Solarmax 40 Problems

Frankenscope? Let's see it!***be advised that NOTHING in this forum has been safety tested and you are reading and using these posts at your own peril. blah, blah, blah... dont mess around with your eyesight when it comes to solar astronomy. Use appropriate filtration at all times...
Post Reply
User avatar
Bojan
Ohhhhhh My!
Ohhhhhh My!
Posts: 84
Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2016 3:19 pm
Location: Ottawa, Canada
Has thanked: 8 times
Been thanked: 11 times

Solarmax 40 Problems

Post by Bojan »

Hi there,

I have a pre-meade solarmax 40.

Recently there have been two things that have been happening.

1) The tuning seems to be "off". Usually the sweet spot would be somewhere in the middle of the tune range, while now, the tilt tune has to be almost all the way closed, and even then I feel the sweet spot is still off.

2) The focal point is moving further and further back. It's gotten to the point where I can't put in the entire eyepiece, I have use the set screw to put in half the barrel to get to focus.

Are these two problems related, and if so how ?

Thanks,

Bojan


Pre-Meade Solarmax40
SolarmxII DS90
Lunt 2" Wedge on ES 127mm Apo
User avatar
marktownley
Librarian
Librarian
Posts: 42272
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:27 pm
Location: Brierley Hills, UK
Has thanked: 20438 times
Been thanked: 10245 times
Contact:

Re: Solarmax 40 Problems

Post by marktownley »

Hi Bojan.

I have the same scope. Regards the first problem check the 4 silver allen bolts are tight on the hinge plate on the t-max tuner, these come loose and this can affect where the tune point is. Regards the second, is the helical seized up?

Mark


Image
http://brierleyhillsolar.blogspot.co.uk/
Solar images, a collection of all the most up to date live solar data on the web, imaging & processing tutorials - please take a look!
User avatar
Bojan
Ohhhhhh My!
Ohhhhhh My!
Posts: 84
Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2016 3:19 pm
Location: Ottawa, Canada
Has thanked: 8 times
Been thanked: 11 times

Re: Solarmax 40 Problems

Post by Bojan »

marktownley wrote:Hi Bojan.

I have the same scope. Regards the first problem check the 4 silver allen bolts are tight on the hinge plate on the t-max tuner, these come loose and this can affect where the tune point is. Regards the second, is the helical seized up?

Mark
Hi Mark,

Regarding the focuser, yes, I had it turned all the way in one direction. Once I zero'd it, everything was where it was supposed to be.

For the tuning problem, yes that is correct. One of the allen bolts was not tight. I tried to tighten it but that threw me off even more. I had to tinker with it for about 45 minutes. However between the 4 bolts I now have it "sort of tuned" (with some banding) visible, and the tuner is already at the all the way closed position. I'll have to give it a stab again. Any methodology that you've worked out for this procedure?

Thanks for the help,

Bojan


Pre-Meade Solarmax40
SolarmxII DS90
Lunt 2" Wedge on ES 127mm Apo
User avatar
marktownley
Librarian
Librarian
Posts: 42272
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:27 pm
Location: Brierley Hills, UK
Has thanked: 20438 times
Been thanked: 10245 times
Contact:

Re: Solarmax 40 Problems

Post by marktownley »

You have slid the draw tube out fully with the focuser? Post a pic of it if you can, same with the tmax tuner.


Image
http://brierleyhillsolar.blogspot.co.uk/
Solar images, a collection of all the most up to date live solar data on the web, imaging & processing tutorials - please take a look!
User avatar
Bojan
Ohhhhhh My!
Ohhhhhh My!
Posts: 84
Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2016 3:19 pm
Location: Ottawa, Canada
Has thanked: 8 times
Been thanked: 11 times

Re: Solarmax 40 Problems

Post by Bojan »

marktownley wrote:You have slid the draw tube out fully with the focuser? Post a pic of it if you can, same with the tmax tuner.
Hi Mark, here it is. I have been using the scope regularly for a couple years now. I don't see anything obviously wrong.
How tight are your allen bolts. Tweaking with them did make a noticeable difference but the field doesn't look to be equally in tune to me.
Attachments
2016-04-19-13.52.32.jpg
2016-04-19-13.52.44.jpg
2016-04-19-13.53.05.jpg


Pre-Meade Solarmax40
SolarmxII DS90
Lunt 2" Wedge on ES 127mm Apo
User avatar
Bojan
Ohhhhhh My!
Ohhhhhh My!
Posts: 84
Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2016 3:19 pm
Location: Ottawa, Canada
Has thanked: 8 times
Been thanked: 11 times

Re: Solarmax 40 Problems

Post by Bojan »

I gave Meade a call. It feels like the tune sweet spot is past the all the way the closed mark, and no longer near the middle where it used to be.

