I returned my telescope, Highpoint inspected and they confirmed the issue with the off center secondary mark. Regretfully, they did not have more telescopes in stock, and the lead time is about 5 months, so they returned my money. I decided to order the RC8 I-Opton which has the same optics although mechanically it not as good as the CarbonStar. Out of the box, the collimation was spot on, but the secondary mirror had a scratch, so I had to send it back for a replacement. I am thinking that the manufacturer (GSO) is not really inspecting the products. Two defective scopes out of two   |
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Rodrigo Roesch:
I returned my telescope, Highpoint inspected and they confirmed the issue with the off center secondary mark. Regretfully, they did not have more telescopes in stock, and the lead time is about 5 months, so they returned my money.
I decided to order the RC8 I-Opton which has the same optics although mechanically it not as good as the CarbonStar. Out of the box, the collimation was spot on, but the secondary mirror had a scratch, so I had to send it back for a replacement. I am thinking that the manufacturer (GSO) is not really inspecting the products. Two defective scopes out of two
That sucks, quality control seems to be taking some time off with the scope manufacturers. I opted to keep my RC8, fixing the center spot was as simple as putting a sharpie marker dot in the right place. I did ask highpointscientific to replace it though once they get new stock in a few months since collimation is a pain trying to see around the bad donut mark. I also ended up returning a Sharpstar 13028hnt-al recently due to issues with an off center focuser and rotator issues. I decided to replace with the new SQA70, hopefully a good old fashioned refractor won't suffer from these issues that the reflectors are having these days.
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Yes, I have to wait until I-optron gets the scope, inspect it and send another one, however, I am not sure if I want another scope from them if they don't inspect the items. I may up to get the money back
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Wanted to come back and update my experience so far with my RC8. Highpointscientific exchanged my bad RC8 with a new on that arrived this week. They said it was checked for proper centering before they shipped it so hopefully it's good to go. I'm going to check the bench collimation today and then wait until the weather decides to let me try it out.
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Just a quick update, my collimation is dead on tonight using only the cheshire and the new center mark. Hopefully I hear something from Apertura soon, but at least the problem is an easy fix and just cosmetic. So how was secondary sticker removed? Just carefully peeling it off?
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Niraj:
Just a quick update, my collimation is dead on tonight using only the cheshire and the new center mark. Hopefully I hear something from Apertura soon, but at least the problem is an easy fix and just cosmetic.
So how was secondary sticker removed? Just carefully peeling it off? No, the donut is etched into the glass, in the actual mirror. If they would've used stickers I would've fixed it myself, but I had to wait for months for a new scope to be made. I'm very pleased with the new scope and Highpointscientific, the replacement seems perfect and I can collimate indoors without issue now.
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Niraj:
Just a quick update, my collimation is dead on tonight using only the cheshire and the new center mark. Hopefully I hear something from Apertura soon, but at least the problem is an easy fix and just cosmetic.
So how was secondary sticker removed? Just carefully peeling it off?
No, the donut is etched into the glass, in the actual mirror. If they would've used stickers I would've fixed it myself, but I had to wait for months for a new scope to be made. I'm very pleased with the new scope and Highpointscientific, the replacement seems perfect and I can collimate indoors without issue now.
Great I can't read properly. Wow this is even more baffling. Apertura really dropped the ball on this and left it for us to figure it out. So this is just another new RC you got right? Not Apetura... I've been struggling with collimation lately and I am out of 30 day period cause clouds lingered for 2 months and now trying it just doesn't help. I'll give it one more shot and then do secondary center check like you did and see how that goes that is if that is the issue with mine.
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Niraj:
Niraj:
Just a quick update, my collimation is dead on tonight using only the cheshire and the new center mark. Hopefully I hear something from Apertura soon, but at least the problem is an easy fix and just cosmetic.
So how was secondary sticker removed? Just carefully peeling it off?
No, the donut is etched into the glass, in the actual mirror. If they would've used stickers I would've fixed it myself, but I had to wait for months for a new scope to be made. I'm very pleased with the new scope and Highpointscientific, the replacement seems perfect and I can collimate indoors without issue now.
Great I can't read properly. Wow this is even more baffling. Apertura really dropped the ball on this and left it for us to figure it out.
So this is just another new RC you got right? Not Apetura...
I've been struggling with collimation lately and I am out of 30 day period cause clouds lingered for 2 months and now trying it just doesn't help.
