there are no sheared collimation bolts from whatever harsh drop this girl had (enough to shear one of the dual point eyepiece screws off). I'll TRY to collimate it roughly tonight before a friend and I do it at Sirius in Brisbane at the Saturday get-together. At worst, I'll check if there are any sus collimation bolts, that at least my mate Hugh can probably replace for me if need be. The main LOOKS secure, so it's not flopping around, and the secondary too - I just think it got the jolt of a lifetime.
All in all, for $450 I could not go wrong! If it has problems, it will be the source of parts for a custom build. If it's all OK, it's going to get used as is
Photos , photos , photos mate ?
Sounds like a beauty in need of a bit of TLC .
Measure the pitch and length of the rack with a thread guage and I might be able to help you there ,pitch about 1.5 -2 mm ?
Brian .
90mm OA cool , whats the hole center's of the 2 screws that hold it on to the tube ? in mm's .
Yes the pitch of the Vixens racks is a little different to the Synta's ( chinese ) rack pitch .
I think they run right to left (looking down from the back ) but Synta's run left to right , just enough differance to stop a sue happening , they will fit ! .
If you turn the shaft 180 degrees , but they chew the rack out , like yours ?
Brian
Quote:
Originally Posted by LewisM
Yup, not quite 1.5 - somewhere in between. Be GREAT if you can help out mate!
I have reassembled it, but the rack SEEMS about 9cm long total.
I received a set of Vixen tube rings today from Steve Massey, and he slipped in a Vixen brochure. Low and behold, the VC200L Visac is still very much in their programme. I first saw this scope back in 1997-8 when a fellow WSAAG member got his from AEC Claude. Vixen evidently thinks highly of this design if they hang onto it for so long.
yep a good design is hard to beat Steffan .
Brian.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steffen
I received a set of Vixen tube rings today from Steve Massey, and he slipped in a Vixen brochure. Low and behold, the VC200L Visac is still very much in their programme. I first saw this scope back in 1997-8 when a fellow WSAAG member got his from AEC Claude. Vixen evidently thinks highly of this design if they hang onto it for so long.
I received a set of Vixen tube rings today from Steve Massey, and he slipped in a Vixen brochure. Low and behold, the VC200L Visac is still very much in their programme. I first saw this scope back in 1997-8 when a fellow WSAAG member got his from AEC Claude. Vixen evidently thinks highly of this design if they hang onto it for so long.
Cheers
Steffen.
It IS a good design. Only drawbacks I see are:
1. awkward collimation - but once it's set, it usually stays that way for a LONG time
2. Overly thick spider vanes. Yes, certainly rigid and stop a lot of secondary shift, but man does it make some diffraction spikes!
I can live with it all, as optically they are INCREDIBLE - the flattener makes the edges VERY distortion free. At reduced f/6.4, the images are GORGEOUS.
Well, went and met up with Hugh "Ubique" and he did the basic collimation for me - secondary was quite out, and the main needed a fair bit of tweaking too. We didn't touch the focuser, thank goodness!
So, just got to do a star test collimation to get her finalised tonight (fingers crossed), and away we go.
Visual testing and finder alignment shows a VERY capable system, despite the INTENSE heat shimmer I am looking through at my aim tree. As typical with Vixen, it's either in focus or not - it snaps right to focus with MINIMAL in focus range (SO nice, compared to mushy systems!)
I cleaned the mirror with a VERY soft natural hair blusher brush (new, that I "obtained" from the wife's stash )attached to a long dowel. Came up as new, no spots. Of course, can't clean the secondary or face of the flattener easily
), lots of bubble wrap.
Photos , photos , photos mate ? 
.
