Nikon ED50A breakage (1 Viewer)

[stupot]

Not a new problem to post on forums, my Nikon ED50A telescope has broken in half after 11 years of use and Nikon have stated it is unrepairable! I have been offered a 20% discount on a new one but as I don't want to throw good money after bad I have declined their offer and have requested they return my broken telescope to me. I will try to effect some kind of repair but if unsuccessful I will look to purchase an Opticron travel scope instead. My question is - are there any other brands of telescope that would be compatible with the Nikon eyepieces I have, the Fieldscope Wide Eyepiece MC and the Fieldscope Zoom Eyepiece MC II? If not I'll sell them and put the money towards the Opticron travel scope.

Any information would be much appreciated thank you.

 

[stupot]

Not a new problem to post on forums, my Nikon ED50A telescope has broken in half after 11 years of use and Nikon have stated it is unrepairable! I have been offered a 20% discount on a new one but as I don't want to throw good money after bad I have declined their offer and have requested they return my broken telescope to me. I will try to effect some kind of repair but if unsuccessful I will look to purchase an Opticron travel scope instead. My question is - are there any other brands of telescope that would be compatible with the Nikon eyepieces I have, the Fieldscope Wide Eyepiece MC and the Fieldscope Zoom Eyepiece MC II? If not I'll sell them and put the money towards the Opticron travel scope.

Any information would be much appreciated thank you.

 

[Richard D]

No - they'll only fit fieldscopes (all sizes).

 

[4John]

Not a new problem to post on forums, my Nikon ED50A telescope has broken in half after 11 years of use and Nikon have stated it is unrepairable! I have been offered a 20% discount on a new one but as I don't want to throw good money after bad I have declined their offer and have requested they return my broken telescope to me. I will try to effect some kind of repair but if unsuccessful I will look to purchase an Opticron travel scope instead. My question is - are there any other brands of telescope that would be compatible with the Nikon eyepieces I have, the Fieldscope Wide Eyepiece MC and the Fieldscope Zoom Eyepiece MC II? If not I'll sell them and put the money towards the Opticron travel scope.

Any information would be much appreciated thank you.

stupot

Somewhere on this forum in the last few months a "professional" repairer posted to say he had developed a procedure to repair ED50s which had broken in half. My forum search skills aren't great, but I will see if I can find it.

 

[4John]

stupot

Somewhere on this forum in the last few months a "professional" repairer posted to say he had developed a procedure to repair ED50s which had broken in half. My forum search skills aren't great, but I will see if I can find it.

Easier than I thought :

From richard866945 "Bino repair man"

"This is not that difficult to repair. I have fixed a number of telescopes like this. The holes / threads into which the three screws fit can be remade with two part epoxy metal replacement . When dry it takes a new thread. If the lugs in the other part are damaged then they can also be remade.
I have just fixed a small Kowa TSN 502 which had the same problem. Cost around £60."

It might be worth contacting him to save you having to go up the learning curve.

 

[stupot]

Easier than I thought :

From richard866945 "Bino repair man"

"This is not that difficult to repair. I have fixed a number of telescopes like this. The holes / threads into which the three screws fit can be remade with two part epoxy metal replacement . When dry it takes a new thread. If the lugs in the other part are damaged then they can also be remade.
I have just fixed a small Kowa TSN 502 which had the same problem. Cost around £60."

It might be worth contacting him to save you having to go up the learning curve.

That's great, thank you, I'll do some digging around!

 

[stupot]

No - they'll only fit fieldscopes (all sizes).

Thanks, that's what I expected, never mind.

 

[Ries]

I epoxyed it together...but turned out a tiny bit not aligned lol, typical me. Still doubting if trying epoxy remover (risky) and redo it, but I don't see anything off with the view...

 

[b-lilja]

Do a search. well known. A good ED50 is better than Opticron. Epoxy is your friend.

 

[stupot]

Do a search. well known. A good ED50 is better than Opticron. Epoxy is your friend.

I'm going to give an epoxy repair a go, wish me luck! Very annoyed with Nikon.

 

[stupot]

I epoxyed it together...but turned out a tiny bit not aligned lol, typical me. Still doubting if trying epoxy remover (risky) and redo it, but I don't see anything off with the view...

I'm going to give it a try, I'll probably end up with it a little off too! Very annoyed with Nikon.

 

[dantheman]

I'm going to give an epoxy repair a go, wish me luck! Very annoyed with Nikon.

Can you please take some photos (before and after) ...

Good luck!

(My ED50 is also broken, although it's just the bottom plate area that broke off)

 

[Hermann]

I'm going to give an epoxy repair a go, wish me luck! Very annoyed with Nikon.

I met a guy a few years ago whose ED50 had also broken apart (after he dropped it). Happened on a birding trip abroad. He had taped both sides together. That worked so well that upon returning he had only added a few more layers of tape.

Looked a bit funny, that scope. But it worked just fine.

Hermann

 

[Hermann]

I epoxyed it together...but turned out a tiny bit not aligned lol, typical me. Still doubting if trying epoxy remover (risky) and redo it, but I don't see anything off with the view...

Why should you try epoxy remover if the scope works as it is?

Hermann

 

[stupot]

Can you please take some photos (before and after) ...

Good luck!

(My ED50 is also broken, although it's just the bottom plate area that broke off)

Here's the before, still waiting to have it returned to me by Nikon.

 

[Ries]

Why should you try epoxy remover if the scope works as it is?

Hermann

Perfectionism.

 

[4John]

I met a guy a few years ago whose ED50 had also broken apart (after he dropped it). Happened on a birding trip abroad. He had taped both sides together. That worked so well that upon returning he had only added a few more layers of tape.

Looked a bit funny, that scope. But it worked just fine.

Hermann

Herman,

Looking at stupot's photo that makes sense. The body is made up of a female objective lens half and a male eyepiece half. The eyepiece half of the body goes fits inside the female objective lens half of the body. The body is oval at the join, not round, so the halves should self-align. There is an elastomer seal around the male eyepiece half of the body.

It would be nice to know if the halves are held together by screws and if so which half the screw heads are in, because richard866945's solution to build up the lugs and threads and then screw it back together is the tidiest solution, but one half of the scope may need to be dismantled to get access to the screw heads. It would also be nice to know if the scope has any connections for purging.

 

[Sancho]

I stuck mine together with duct tape. Decided not to glue it, just in case it got moisture inside and I needed to dry it out. It ain't pretty but it works just as well as ever (with a 20x mc).

 

[jring]

Hi,

and if one has a problem with the cosmetics after taping, a stay on case or some foam tape will take care of that...

Joachim