@@GarnettLeary Thanks! Worked in aerospace for over 3 decades, I tightened up my Zhumell100 that is selling for almost $200 on Amazon. It is NOT a $200 scope by no means and it did not come collimated out of the box. Only way to collimate it is from the secondary. After I tweaked it out it is worth $200 maybe, but not out of the box. Having a center finder head for my Starrett Square makes putting a center spot on the primary easy. It was the only major disassembly I did, the focuser at least is fairly easy. It wouldn't hold collimation until I put some .002 shims in it, but at least I didn't have to take it apart like you had to as it has a spider to hold the secondary. I checked my collimation using Polaris as it has a Vixen mount so I put it on my Twilight 1 tripod with hand controls. Got a perfectly symmetrical out of focus Polaris. I used my Celestron Cheshire tool, but there are no clips, but the crosshairs were lined up and it is holding the alignment quite well once that focuser was tightened up. Oil the slide and gears with Teflon oil and its good to go even at -40 where F and C equalize.😁
Splendid. What an awesome trade to incorporate into astronomy. I absolutely love when people take ideas and make them better. The astronomy community has grown by bounds since the pandemic. With that I have encountered so many people of different occupations and trades bringing new ideas and skills. It’s absolutely brilliant. Thank you for sharing.
@@GarnettLeary I bought a Celestron C6-N for Newtonian and was going to draw up some plans to make a Dob for it even though it was only 30 inches long, as my brother owns a sheetmetal shop a few hundred miles away. Then Explore Scientific had a one day Galileo's birthday sale including the sturdy Twilight One mount and tripod for only $250 so I bought that with its hand controls. Check this out. A guy in my Astronomy Club knows how to put a tracking motor on it. I actually do not mind searching for my own stars, but a tracker would be handy if I ever get into astrophotography.
I have on multiple occasions thought to dump everything for a good Dobsonian on a high quality tracking platform. It’s definitely a very purist method to use a Dobsonian. 100% my best visual experiences were on Dobsonians. Eventually I think that’s my end all.
Excellent ideas! I love doing astronomy on the cheap. These scopes are far better than scopes early astronomers had and even better with a little rework. Galileo might have drawn blood for one of these as is. Thanks!
Thanks. There’s always potential to make something better…. Unless it’s Chick-Fil-A. Lol. On a serious note yeah these scopes definitely out perform what Galileo had. I think of that a lot. He had very little to work with and huge amounts of opposition to deal with. Some of the things folks complain about on UA-cam are lightyears better than what some of the greatest used, regardless if they’re coated in plastic.
Agree. That's why I just ordered one. "Open Box New" for $42 including $12 shipping on ebay. We already have a 4.5EQ and XT8, but want something small and light for "grab and go" if there's a break in cloud cover, especially in winter.
Nice work Garnett! very informative on how to super tune this telescope. Fantastic results on the Moon. I was curious to see a test before and after the modification.
I don’t think it warrants one as far as quality goes. I think these scopes are good for getting feet wet in astrophotography and that’s all. For starter astronomy I give them an A+. They’re so fun and easy to use that they shouldn’t discourage people. They promote the question “I wonder what I can see with a larger one?”
I made some aperature stop down rings to reduce the coma on the edges when viewing bright objects, they're on Thingiverse as nr 4839782 if you're interested. They make the moon a lot sharper for example.
This has been a fun summer project, thanks for the tutorial. On mine, One more thing Im going to do is take the entire thing apart down to the tube and make sure everything on the inside except the mirrors is painted flat black. I noticed it could be darker and there are alot of shiny surfaces that dont help with the image. Even the clear blue backside of the secondary mirror could use a touch of dark, every bit counts.
I used HVAC foil tape on the tube and focuser to remove the slop, huge improvement. It had shims from the factory but one was missing. Thank you for the tips. Main difference was the main mirror plastic housing was stuck good and took some heavy-handed persuasion to remove from the tube.
I've Found that using Vynil wrap meant for cars works quite well in place of the duct tape. The vynil is more uniform and smoother in texture and can be purchased in different thicknesses.
The donut is useful when collimating the telescope with a collimation cap or a laser. Without it, it’s difficult to know the true center of the mirror in order to align everything. The hole in the focuser cap creates a collimation tool. You peep thru it and you look to center the donut using the adjustments on the secondary. A laser is much easier but a collimation cap works well too. Look up collimation of a Newtonian and you’ll find a lot of great techniques regarding the topic. Thanks for watching and if you have additional questions don’t hesitate to ask. Clear skies.
