More scope refurbishments or start new?

[DaveC426913]

TL;DR

Mirrors & mounts

I am debating whether to throw good money after bad, as it were.

My 5" Newt (Orbitor 4000) badly needs its secondary re-silvered. Debating on whether I might as well get the primary done at the same time, even though that will balloon the cost. Primary is in a lot better shape - I might be able to get away without doing it. Anyone know of any places in Ontario or even in Canada? I can't seem to find any that won't cost me customs taxes.

It is on a manual (eq) mount. With my webcam's mag, objects cross the FOV in about a minute, which makes for a lot of fiddling. If I want planets to be any larger than a large freckle on my laptop screen, I'll have to increase the mag, which will narrow the FOV even more, maybe even beyond the range of usability. I wonder if I should invest in a motor mount. Can it be cost effective to replace only the mount while keeping the scope and tripod?


Somebody else has the identical setup:

 

[AlexB23]

TL;DR Summary: Mirrors & mounts

I am debating whether to throw good money after bad, as it were.

My 5" Newt (Orbitor 4000) badly needs its secondary re-silvered. Debating on whether I might as well get the primary done at the same time, even though that will balloon the cost. Primary is in a lot better shape - I might be able to get away without doing it. Anyone know of any places in Ontario or even in Canada? I can't seem to find any that won't cost me customs taxes.

It is on a manual (eq) mount. With my webcam's mag, objects cross the FOV in about a minute, which makes for a lot of fiddling. If I want planets to be any larger than a large freckle on my laptop screen, I'll have to increase the mag, which will narrow the FOV even more, maybe even beyond the range of usability. I wonder if I should invest in a motor mount. Can it be cost effective to replace only the mount while keeping the scope and tripod?


Somebody else has the identical setup:

View attachment 355904

I recommend investing in a motor mount, one that can be controlled via laptop. :)

 

[Tom.G]

Although I'm in Southern California, Google came up with a bunch of hits.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=mirror+resilvering+near+ontario+canada

One of the hits stated that you could try a DIY approach but each of the four required chemicals cost around $120. I suspect the learning curve would be quite steep though.

It was many years ago and at least for hand-carrying stuff across the border, if you registered it with Customs before leaving and came back thru the same port-of-entry, you would avoid duties. That was going the other direction though, from US to CA and back.

Cheers,
Tom

[edit]
See also post #3 at: https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/768802-recoating-service-in-canada-for-8-mirror/
[/edit]

 

[Andy Resnick]

I wonder if I should invest in a motor mount. Can it be cost effective to replace only the mount while keeping the scope and tripod?

I don't know about re-silvering, but I can enthusiastically recommend a motorized mount. My Losmandy GM-8 is about 15 years old and still works perfectly.

 

[DaveC426913]

I don't know about re-silvering, but I can enthusiastically recommend a motorized mount. My Losmandy GM-8 is about 15 years old and still works perfectly.

Sure, but what about retrofitting an existing scope with one?

 

[Andy Resnick]

Sure, but what about retrofitting an existing scope with one?

In my case, it was pretty easy- all you need is the correct dovetail mounting plate, for example something like this: https://www.astro-physics.com/lmdap4567. One side attaches to the scope, the other slides into the mount's dovetail saddle plate.

Not sure if the mount will attach to your tripod, tho. I got both mount and tripod at the same time.

 

[DaveC426913]

... the correct dovetail mounting plate...

Not sure if the mount will attach to your tripod, tho.

I've never seen a scope on a dovetail mount.

Mine is a standard 1/4" thread.

Also, I hadn't thought they'd make adaptable mounts.

 

[Drakkith]

Can it be cost effective to replace only the mount while keeping the scope and tripod?

Certainly. They sell mount heads (mount only, no tripod or scope). You'd have to check if the head is compatible with your tripod. As for keeping the scope, you can absolutely do that as long as the scope fits on the new mount. You'd have to check and see what attachment plate or whatever your scope has and if it fits with newer mounts. Or retrofit your scope with a new one if possible.

What kind of price range are you looking at?