Loosen your screws or.....CRACK! - Page 2

bloodhound31 · #21 01-10-2008, 02:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leon

I know that is no time to be jovial,

and I'm truly sorry that this happened Barry, but If the insurance company wont cover this, then get someone to knock it off, and claim theft coverage.

Leon

Leon Leon Leon.....I am shocked beyond words that you could even think a good Christian boy like me could consider such deception......

Baz.

No really.....

Baz.

Ian Robinson · #22 01-10-2008, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leon

I know that is no time to be jovial,

and I'm truly sorry that this happened Barry, but If the insurance company wont cover this, then get someone to knock it off, and claim theft coverage.

Leon

Or "accidentially" drop said OTA down the back stairs or onto the concrete driveway

.... it's buggered anyway and then make the claim ....

Thieft claims are bad .... you'll be treated like you are a crook by the insurance company unless the police find evidence of an actual break in. Took me over 12 months to a settlement from GIO on my knicked 4"fluorite apo and GPDX. Needless to say I am no longer with GIO as I found the whole thing very insulting and distasteful .... having to get detailed phone records and explane every call I had made, and similar with every email ,despite the cops agreeing the garage had been broken into but was so dusty that no prints could be lifted , and hard to see how they got the door unlocked. and despite my having all my reciepts.

bloodhound31 · #23 01-10-2008, 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ian Robinson

Or "accidentially" drop said OTA down the back stairs or onto the concrete driveway

.... it's buggered anyway and then make the claim ....

.... you'll be treated like you are a crook by the insurance company

Ian!

Have you been mixing with Leon?

Baz.

JethroB76 (Jeff) · #24 01-10-2008, 07:09 PM

I reckon you could easily accidentally drop something like that..be careful when you're looking at it next, very round and slippery.

AlexN · #25 01-10-2008, 07:15 PM

especially when its covered in dew and you're removing it from the mount

Matty P (Matt) · #26 01-10-2008, 10:09 PM

Ouch! That is really painful to look at.

I'm sorry to hear about this Baz. It must be a real bummer for this to happen now just as the weather is clearing up. It might be a good excuse to purchase a C14.

What are you thinking of doing with it? Flogging it?

P.S. Just add a couple more cracks and you'll have diffraction spikes in your images.

Jen · #27 01-10-2008, 11:31 PM

oh no Baz that looks really sad hope yo can get it fixed

bloodhound31 · #28 02-10-2008, 12:29 AM

Thanks for you condolences all. We all know what a dear friend our telescopes can become. It has been my life for the past 7 years. I am sad to see it in such a state.

I still don't know what is to be done about it yet. I am waiting to hear back from Celestron about replacing the optics. I also rang my insurer to see if it was legitemately claimable. The other option is an upgrade.

I don't think I will buy the same scope again. Not even sure if I will buy an SCT again. a 12.5 to 16" RC could be the go. I will definately NOT get a fork mount ever again. Too many worm errors, gear wear and flex in the forks. Autoguiding has never worked with it because of this. Time for a good GE mount. EQ6 at a bare minimum.

Ian Robinson · #29 02-10-2008, 12:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bloodhound31

Thanks for you condolences all. We all know what a dear friend our telescopes can become. It has been my life for the past 7 years. I am sad to see it in such a state.

I still don't know what is to be done about it yet. I am waiting to hear back from Celestron about replacing the optics. I also rang my insurer to see if it was legitemately claimable. The other option is an upgrade.

I don't think I will buy the same scope again. Not even sure if I will buy an SCT again. a 12.5 to 16" RC could be the go. I will definately NOT get a fork mount ever again. Too many worm errors, gear wear and flex in the forks. Autoguiding has never worked with it because of this. Time for a good GE mount. EQ6 at a bare minimum.

We are all hanging in there for you and hoping it all works out costless or very low cost to get fixed or replaced.
Keep us posted on the verdic wrt the insurer .... you had nothing to loose by starting a claim , and everything to gain if they give you the nod.

I can't understand why people are so reluctant to claim on their insurance policies .... me .... I'll make a claim without hesitation if it looks claimable (ie more than the XCESS), just a matter of getting the right words on the report from the repairer (ie ACCIDENTIALLY DAMAGED) , that's what I pay insurance premiums for.

CoombellKid · #30 03-10-2008, 07:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ian Robinson

Or "accidentially" drop said OTA down the back stairs or onto the concrete driveway

.... it's buggered anyway and then make the claim ....

Thieft claims are bad .... you'll be treated like you are a crook by the insurance company unless the police find evidence of an actual break in. Took me over 12 months to a settlement from GIO on my knicked 4"fluorite apo and GPDX. Needless to say I am no longer with GIO as I found the whole thing very insulting and distasteful .... having to get detailed phone records and explane every call I had made, and similar with every email ,despite the cops agreeing the garage had been broken into but was so dusty that no prints could be lifted , and hard to see how they got the door unlocked. and despite my having all my reciepts.