Good job! I had to do something similar to mine, but I was still unhappy with the optics. The basic problem is the spherical f/4 mirror that has too much aberration. My secondary was also askew! I do not recommend these scopes for beginners because they rarely give good views out of the box.
I’m on the fence. I think it’s a very small investment to get started. It’s tiny enough it may actually get used. In that respect it could potentially keep people in the hobby as opposed to ending up in a closet or yard sale. That’s the biggest tragedy
Excellent presentation. These are great tips on easily improving a cheap scope. Thank you. ...even 0.5cm springs on the secondary mirror would be better than the rubber o-ring, imo. So, the center ring for the primary is a good idea. Is it at all adjustable, perhaps by loosening the three screws on the sides and slightly repositioning the rear mount before tightening (or is it fitted too tightly- more so than the focuser)? Just wondering. (I have one of these coming from an online source).
Thank you. It’s mounted similar to an Edmunds Astroscan. It’s not unreasonable to add adjustable bolts through it. It is a spherical mirror tho so truly it’s unnecessary
Great video, thank you. What is the grease that you recommend for this focuser? Does it migrates, with time, to other parts of the scope? Thanks in advance
I use Super Lube “multi-purpose synthetic grease” with syncolon. (PTFE). It’s good for -45 F to 450 F. I absolutely love the product and have had no creeping instances. Should some rare instance occur where it lands on a glass surface or electric component it’s easily cleaned and non-damaging. It’s non-conductive and food safe. Here’s the distributor: www.super-lube.com/multi-purpose-synthetic-grease-with-syncolon
Interesting Modification There garnett, This Was Actually My Second Telescope!! I have Had Similar Model from Orion which is the Funscope 76, Been Using It for an Year Now, its Been pretty Good!! I didn't Know about The Way to remove The Secondary mirror, because it has a Single spider vein, For 59$ Teleacope you can Expect To see The Secondary Glued in the Spider, I never Knew About it😅!! Nice Tutorial there, Clear Skies!👍
I love them. I think they’re fantastic. All jokes aside they are great starter scopes. I do think a little more effort could have been placed into production even at the low cost.
This Is Awesome,Ive Often Thought About Something Like This With My LCM114 ,But Im Chicken,It Doesnt Get Used Really Anymore,This Is Cool Tho,Great Job,Clear Skies❤️🙏🏻🔭✨🌏
Seems redundant certainly. These things we’re selling like wild fire several years back unfortunately. There’s nothing more sad than someone getting duped into buying a telescope just for it to end up in a closet or yard-sale. Lots of potential astronomers lost to such garbage. Not everyone knows what to expect. You’re absolutely correct tho. I’d love to know how much the labor cost was in fact.
Metal shims with rubber cement glue to hold them in place would be much longer lasting.
Absolutely. Good idea
@@GarnettLeary Thanks! Worked in aerospace for over 3 decades, I tightened up my Zhumell100 that is selling for almost $200 on Amazon. It is NOT a $200 scope by no means and it did not come collimated out of the box. Only way to collimate it is from the secondary. After I tweaked it out it is worth $200 maybe, but not out of the box. Having a center finder head for my Starrett Square makes putting a center spot on the primary easy. It was the only major disassembly I did, the focuser at least is fairly easy.
It wouldn't hold collimation until I put some .002 shims in it, but at least I didn't have to take it apart like you had to as it has a spider to hold the secondary. I checked my collimation using Polaris as it has a Vixen mount so I put it on my Twilight 1 tripod with hand controls. Got a perfectly symmetrical out of focus Polaris. I used my Celestron Cheshire tool, but there are no clips, but the crosshairs were lined up and it is holding the alignment quite well once that focuser was tightened up.
Oil the slide and gears with Teflon oil and its good to go even at -40 where F and C equalize.😁
Splendid. What an awesome trade to incorporate into astronomy. I absolutely love when people take ideas and make them better. The astronomy community has grown by bounds since the pandemic. With that I have encountered so many people of different occupations and trades bringing new ideas and skills. It’s absolutely brilliant. Thank you for sharing.
