It’s been way too long since my last post (I’ll get to the reasons for that later this week) but some time ago, reader Jeremy Stanley wrote for more information about this post. The long title aside, he had some questions about the material needed and construction steps. He managed to skip a step with good results:
The repair was quick and effective. I rolled the Teflon, stuffed it in the hole, marked the cut point, snipped it with scissors, and then stuck it back in the tube, test-fitting the drawtube inside it. It fit well. In fact, it didn’t want to come out easily, so I just left it in and used the telescope without gluing the Teflon (other than possibly some residual adhesive left over from the nylon strips that I peeled off).
In any case, the focuser slop was almost entirely eliminated, making it possible to collimate (and easier to refocus).
I’d love to describe just how well this worked for him but I’ll just let Jeremy’s pictures speak for themselves. Links below to the originals.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpstanley/9542685888/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpstanley/9497143835/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpstanley/9499944072/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpstanley/9499941994/
Nice work, Jeremy. I clearly need to start over in this hobby because those are some stunning shots. Same gear, same fix, much better output. I think I need to stick to writing and fixing broken gear instead of astrophotography.