They said they can "repair" it for 150$ which is obviously absurd. And there is no torque spec on the bolts.

I've realized that this may be psychological. There wasn't much to look at on the Sun last week which was maybe why I felt I couldn't tune it... Will keep you updated once the weather cooperates.


Pre-Meade Solarmax40
SolarmxII DS90
Lunt 2" Wedge on ES 127mm Apo
User avatar
Bojan
Ohhhhhh My!
Ohhhhhh My!
Posts: 84
Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2016 3:19 pm
Location: Ottawa, Canada
Has thanked: 8 times
Been thanked: 11 times

Re: Solarmax 40 Problems

Post by Bojan »

marktownley wrote:You have slid the draw tube out fully with the focuser? Post a pic of it if you can, same with the tmax tuner.
Say Mark, you have the double stack unit available on this scope? Would you mind capturing some pictures(or send old data).
I'll do the processing. I'm curious as to what can be achieved through a double stack on these scopes.


Pre-Meade Solarmax40
SolarmxII DS90
Lunt 2" Wedge on ES 127mm Apo
User avatar
marktownley
Librarian
Librarian
Posts: 42272
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:27 pm
Location: Brierley Hills, UK
Has thanked: 20438 times
Been thanked: 10245 times
Contact:

Re: Solarmax 40 Problems

Post by marktownley »

Bojan wrote:I gave Meade a call. It feels like the tune sweet spot is past the all the way the closed mark, and no longer near the middle where it used to be.

They said they can "repair" it for 150$ which is obviously absurd. And there is no torque spec on the bolts.

I've realized that this may be psychological. There wasn't much to look at on the Sun last week which was maybe why I felt I couldn't tune it... Will keep you updated once the weather cooperates.
That is absurd, but also seems 'cheap' for them, which suggests the problem is such an easy fix: Try this, tighten the T-Max tuner fully using the gold thumb wheel. Slacken the 4 small allen bolts on the silver hinge plate (but do not remove them) then gently pull the t-maz apart, you will be able to get a small gap now at the bottom (hinge) of the tuner, tighten the 4 bolts back up with this gap at the bottom.

Have a look through, use the T-max as usual and see how you get on. Try this before returning to Meade... Let me know if there is an improvement.

I don't keep old unprocessed data anymore, i've just ran out of space! But have a scroll through my website, any full disk images are taken though my double stack setup from before january this year.


Image
http://brierleyhillsolar.blogspot.co.uk/
Solar images, a collection of all the most up to date live solar data on the web, imaging & processing tutorials - please take a look!
User avatar
Bojan
Ohhhhhh My!
Ohhhhhh My!
Posts: 84
Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2016 3:19 pm
Location: Ottawa, Canada
Has thanked: 8 times
Been thanked: 11 times

Re: Solarmax 40 Problems

Post by Bojan »

marktownley wrote:
Bojan wrote:I gave Meade a call. It feels like the tune sweet spot is past the all the way the closed mark, and no longer near the middle where it used to be.

They said they can "repair" it for 150$ which is obviously absurd. And there is no torque spec on the bolts.

I've realized that this may be psychological. There wasn't much to look at on the Sun last week which was maybe why I felt I couldn't tune it... Will keep you updated once the weather cooperates.
That is absurd, but also seems 'cheap' for them, which suggests the problem is such an easy fix: Try this, tighten the T-Max tuner fully using the gold thumb wheel. Slacken the 4 small allen bolts on the silver hinge plate (but do not remove them) then gently pull the t-maz apart, you will be able to get a small gap now at the bottom (hinge) of the tuner, tighten the 4 bolts back up with this gap at the bottom.

Have a look through, use the T-max as usual and see how you get on. Try this before returning to Meade... Let me know if there is an improvement.

I don't keep old unprocessed data anymore, i've just ran out of space! But have a scroll through my website, any full disk images are taken though my double stack setup from before january this year.
Mark - spot on! Thanks. I was always adjusting the scope when pointed at the Sun, so it would just plop back down. We're back to normal now!


Pre-Meade Solarmax40
SolarmxII DS90
Lunt 2" Wedge on ES 127mm Apo
User avatar
marktownley
Librarian
Librarian
Posts: 42272
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:27 pm
Location: Brierley Hills, UK
Has thanked: 20438 times
Been thanked: 10245 times
Contact:

Re: Solarmax 40 Problems

Post by marktownley »

Glad to save 150 bucks! :)


Image
http://brierleyhillsolar.blogspot.co.uk/
Solar images, a collection of all the most up to date live solar data on the web, imaging & processing tutorials - please take a look!
Post Reply