Thursday-Friday 28-29 June 2018

The focuser on Geraldine has been sticking, so I removed it on Thursday and took it home, and opened it up on the bench.  I couldn't work out how to remove the friction bearing to see if that was worn but I did manage to remove two of the four pressure rollers, one of which was slightly corroded.  I cleaned this up and ensured that both rotated freely.

I couldn't remove the other two, but with the slide lose I could ensure that they rotated easily.  One has a gap in the roller surface and I made sure that that would not contact the slide during normal use.  Fortunately they only turn about half a turn in normal operation.  On reassembly all seems to work well.  I can only assume dirt had got into those roller bearings causing the sticking.

I returned the unit to Garaldine on Friday night and it performed well with the diagonal/eyepiece or camera installed.

Imaged Jupiter mainly to check focus, then Saturn.  Very low in the sky but just clearing the trees to the south.  Again I got a few images before clouds rolled in at midnight.

Closed up about 12:15.

Peter Lloyd.