Upgrading a Cheap Telescope
I've mentioned in a previous blog entry that I've been working on getting some telescopes ready for nighttime viewing in the warmer weather. The grandkids are getting old enough to enjoy viewing the night sky so this gave me a good reason to play with some telescopes. I have a background in aerospace so this has always been an interest of mine but it is always nice to have another reason like grandkids. It makes it easier to justify the hobby.
Naturally, it seems it has done nothing but rain (and snow) for all but one day since I assembled these telescopes in our living room a few weeks ago but this has given me time to decide what to do with one or two scopes that have been terribly frustrating to use.
One of these telescopes in question was a Celestron AstroMaster 114EQ reflector telescope. This telescope has been nothing but frustration since we bought it quite a few years ago. Nothing looked even halfway decent through this scope. I've collimated it (aligned the mirrors) over and over yet it still is nothing but a blur-fest through any of my good eyepieces. I've recently decided that this cheapo beginner telescope belonged in the garbage... and that is where it went.
The other cheap telescope... a Celestron 70AZ PowerSeeker which is half the price of the Celestron 114EQ at about $79 when I bought it a few years ago which included a useless tripod... seemed salvageable though. I found that it could possibly be a fairly decent scope for the grandkids to learn about the night sky if I could resolve some of the issues we've had with it. Better they break this cheap telescope than my good telescope which cost about twelve times more than this one. It would be good for learning.
The Celestron PowerSeeker 70AZ had decent image quality so I felt it might be worth upgrading by swapping out parts. It was filthy though! I had to completely disassemble it so I could clean everything up. I wouldn't call the glass in this scope great but it was acceptable for kids who are learning about the night sky.
Unfortunately, this 70mm AZ mount came with a terrible mini-fork tripod mount that was completely useless. There was no way to adjust it smoothly or even easily... you couldn't get it to stay in position... it sagged when you thought you finally had it in position... and you couldn't track anything with it... so the first thing it would need would be a decent tripod mount... preferably an equatorial mount. This particular AZ mount truly is completely useless and should not even be sold as a mount.
Fortunately, the slightly larger and heavier Celestron AstroMaster 114EQ that I threw out (because it is a total piece of junk) came with a halfway decent entry-level tripod mount... a Celestron CG-2. Better yet, this mount is an equatorial mount which means it would be ideal for tracking the stars with its big slow-motion tracking knobs. I purchased a set of cheap dovetail rings to fit the 70AZ so I could mount it on this salvaged tripod mount...
Another problem that Adam and I had with this cheap telescope was that it was almost impossible to focus with its tiny focusing knobs. You'd try to carefully turn the knobs just a little bit but would always go too far in that direction no matter how carefully you attempted to turn it... then too far the opposite way... then too far the other way... I needed an inexpensive solution to this problem too or the grandchildren would lose interest in the night sky very quickly.
After searching for a replacement focuser and finding there really aren't any that would fit this cheap scope, I decided to make the focusing knobs bigger which would possibly provide more control for slower and smaller changes in focus.
I ordered two RC aircraft wheels... three inch... for about $3.50. I then drilled and tapped three 2-56 holes in each focusing knob... drilled holes in the new larger wheels that will be used as knobs... and screwed these wheels directly to the old small knobs... this did the trick and I now have a little better control over focusing...
I fixed the red-dot finder on this telescope and replaced the batteries then aligned it with the view through the telescope... now I have a halfway decent red-dot finder that works for its intended purpose...
The inside of the lens hood/dew shield was a glossy plastic just like the outside of this hood/shield. As would be expected from any shiny surface, light was bouncing all over the inside of this hood on it's way through the lens which caused terrible flaring through the eyepiece when viewing. I removed this hood/dew shield, lightly sanded it with fine sandpaper, and then spray painted it a flat black like it should have been right from the start... I have no idea what Celestron was thinking...
The 90 degree diagonal mirror that came with this scope was horrendously cheap and of poor quality so I felt it needed upgrading. I ordered a decent High Point dielectric 90 degree diagonal and swapped out the old plastic cheapo Celestron one that came with scope.
The eyepieces that came with this telescope were absolute garbage too so they needed to be upgraded (I'm still waiting for some middle-of-the-road-quality eyepieces to arrive)... the giant eyepiece in this photo, below, is an eyepiece from my good telescope...
I should point out that I like big eyepieces with big views. When I was a kid, I had a telescope that had these tiny eyepieces and it seemed like we viewed more eyelashes than celestial objects! You had to get your eye so close to the tiny eyepiece that your eyelashes always brushed across the eyepiece. Big fat eyepieces provide a big view and you don't need to be right up on the eyepiece with your eye which is great for those of us who wear eyeglasses.
So, here below, is the little scope for the grandkids to use when visiting Gee and Papa, sitting in the foreground in this photo, and Papa's big scope behind it...
The kids should have no problems with this upgraded little scope for viewing the moon, some planets and even some other bright objects in the sky. I kind of wish I had done this upgrade a few years ago but, to be honest, if I had to do it over again, I never would have bought either of these Celestron telescopes because they truly are pieces of junk. The cost in upgraded parts far exceeded the initial cost of the telescope and I'm still left with a focuser which is frustrating but not nearly as frustrating as it was originally. In the end, I'd have to think long and hard before buying another Celestron product. We'll see how long I can tolerate this little upgraded telescope before replacing it with a better scope with a better focuser.
