This afternoon I bumped the homemade 8" Newt in the shed
and watched in horror as it fell over sideways.
It was stored standing upright, mirror downwards.
The crunch it made after the freefall was the worst sound I think
you could ever experience apart from maybe your own kids in pain etc.
I thought the worst and had a look down the tube.
In the darkness of the tube I could make out the primary offcentre and
appeared to be resting against the side wall.
Wow, it obviously dislodged it completely from the primary holder, I thought.
But it wasn't in pieces or didn't appear to be cracked.
I carefully undid the primary holder while holding the OTA about 30 degrees
upwards to prevent the mirror falling forwards if in fact it had completely fallen free of the holder.
I found the PVC tape wrapped around the 3 flimsy mirror clamps had
cushioned the impact even though the sideways force had
wrenched one screw completely out of the chipboard baseplate.
A few colourful words were delivered to the lawnmower which made me feel a bit better,
I must say. I never did like that lawnmower.
Steve