@@GarnettLeary I bought a Celestron C6-N for Newtonian and was going to draw up some plans to make a Dob for it even though it was only 30 inches long, as my brother owns a sheetmetal shop a few hundred miles away. Then Explore Scientific had a one day Galileo's birthday sale including the sturdy Twilight One mount and tripod for only $250 so I bought that with its hand controls. Check this out. A guy in my Astronomy Club knows how to put a tracking motor on it.
I actually do not mind searching for my own stars, but a tracker would be handy if I ever get into astrophotography.
I have on multiple occasions thought to dump everything for a good Dobsonian on a high quality tracking platform. It’s definitely a very purist method to use a Dobsonian. 100% my best visual experiences were on Dobsonians. Eventually I think that’s my end all.
Excellent ideas! I love doing astronomy on the cheap. These scopes are far better than scopes early astronomers had and even better with a little rework. Galileo might have drawn blood for one of these as is. Thanks!
Thanks. There’s always potential to make something better…. Unless it’s Chick-Fil-A. Lol. On a serious note yeah these scopes definitely out perform what Galileo had. I think of that a lot. He had very little to work with and huge amounts of opposition to deal with. Some of the things folks complain about on UA-cam are lightyears better than what some of the greatest used, regardless if they’re coated in plastic.
Some great little crafty tips.👍Good little scope just to grab quickly.
Agree. That's why I just ordered one. "Open Box New" for $42 including $12 shipping on ebay. We already have a 4.5EQ and XT8, but want something small and light for "grab and go" if there's a break in cloud cover, especially in winter.
Nice work Garnett! very informative on how to super tune this telescope. Fantastic results on the Moon. I was curious to see a test before and after the modification.
I don’t think it warrants one as far as quality goes. I think these scopes are good for getting feet wet in astrophotography and that’s all. For starter astronomy I give them an A+. They’re so fun and easy to use that they shouldn’t discourage people. They promote the question “I wonder what I can see with a larger one?”
I made some aperature stop down rings to reduce the coma on the edges when viewing bright objects, they're on Thingiverse as nr 4839782 if you're interested. They make the moon a lot sharper for example.
I certainly am. Thanks for the tip. That’s the kind of useful information I hoped to gather in the thread. Thanks for sharing.
@@GarnettLeary Ed Ting mentioned the stopping down idea in his video on this same scope, that's where I got it from.
He’s a brilliant man. I follow his optics opinion with complete trust.
I could not find you under that heading. What is the title ?
@@das250250 "Celestron FirstScope Dust / Bahtinov / Stop down covers"
This has been a fun summer project, thanks for the tutorial. On mine, One more thing Im going to do is take the entire thing apart down to the tube and make sure everything on the inside except the mirrors is painted flat black. I noticed it could be darker and there are alot of shiny surfaces that dont help with the image. Even the clear blue backside of the secondary mirror could use a touch of dark, every bit counts.
Fantastic idea. That will definitely help contrast. I enjoy these projects myself. It makes the scope more personal.
@@GarnettLeary What was the name of that song starting at 3:55, I quite liked it. I'm always adding music to my shop playlist. Thanks again! Gooday!
“Colours” by Torii Wolf. Epidemic Sound. Yeah, she’s got an old school sound. Very nice.
ua-cam.com/video/_yURKR4r0cU/v-deo.html
@@GarnettLeary Thanks mate!!!
I used HVAC foil tape on the tube and focuser to remove the slop, huge improvement. It had shims from the factory but one was missing. Thank you for the tips. Main difference was the main mirror plastic housing was stuck good and took some heavy-handed persuasion to remove from the tube.
Glad that worked out for you. Simple solution. They’re fantastic little scopes. I love to buy these on the used market and ramp them up for gifts.
I’ve got plenty lying around. Good to know.
Great tips for improving the scope Garnett!!
Thanks. I’ve been brainstorming what I can do whilst I’m still waiting on my mount from September lol. I do love these little scopes.
@@GarnettLeary oh wow, any idea when it will get delivered?
Nope. Keeps getting pushed back. Sold everything I had to get it and been without a mount since.
@@GarnettLeary it is too long.. Hope the supply issues get sorted and you get it soon..
Thanks. It is what it is friend. I finally got what I wanted from them and that’s an actual human response instead of automated reply.
