How to Maintain Telescopes

Post by **acc** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 2:31 am

I have seen so many SCTs and refractors lens that are damaged by fungus in Singapore that I would not hesistate buying a large-enough drybox for our expensive equipment. However, I obviously couldn't find one large enough for my Portaball. I was nervous about keeping the mirror in a high-humidity environment but Peter from Mag1 Instruments (Portaball maker) assured me that no harm will come to the mirror. It turned out to be true enough. Does anyone know why mirrors seem to be less susceptible to fungus? It will be a big pity to shy away from reflectors due to not being able to find a huge enough dry-box for them

ariefm71 · Post by **ariefm71** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 3:11 am

Guess reflectors are out for most then....

Of course not, just take out the mirror and put inside the drycab.
It's quite easy to unscrew the mirror cell of my 7" newt, I just store the mirror together with the cell in the drycab.

Also, the air here is quite corrosive due to sea water, may affect the coatings if we store the glass/mirror outside.

kingkong · Post by **kingkong** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 8:28 am

if you have a spare room or a closet, you might want to consider using a portable dehumidifier like the delonghi one i have:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... 8&v=glance

the thing extracts 2-5 liters of water from the air every day - depending on rh outside and how often the office door's left opened) and keep my office at around 40-45% rh. you either remove the container and pour away the water everyday or install a drain host for the water to drain away (free flow only, no pump)

i got the idea from a vendor (Looi) in malaysia. if i can find this in the ulu place where i am, surely these are available in sinkabor

rlow · Post by **rlow** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 1:34 pm

All 3 scopes? I was looking at the 108 L cabinet and I estimate can only fit one 8". When I asked for a bigger one I was shown this huge Industrial-sized refrigerator-like cabinet!

How much did you pay for your 100 L dry cabinet?

I fit in all OTAs only, without fork mount/base etc. Its from DigiCabi, I think it is now $252 for 100litres

Guess reflectors are out for most then....

I think reflectors may be quite ok even if you dont remove the mirror cell but just leave the whole scope in the room, as any first sign of fungus can be easily cleaned off before it really eats into the coating.

I think the worst case would be long refractors which are difficult to keep in the dry cabinet, and once fungus has set inbetween the cemented doublet/triplet, you have a huge problem to disassemble, clean, re-cement, assemble and re-collimate the objective lens. Not advisable to do that for any inexperienced person!

ariefm71 · Post by **ariefm71** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 4:08 pm

I fit in all OTAs only, without fork mount/base etc. Its from DigiCabi, I think it is now $252 for 100litres

what is the width? will it fit the mewlon 210 in horizontal position?

I think the worst case would be long refractors which are difficult to keep in the dry cabinet,

this is the main reason i cancelled my 8" TMB order

ya right

Post by **VinSnr** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 5:34 pm

aiyoh guys, don't consider so much la. Like the scope just buy......

If go by cabinet constraint, then refractors are out, LX200 that kind also out.

But the good thing is, you can have only one scope at a time....

I feel that this fungus thing is way overblown. I own scopes for the last 20 years and I have never placed them into any dry cabinet......my scopes all quite big and a few at the same time...how to fit all? Yet, I have never seen fungus before on any of those lenses. The only thing I do is just put some silica gel on the scope cap. But for eyepieces, they must be in dry cabinet!

Mirrors have an advantage because if you see any fungus just wash the mirror.....no big thingy.

wanwan · Post by **wanwan** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 7:11 pm

my school got 1 telescope got fungus. how to get rid of it?

neoterryjoe · Post by **neoterryjoe** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 7:33 pm

Hi!
Check out this thread, the post by starfinder.

http://www.singastro.org/viewtopic.php?t=2783

Maybe the seniors got more suggestion??

chunghooi · Post by **chunghooi** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 10:34 pm

IMHO, the best way to avoid fungus is fully utilise your scope. Would you place your spectacle in the drybox before you Zzzz... ???

wanwan · Post by **wanwan** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 3:16 pm

but i did put in the drybox. donno why the finally scope got fungus.