Coronado SolarMax III RichView blocked

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Coronado SolarMax III RichView blocked

Post by volod »

Hi, all!

Today arrived the long-awaited package with Coronado SolarMax III 90mm, double stack. I have been waiting for this telescope for half a year for my observatory. And my joy knew no bounds...

I checked and found that RichView wheel is blocked and doesn't rotate :( Maybe someone had the same problem?
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Re: Coronado SolarMax III RichView blocked

Post by Montana »

We need to get DeepSolar64 to reply to this post, he owns a Coronado 90 but I am not sure which version.

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Re: Coronado SolarMax III RichView blocked

Post by DeepSolar64 »

I have a SolarMax II 90 doublestacked scope.

I notice two knarled grips on the SMIII stacking etalon. One right behind the screw on cap. Is that the RichView tuner or just a grip? The second is a brass wheel just behind it. Is that the RichView Tuner or have they used a tuning ring to replace the small tuning wheel on the DS etalon? If not you are missing a tuning wheel! My SMII etalon looks different and remember my primary etalon is internal not external like on the SMIII.

An absent wheel leaves no way to tune the front etalon outside of the RichView tuning ring. The tuning wheel is called a T-Max tuner I think. The front etalon should have two ways to tune it and the rear etalon only one. A missing tuner on the stacking etalon should be covered by the manufacturers warranty.

I wish I was familiar with the SMIII series. Stephen Ramsden has one I am sure and he's familiar with them. Maybe he will chime in.

James

SMII90_DSEtalon.JPG
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Re: Coronado SolarMax III RichView blocked

Post by rsfoto »

Hi volod,

The part which should move is the golden ring at the front. Is that what does not move ? You should be able to rotate the golden front ring in and out ...

Please send a photo from the front.

If I remember well Eric Roel has also a 90mm ... perhaps he can chime in ¿?


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Re: Coronado SolarMax III RichView blocked

Post by solarchat »

I don’t know if this has already been answered or figured out yet, but here is my SMIII double stacked 90 mm showing the proper tuning parts.

The richview tuning ring is here:
88A2F75E-4F99-4866-AF7F-35397849BBED.jpeg
88A2F75E-4F99-4866-AF7F-35397849BBED.jpeg (2.38 MiB) Viewed 2325 times

the first and second tilt tuners are here:
F5090537-65A6-4A32-BF17-BF662D2902CC.jpeg
F5090537-65A6-4A32-BF17-BF662D2902CC.jpeg (1.7 MiB) Viewed 2325 times
96965DDC-62F3-4807-8630-23CC1B7EB55A.jpeg
96965DDC-62F3-4807-8630-23CC1B7EB55A.jpeg (2.35 MiB) Viewed 2325 times
The entire train looks like this:
B4CF5715-9225-4CFD-8969-90142D5DD5CA.jpeg
B4CF5715-9225-4CFD-8969-90142D5DD5CA.jpeg (2.66 MiB) Viewed 2325 times


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Re: Coronado SolarMax III RichView blocked

Post by solarchat »

are you saying that your richview tuning ring is stuck and will not turn?


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Re: Coronado SolarMax III RichView blocked

Post by rsfoto »

solarchat wrote: Wed Nov 30, 2022 5:33 pm are you saying that your richview tuning ring is stuck and will not turn?
I once had a richview tuner in my hands. If his golden front wheel does not turn I guess it is just because when they assembled it somebody rotated it to the end of the thread and then screwed in the blocking pin.

So the solution for moving the the Rich View tuner should be

1. Unscrew the blocking pin
2. Rotate the Rich View tuner to where it looks good
3. Insert the locking pin again

The black part of the Rich View tuner has, as far as I remember a lot of threaded holes for the locking pin.

@ Stephen, could you please check that ?

BTW in the latest images I see a lot of little slots compared to your image with a very long slot in the RV tuner ...


regards Rainer

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Re: Coronado SolarMax III RichView blocked

Post by DeepSolar64 »

The SolarMax III looks quite a bit different than my SolarMax II. Stephen, I see both T-Max wheels on yours and the gold knarled ring is the Richview tuner.


