I am thinking of doing some mods to reduce weight and a new paint job on my Skywatcher..
I tried to pull off the lens hood but it would not come off, but did seem to unscrew, so I inscrewed it and found I had taken off not only the hood but the front lens as well, then I noticed a weird 'gassy' smell and the tube smelt 'gassy' so I screwed the lens back on. Incidenatllay I pulled a bit harder and the hood does come off - Paul's right, there is hardly any weight at all to it.
Any way, My questions.
1/ this 'gassy 'smell, are the tubes gas filled, like spotting scopes, to prevent fogging.
2/ Is it safe to take apart, ie: lens, focuser etc. This is so I can spray paint it, drill the tube and attach the mounting rail direct, remove the redundant front mounting plate etc and also flock the whole unit.
3/ Any UK suppliers of flock ?
cheers.
I tried to pull off the lens hood but it would not come off, but did seem to unscrew, so I inscrewed it and found I had taken off not only the hood but the front lens as well, then I noticed a weird 'gassy' smell and the tube smelt 'gassy' so I screwed the lens back on. Incidenatllay I pulled a bit harder and the hood does come off - Paul's right, there is hardly any weight at all to it.
Any way, My questions.
1/ this 'gassy 'smell, are the tubes gas filled, like spotting scopes, to prevent fogging.
2/ Is it safe to take apart, ie: lens, focuser etc. This is so I can spray paint it, drill the tube and attach the mounting rail direct, remove the redundant front mounting plate etc and also flock the whole unit.
3/ Any UK suppliers of flock ?
cheers.