Gee they actually came around to do finger printing!!!! when I had $4000.00
worth of tools taken from my garrage. All the cops would do was take a
report over the phone, refused to come around and look. Advising me to
see my insurance company... but wait a minute dont I need a police report
for that???? I dont bother calling the police these days, now that I have
sargent baseball bat. And since some years ago I a victom of a home
invassion in Sydney, stabbed nine times about the torso. I'll have a
reasonable excuse to half kill some on my property with a baseball bat.
And if they get away, well it's a long drive and only one road out of
Coombell and I have some mates that live at the start of it

regards,CS

Screwdriverone (Chris) · #31 03-10-2008, 08:01 AM

Bugger, Bugger, Bugger!

I would suggest talking to the manufacturer and seeing whether they can verify in writing if this is something that is possible to do accidentally and therefore back up your claim of the tightening of the screws/thermal expansion etc. Even a repair order/quote explaining what happened might be enough to justify to the insurance company that it is something that isnt listed in the manual and not something to be wary of in the normal wear and tear use of a telescope, certainly it seems its news to most of us here.

I had a tinkle tinkle crack issue with my secondary mirror on my newt as the instructions werent clear on how to correctly adjust the mirror position and the manufacturer explained that it was fairly common and they were changing the instructions to become less ambiguous. In this case ($20 mirror) they replaced it for free, but perhaps a bit of "mate, this is not something that should happend to a quality scope, and I am sure that you can understand the implications of design flaw, so can you help me out with a report for the insurance?"

Nothing wrong with this scenario, all truthful and above board and well within your consumer rights to request.

I hope you can get somewhere with this and it helps you get back to the skies soon.

Cheers

Chris

bloodhound31 · #32 03-10-2008, 09:55 AM

There is nothing complicated or shady about a claim in this regard. Undoing a few screws to clean a corrector and mirror nullifies the warranty yes, but there has been no warranty on this scope for years. Warranty is not the issue here.

Taking off a corrector for cleaning is a NORMAL practice. Tightening up the screws on a retaining ring after cleaning is also NORMAL proceedure.

It doesn't take a genius to see that the crack originates directly in line with one of these screws. It is also very reasonable to deduct that as temperatures change, metal and glass expands and contracts and is most probably the cause of the crack.

So as you can see, there is no need, to "Accidentally" drop said OTA to make it "more" claimable.

Ric · #33 03-10-2008, 12:18 PM

Out of interest Baz, can the mirror be reused without the corrector plate in another scope.

You are a man of many talents, maybe you could design a tube with the correct length to the secondary to overcome the effect of the corrector.

Just a thought

AstralTraveller (David) · #34 03-10-2008, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bloodhound31

So as you can see, there is no need, to "Accidentally" drop said OTA to make it "more" claimable.

No, but putting on a pair of steel-capped boots and kicking it around the back yard might make you feel a whole lot better.

netwolf · #35 03-10-2008, 02:34 PM

Can this be converted to a Cassegrain scope without need for the Corrector?
Thats assuming the Insurance company does not take it away.

Regards
Fahim

CoombellKid · #36 03-10-2008, 02:47 PM

I would be interested in seeing a couple of image results. Will a crack like
that make must difference to the overall result. Or would stars have a single
diffraction spike.

regards,CS

bloodhound31 · #37 03-10-2008, 03:08 PM

I will see what I can do about getting a couple of exposures to show here.

I am not sure about using it without a corrector at a different length. I always assumed they were figured that way for a reason, otherwise it would be a Newtonian wouldn't it?

Terry B · #38 03-10-2008, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bloodhound31

I will see what I can do about getting a couple of exposures to show here.

I am not sure about using it without a corrector at a different length. I always assumed they were figured that way for a reason, otherwise it would be a Newtonian wouldn't it?

It wouldn't even be a newtonian as it would have a fast big spherical mirror with terrible optical aberations.

AlexN · #39 03-10-2008, 05:20 PM

It wouldnt be a newtonian because the secondary bounces the image back to the rear cell...

I think it will suffer heaps of coma without the corrector, regardless of where you move the secondary to.

Ian Robinson · #40 03-10-2008, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ric

Out of interest Baz, can the mirror be reused without the corrector plate in another scope.

You are a man of many talents, maybe you could design a tube with the correct length to the secondary to overcome the effect of the corrector.

Just a thought

F/1 or F/2 aren't they ? Lensless schmidt is an option maybe ??? Just don't tell the insurance company that (they'll be looking for an out).

Sometimes see a 16" SCT primary for sale on Ebay , with a big cassegrain secondary sometimes too.