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Re: Coronado SolarMax III RichView blocked

Post by solarchat »

from the looks of the original post, they may have been trying to turn the wrong thing. It takes some getting used to.


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Re: Coronado SolarMax III RichView blocked

Post by DeepSolar64 »

Thanks Stephen for your input. :bow


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Re: Coronado SolarMax III RichView blocked

Post by volod »

Thank you dear friends for your answers!

Seems that Richview tuner is really broken. I do not dare to repair it myself, because I can lose the warranty.


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Re: Coronado SolarMax III RichView blocked

Post by volod »

solarchat wrote: Wed Nov 30, 2022 5:30 pm The richview tuning ring is here:
Could you show is this ring is spinning with the thread or separate from the thread?

My problem on video
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0e3S79A ... iiU2lwap9Q


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Re: Coronado SolarMax III RichView blocked

Post by solarchat »

it spins either way.
There is a screw that restricts it to a certain range.
the screw can be removed easily to turn it to a different range if necessary.
To be honest, I never use this ring for tuning as it doesn’t really make any difference in my location at 950ft above sea level.
The tilt tuning is all I ever use.
You should be able to just return the one etalon for repair if you want and continue using the scope in single etalon mode.
If it were mine, I would just take out the screw restricting the movement and give it a turn to loosen it.


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Re: Coronado SolarMax III RichView blocked

Post by volod »

solarchat wrote: Thu Dec 01, 2022 1:00 pm If it were mine, I would just take out the screw restricting the movement and give it a turn to loosen it.
I'll be at the observatory tomorrow and see if it's possible. It seems to me that this locking screw does not limit the rotation of the wheel, it is located approximately in the middle of the groove.


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Re: Coronado SolarMax III RichView blocked

Post by solarchat »

yep, I watched the video-it’s stuck and needs exchanging or repair.
You can use it with the one etalon in the meantime.
I would try to deal with the retail outlet that sold it to you rather than the Meade corporation as they are in pretty dire straits right now.


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Re: Coronado SolarMax III RichView blocked

Post by DeepSolar64 »

I use the tuning ring ( Richview tuner ) only occasionally. It's the tilt-tuning wheels I use the most. My altitude is 2160 asl.


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Re: Coronado SolarMax III RichView blocked

Post by volod »

I still do not quite understand why the Richview using depends of the altitude )


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Re: Coronado SolarMax III RichView blocked

Post by DeepSolar64 »

I am not sure on that one with the tilt-tuner either. With pressure tuned Lunt scopes the tuner itself is pressurized and has to be uncapped and reset to adjust it to the pressure of the user's altitude. Steven may know.


Lunt 8x32 SUNoculars
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Meade Coronado SolarMax II 60 DS
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 90 DS
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Astro-Tech AT72EDII with Altair solar wedge
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Losmandy AZ8 Alt/Az Mount
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Re: Coronado SolarMax III RichView blocked

Post by DeepSolar64 »

solarchat wrote: Thu Dec 01, 2022 1:36 pm yep, I watched the video-it’s stuck and needs exchanging or repair.
You can use it with the one etalon in the meantime.
I would try to deal with the retail outlet that sold it to you rather than the Meade corporation as they are in pretty dire straits right now.

I know Orion acquired Meade over a year ago. Is Meade about to go under and take Coronado with it?


Lunt 8x32 SUNoculars
Orion 70mm Solar Telescope
Celestron AstroMaster Alt/Az Mount
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 60 DS
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 90 DS
Meade Coronado AZS Alt/Az Mount
Astro-Tech AT72EDII with Altair solar wedge
Celestron NexStar 102GT with Altair solar wedge
Losmandy AZ8 Alt/Az Mount
Sky-Watcher AZGTI Alt-Az GoTo mount
Cameras: ZWO ASI178MM, PGR Grasshopper, PGR Flea
Lunt, Coronado, TeleVue, Orion and Meade eyepieces

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