I'll give it one more shot and then do secondary center check like you did and see how that goes that is if that is the issue with mine. I got another Apertura, I had made my own mark on the old one that worked while waiting on the replacement but it was very difficult to see without setting up a camera. I ended up just cutting a small dot out of a sticker that put that where the actual center was. Mine was around 1/4 inch off
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Niraj:
Niraj:
Just a quick update, my collimation is dead on tonight using only the cheshire and the new center mark. Hopefully I hear something from Apertura soon, but at least the problem is an easy fix and just cosmetic.
So how was secondary sticker removed? Just carefully peeling it off?
No, the donut is etched into the glass, in the actual mirror. If they would've used stickers I would've fixed it myself, but I had to wait for months for a new scope to be made. I'm very pleased with the new scope and Highpointscientific, the replacement seems perfect and I can collimate indoors without issue now.
Great I can't read properly. Wow this is even more baffling. Apertura really dropped the ball on this and left it for us to figure it out.
So this is just another new RC you got right? Not Apetura...
I've been struggling with collimation lately and I am out of 30 day period cause clouds lingered for 2 months and now trying it just doesn't help.
I'll give it one more shot and then do secondary center check like you did and see how that goes that is if that is the issue with mine.
I got another Apertura, I had made my own mark on the old one that worked while waiting on the replacement but it was very difficult to see without setting up a camera.
I ended up just cutting a small dot out of a sticker that put that where the actual center was. Mine was around 1/4 inch off
oh ok. Has highpoint said anything that they'll be looking over this or something or are they just processing complaints on a per person basis you think? Just trying to get myself prepared to see how this goes later on..
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Niraj:
Niraj:
Niraj:
Just a quick update, my collimation is dead on tonight using only the cheshire and the new center mark. Hopefully I hear something from Apertura soon, but at least the problem is an easy fix and just cosmetic.
So how was secondary sticker removed? Just carefully peeling it off?
No, the donut is etched into the glass, in the actual mirror. If they would've used stickers I would've fixed it myself, but I had to wait for months for a new scope to be made. I'm very pleased with the new scope and Highpointscientific, the replacement seems perfect and I can collimate indoors without issue now.
Great I can't read properly. Wow this is even more baffling. Apertura really dropped the ball on this and left it for us to figure it out.
So this is just another new RC you got right? Not Apetura...
I've been struggling with collimation lately and I am out of 30 day period cause clouds lingered for 2 months and now trying it just doesn't help.
I'll give it one more shot and then do secondary center check like you did and see how that goes that is if that is the issue with mine.
I got another Apertura, I had made my own mark on the old one that worked while waiting on the replacement but it was very difficult to see without setting up a camera.
I ended up just cutting a small dot out of a sticker that put that where the actual center was. Mine was around 1/4 inch off
oh ok.
Has highpoint said anything that they'll be looking over this or something or are they just processing complaints on a per person basis you think? Just trying to get myself prepared to see how this goes later on.. Not sure how they're handling new issues, I found the issue in January of this year after reading a few posts about it here and on cloudynights. I'm pretty sure mine was handled as a warranty issue instead of a return, so maybe there's a chance yours would fall under the same process. The new RC8s that came in stock at the end of May should all be new ones with good center marks, and they also finally decided to put rack and pinion focusers on them instead of selling them as an up charge item.
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Niraj:
Niraj:
Niraj:
Just a quick update, my collimation is dead on tonight using only the cheshire and the new center mark. Hopefully I hear something from Apertura soon, but at least the problem is an easy fix and just cosmetic.
So how was secondary sticker removed? Just carefully peeling it off?
No, the donut is etched into the glass, in the actual mirror. If they would've used stickers I would've fixed it myself, but I had to wait for months for a new scope to be made. I'm very pleased with the new scope and Highpointscientific, the replacement seems perfect and I can collimate indoors without issue now.
Great I can't read properly. Wow this is even more baffling. Apertura really dropped the ball on this and left it for us to figure it out.
So this is just another new RC you got right? Not Apetura...
I've been struggling with collimation lately and I am out of 30 day period cause clouds lingered for 2 months and now trying it just doesn't help.
I'll give it one more shot and then do secondary center check like you did and see how that goes that is if that is the issue with mine.
I got another Apertura, I had made my own mark on the old one that worked while waiting on the replacement but it was very difficult to see without setting up a camera.
I ended up just cutting a small dot out of a sticker that put that where the actual center was. Mine was around 1/4 inch off
oh ok.