I've Found that using Vynil wrap meant for cars works quite well in place of the duct tape. The vynil is more uniform and smoother in texture and can be purchased in different thicknesses.
Brilliant. I must try this product. Likely I will switch.
Thanks!
Questions: 1.what is the purpose of the little donut sticker?
2. And the purpose of the drilled hole?
Thanks 🙏
The donut is useful when collimating the telescope with a collimation cap or a laser. Without it, it’s difficult to know the true center of the mirror in order to align everything. The hole in the focuser cap creates a collimation tool. You peep thru it and you look to center the donut using the adjustments on the secondary. A laser is much easier but a collimation cap works well too. Look up collimation of a Newtonian and you’ll find a lot of great techniques regarding the topic. Thanks for watching and if you have additional questions don’t hesitate to ask. Clear skies.
Good job! I had to do something similar to mine, but I was still unhappy with the optics. The basic problem is the spherical f/4 mirror that has too much aberration. My secondary was also askew! I do not recommend these scopes for beginners because they rarely give good views out of the box.
I’m on the fence. I think it’s a very small investment to get started. It’s tiny enough it may actually get used. In that respect it could potentially keep people in the hobby as opposed to ending up in a closet or yard sale. That’s the biggest tragedy
Excellent presentation. These are great tips on easily improving a cheap scope. Thank you. ...even 0.5cm springs on the secondary mirror would be better than the rubber o-ring, imo. So, the center ring for the primary is a good idea. Is it at all adjustable, perhaps by loosening the three screws on the sides and slightly repositioning the rear mount before tightening (or is it fitted too tightly- more so than the focuser)? Just wondering. (I have one of these coming from an online source).
Thank you. It’s mounted similar to an Edmunds Astroscan. It’s not unreasonable to add adjustable bolts through it. It is a spherical mirror tho so truly it’s unnecessary
Great video, thank you. What is the grease that you recommend for this focuser?
Does it migrates, with time, to other parts of the scope?
Thanks in advance
I use Super Lube “multi-purpose synthetic grease” with syncolon. (PTFE). It’s good for -45 F to 450 F. I absolutely love the product and have had no creeping instances. Should some rare instance occur where it lands on a glass surface or electric component it’s easily cleaned and non-damaging. It’s non-conductive and food safe. Here’s the distributor:
www.super-lube.com/multi-purpose-synthetic-grease-with-syncolon
@@GarnettLeary thanks for the quick useful answer.
I will do it your way on a orion skyscanner.
Thanks again for your video and answer.
@olivier8326 anytime
Interesting Modification There garnett, This Was Actually My Second Telescope!! I have Had Similar Model from Orion which is the Funscope 76, Been Using It for an Year Now, its Been pretty Good!! I didn't Know about The Way to remove The Secondary mirror, because it has a Single spider vein, For 59$ Teleacope you can Expect To see The Secondary Glued in the Spider, I never Knew About it😅!! Nice Tutorial there, Clear Skies!👍
I love them. I think they’re fantastic. All jokes aside they are great starter scopes. I do think a little more effort could have been placed into production even at the low cost.
@@GarnettLeary I totally Agree!! I love Mine For Sure!! I can Appreciate that it has got me a Long way into this Hobby!
You were always destined for greatness because of your passion
Before watching the video a big like bcoz im sure it will be useful
That’s a very gracious thing to say. Thank you.
Do you remove the donut sticker before assembly or leave it on?
Leave it on
If you think about it, the donut sticker is in the “shadow” of the secondary so it does not affect the optics. It helps with collimation though.
This Is Awesome,Ive Often Thought About Something Like This With My LCM114 ,But Im Chicken,It Doesnt Get Used Really Anymore,This Is Cool Tho,Great Job,Clear Skies❤️🙏🏻🔭✨🌏
Thank you for the kind words. Everything can be improved on. I’ve got a project that actually scares me. It involves me opening my 180 Maksutov.
You seriously ragging on a 70 dorra scope made by a Chinese kid in some sweatshop?! lol
Seems redundant certainly. These things we’re selling like wild fire several years back unfortunately. There’s nothing more sad than someone getting duped into buying a telescope just for it to end up in a closet or yard-sale. Lots of potential astronomers lost to such garbage. Not everyone knows what to expect. You’re absolutely correct tho. I’d love to know how much the labor cost was in fact.