cll edge hd disaster

[darbyvet (Carl Darby)]

I am such a moron. I left my c11 edge HD uncovered the other morning and when I woke up it was raining.I didnt think it got too wet so I covered it up.Tonight I uncovered it to let it cool down and as i moved it water started pouring out of the rear cell at the bottome.I looked down the through the corrector plate and there was water droplets all over the insider of the tube and water on the mirror and on the focuser tube.The secondary mirror was covered withy blotches and condensation.I tried to clear some of the water with a hair dryer and left it to drain as per Celestrons instructions, but the water inside the tube would not dissapate. So like a complete moron I decided to take it apart to see if I could clean it.
I figured I had voided the warranty anyway by letting it get soaking wet.I took the corrector plate off but I couldnt get the rear cell off the tube even after undoing all the nuts and bolts-It just wouldnt budge.
So I cleaned the water off the imsde of the tube and gently cleaned the secondary mirror with alcohol.I reassembled everyhting and looked through the eyepiece and could see lots of spots.I took it apart agin and noticed that the lens that sits inside the focsuer tube was covered with water spots too.I took the two lenses out and cleaned them and replaced everything a second time.
Now the spots have gone, but I cant get a good focus with the scope.
I figured either;
1. the corrector plate wasnt installed in the right spot and the secondary is not lined up with the focuser properly.There are three set screws that can be adjusted to alter the centering of the corrector plate so if this is the issue I can recollimate.
2.I messed up replacing the lenses in the focuser tube.I looed at the schematic for the scope and there is a biconcave lens first and then a convex lens secodn.I replaced the lenses as per the schematic. I believe these lenses are to correct coma as they are new to the HD series scope.If I screwed this up would it cause a focus problem.

3.The water affected the focusing mechanism.I couldnt get the back cell of the tube so I couldnt inspect the focusing mechanism.

The moon was out and however i tried I could not get a good focus.The image was really soft and as I went from inside to outrside focus there was a white fuzzy shadow instead of a sharp moon edge.
It was cloudy and there were no clear stars to try a collimation and frankly I am so mad at myself I decided to call it a night.

Can anyone help? I was planning to try to collimate the scope tomorrow night.
If anyone has any suggestions I am all ears (and very little brain)

I guess if I have to send it back for repair it will cost me a fortune to get it fixed (anyone know how much it would be) and it will probably take weeks to get it back and I will miss the best part of this apparition.

I am going to bed now in the hope that someone has some ideas that will save the day tomorrow since Sat Morning promises to have the best seeing so far this year (of course).

Thanks in advance.

[pmrid (Peter)]

Carl, there's no quick fix for this. I have had to disassemble and restore a Celestron C14 and I also own an EdheHD 14" so I'm familiar with the scopes and the issues.
I have to ask whether you ade any locating marks on the front of the scope to allow you to return the corrector plate to it's proper position vis a vis the primary? If you didn't, and are therefore in the position of having to guess it, there are some basic clues.
First, there is a general convention that the point of indexing is located opposite the focuser. So it you're looking down the tube and the focuser is at, say 9 o'clock, then the primary is generally positioned so that the corrector indexes with it at the 3 o'clock position. All you need to do now is find the index point on the corrector.
I am assuming that you have removed the secondary mirror but not further disassembled it. The locating pin on the secondary should point to 3 o'clock position so if you insert it in the corrector and rotate the whole thing until it is in that position, you will be quite close.
On the C14, there was an etched mark on the rim of the corrector as well. I don't know if the Edhe series do that or not. Have a look.
There are plenty of sites offering good advice on mirror cleaning so I won't go into that.
Your next issue will be to have the corrector plate correctly centered so that it is orthogonal with the optical axis of the primary etc. That's difficult because I don't thnik there are any adjustment screws on the Edhe to help. In the C14 it was wrse - there were just some cork shims to use.
But with patience and using a Cheshire-type eyepiece, you can get the thing pretty well centered.
The corrective optics at the rear of the scope are another matter and I am not in a position to offer any suggestions about that.
My honest opinion is that you would be best served by sending the whole thing back to Celestron for a rebuild. A costly lesson but it's a costly scope and too good to besatisfied with second-rate results.

Peter.

[darbyvet (Carl Darby)]

Thanks so much for your advice Peter,
I should have just called Celestron and sent it back for service, but I panicked because there was so much water in it.There are marks on the edge of the corrector plate.One lines up with the 3 OClock postion and the second mark lines up with the dovetail bar so i can get the corrector plate aligned.The c11edge has 3 set screws that hold the corrector plate in place so If I adjust those i can get the secondary mirror orthogonal to the primary.

The lens assembly inside the focuser is detailed in the manual so I think I got it right except there is a rubber O ring that goes between the first lens and the edge of the baffle which fell out.

I guess I will take it apart again to refit the O ring and realign the corrector plate and see what I have.If I still cant get good focus it will go back to Celestron and I will just have consider the money i will spend as a lesson as to not what to do when your scope gets soaked!

[darbyvet (Carl Darby)]

I called Celestron and decided to send it back.The mount also got wet and they told me it may short if I try to use it so there is no sense trying to fix it myself. The rain voided the warranty so me opening it up didnt really matter.It will be gone for at least 2 months so I guess I will be using my nextsar 8SE for imaging.