Has highpoint said anything that they'll be looking over this or something or are they just processing complaints on a per person basis you think? Just trying to get myself prepared to see how this goes later on..
Not sure how they're handling new issues, I found the issue in January of this year after reading a few posts about it here and on cloudynights. I'm pretty sure mine was handled as a warranty issue instead of a return, so maybe there's a chance yours would fall under the same process. The new RC8s that came in stock at the end of May should all be new ones with good center marks, and they also finally decided to put rack and pinion focusers on them instead of selling them as an up charge item.
oh that's interesting. thanks for clarifications btw. I'll see how it goes from here. I don't want to give up this so will try until I get this sorted out.
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After almost 6 months of trying to collimate, I finally found this video about collimating my RC8. An excellent explanation. I do mine while on the mount as I find it easier than moving around on a table. My GSO has held collimation fairly well for the past year. I don't disassemble my rig though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3UOGDUaq6o&t=5sCollimating at night in the dark just doesn't work for me. Cheers!
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Niraj:
Niraj:
Niraj:
Just a quick update, my collimation is dead on tonight using only the cheshire and the new center mark. Hopefully I hear something from Apertura soon, but at least the problem is an easy fix and just cosmetic.
So how was secondary sticker removed? Just carefully peeling it off?
No, the donut is etched into the glass, in the actual mirror. If they would've used stickers I would've fixed it myself, but I had to wait for months for a new scope to be made. I'm very pleased with the new scope and Highpointscientific, the replacement seems perfect and I can collimate indoors without issue now.
Great I can't read properly. Wow this is even more baffling. Apertura really dropped the ball on this and left it for us to figure it out.
So this is just another new RC you got right? Not Apetura...
I've been struggling with collimation lately and I am out of 30 day period cause clouds lingered for 2 months and now trying it just doesn't help.
I'll give it one more shot and then do secondary center check like you did and see how that goes that is if that is the issue with mine.
I got another Apertura, I had made my own mark on the old one that worked while waiting on the replacement but it was very difficult to see without setting up a camera.
I ended up just cutting a small dot out of a sticker that put that where the actual center was. Mine was around 1/4 inch off
oh ok.
Has highpoint said anything that they'll be looking over this or something or are they just processing complaints on a per person basis you think? Just trying to get myself prepared to see how this goes later on..
Not sure how they're handling new issues, I found the issue in January of this year after reading a few posts about it here and on cloudynights. I'm pretty sure mine was handled as a warranty issue instead of a return, so maybe there's a chance yours would fall under the same process. The new RC8s that came in stock at the end of May should all be new ones with good center marks, and they also finally decided to put rack and pinion focusers on them instead of selling them as an up charge item.
I disassembled the secondary mirror housing to measure donut center...and unfortunately it is in the dead center. so the manufacturing defect issue wouldn't quite apply to my condition. Now I am in more limbo as I can't get collimation right but I do have a question for anyone here- How to reset the primary mirror? It looks like in my desperation to get things right I most likely (may have) off-centered primary mirror to the point where any alignment afterwards would be just playing a game catch up or something like that. so if there's a way to do that, then maybe I can try again and see how it goes from there.
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I reset my primary by just backing out the locking screws and tightening the adjusting screws all the way. This should get the primary flat as a starting point. Here's a picture of my RC8 collimated with the TS RCKOLLI, basically an illuminated cheshire eyepiece. With it you just center the secondary donut in the eyepiece, then make the baffle tube concentric to align the primary. You can get a similar picture with a cheshire and collimation cap. This gets me very close on real star tests and I rarely adjust it any more in the dark.   |
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Not surprised others are finding that the secondary center mark is off. The quality control on these telescopes is lacking to say the least. Having read this thread and having a similar experience with a friend's Apertura dob (where the secondary was mounted utterly and grossly wrong - scope was returned). I would have to say it is best to avoid the brand.
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I reset my primary by just backing out the locking screws and tightening the adjusting screws all the way. This should get the primary flat as a starting point.
Here's a picture of my RC8 collimated with the TS RCKOLLI, basically an illuminated cheshire eyepiece. With it you just center the secondary donut in the eyepiece, then make the baffle tube concentric to align the primary. You can get a similar picture with a cheshire and collimation cap. This gets me very close on real star tests and I rarely adjust it any more in the dark. Thanks for the instructions on resetting the primary. Finally got the collimation nailed down. Albeit, it's still off a tiny bit but then most probably I'll do star test and refine it further that way. Just tired at the moment so will try to at least enjoy what I got so far. Thank you.
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