Now, we could use some clear skies... and, we could use some spare time at home rather than at the hospital... and, we could use some extra energy!
I'm looking forward to some night viewing as well as sparking some excitement and interest in the grandkids.
Naturally, it seems it has done nothing but rain (and snow) for all but one day since I assembled these telescopes in our living room a few weeks ago but this has given me time to decide what to do with one or two scopes that have been terribly frustrating to use.
One of these telescopes in question was a Celestron AstroMaster 114EQ reflector telescope. This telescope has been nothing but frustration since we bought it quite a few years ago. Nothing looked even halfway decent through this scope. I've collimated it (aligned the mirrors) over and over yet it still is nothing but a blur-fest through any of my good eyepieces. I've recently decided that this cheapo beginner telescope belonged in the garbage... and that is where it went.
The other cheap telescope... a Celestron 70AZ PowerSeeker which is half the price of the Celestron 114EQ at about $79 when I bought it a few years ago which included a useless tripod... seemed salvageable though. I found that it could possibly be a fairly decent scope for the grandkids to learn about the night sky if I could resolve some of the issues we've had with it. Better they break this cheap telescope than my good telescope which cost about twelve times more than this one. It would be good for learning.
The Celestron PowerSeeker 70AZ had decent image quality so I felt it might be worth upgrading by swapping out parts. It was filthy though! I had to completely disassemble it so I could clean everything up. I wouldn't call the glass in this scope great but it was acceptable for kids who are learning about the night sky.
Unfortunately, this 70mm AZ mount came with a terrible mini-fork tripod mount that was completely useless. There was no way to adjust it smoothly or even easily... you couldn't get it to stay in position... it sagged when you thought you finally had it in position... and you couldn't track anything with it... so the first thing it would need would be a decent tripod mount... preferably an equatorial mount. This particular AZ mount truly is completely useless and should not even be sold as a mount.
Fortunately, the slightly larger and heavier Celestron AstroMaster 114EQ that I threw out (because it is a total piece of junk) came with a halfway decent entry-level tripod mount... a Celestron CG-2. Better yet, this mount is an equatorial mount which means it would be ideal for tracking the stars with its big slow-motion tracking knobs. I purchased a set of cheap dovetail rings to fit the 70AZ so I could mount it on this salvaged tripod mount...
Another problem that Adam and I had with this cheap telescope was that it was almost impossible to focus with its tiny focusing knobs. You'd try to carefully turn the knobs just a little bit but would always go too far in that direction no matter how carefully you attempted to turn it... then too far the opposite way... then too far the other way... I needed an inexpensive solution to this problem too or the grandchildren would lose interest in the night sky very quickly.
After searching for a replacement focuser and finding there really aren't any that would fit this cheap scope, I decided to make the focusing knobs bigger which would possibly provide more control for slower and smaller changes in focus.
I ordered two RC aircraft wheels... three inch... for about $3.50. I then drilled and tapped three 2-56 holes in each focusing knob... drilled holes in the new larger wheels that will be used as knobs... and screwed these wheels directly to the old small knobs... this did the trick and I now have a little better control over focusing...
I fixed the red-dot finder on this telescope and replaced the batteries then aligned it with the view through the telescope... now I have a halfway decent red-dot finder that works for its intended purpose...
The inside of the lens hood/dew shield was a glossy plastic just like the outside of this hood/shield. As would be expected from any shiny surface, light was bouncing all over the inside of this hood on it's way through the lens which caused terrible flaring through the eyepiece when viewing. I removed this hood/dew shield, lightly sanded it with fine sandpaper, and then spray painted it a flat black like it should have been right from the start... I have no idea what Celestron was thinking...
The 90 degree diagonal mirror that came with this scope was horrendously cheap and of poor quality so I felt it needed upgrading. I ordered a decent High Point dielectric 90 degree diagonal and swapped out the old plastic cheapo Celestron one that came with scope.
The eyepieces that came with this telescope were absolute garbage too so they needed to be upgraded (I'm still waiting for some middle-of-the-road-quality eyepieces to arrive)... the giant eyepiece in this photo, below, is an eyepiece from my good telescope...
I should point out that I like big eyepieces with big views. When I was a kid, I had a telescope that had these tiny eyepieces and it seemed like we viewed more eyelashes than celestial objects! You had to get your eye so close to the tiny eyepiece that your eyelashes always brushed across the eyepiece. Big fat eyepieces provide a big view and you don't need to be right up on the eyepiece with your eye which is great for those of us who wear eyeglasses.
So, here below, is the little scope for the grandkids to use when visiting Gee and Papa, sitting in the foreground in this photo, and Papa's big scope behind it...
The kids should have no problems with this upgraded little scope for viewing the moon, some planets and even some other bright objects in the sky. I kind of wish I had done this upgrade a few years ago but, to be honest, if I had to do it over again, I never would have bought either of these Celestron telescopes because they truly are pieces of junk. The cost in upgraded parts far exceeded the initial cost of the telescope and I'm still left with a focuser which is frustrating but not nearly as frustrating as it was originally. In the end, I'd have to think long and hard before buying another Celestron product. We'll see how long I can tolerate this little upgraded telescope before replacing it with a better scope with a better focuser.
Now, we could use some clear skies... and, we could use some spare time at home rather than at the hospital... and, we could use some extra energy!
I'm looking forward to some night viewing as well as sparking some excitement and interest in the grandkids.
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