Accident! Ed Destroys a Telescope. Total Loss!
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- čas přidán 7. 09. 2024
- For the first (and hopefully only) time in my life, I dropped a telescope. Ugh.
How to collimate a Schmidt-Newtonian: www.weasner.com...
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If someone local wants the remnants (I'd like to keep the Moonlite) make me an offer (hint: I probably won't refuse). Otherwise it may go on the swap table at Stellafane.
Good News Ed!! - I have a corrector plate with secondary from an SN10. Bought it used and when I went in to do some upgrades (JMI focuser and internal tube reinforcements) found the previous owner polished the primary with sandpaper. Parts have just been sitting around the garage and was about to clear it out for a new Newt. Let you have it for shipping costs.
@@gregmerkle1851 Greg, are you sure? Can you message me at eting at aol?
@@edting Follow-up video required!
I'd love to see a follow-up video if everything works out@@edting
@@gregmerkle1851 That is great news Greg. I just wanted to let you know that your story about the primary in your SN10 sent a cold shiver up my spine. Sandpaper? Yikes.
Thanks for sharing, my stomach dropped when I saw the corrector plate. Good on you for making it right with the owner though! “$h1t happens!”
"There's no sense crying
Over every mistake
You just keep on trying
'til you run out of cake"
--Aperture Science
Forget the mistake and remember the lesson.
@@gammondog GLaDOS is still alive?
I have to say it.
I have to say it.
_the cake is a lie_
@@cygnus1129 Noooooooooo!!!
My worst nightmare. I feel for you.
Sorry to hear about this Ed! Given the cost of equipment, and rarity of parts for older scopes, this truly is a nightmare scenario!
So sorry for the accident. I hope there is a silver lining as a result down the road. I appreciate all you do for this community and your content is excellent. Take Care!
Wow, sorry to hear that. I was looking forward to a Schmitt Newtonian review.
I visibly cringed when I read the title. I just had a similar accident using an AZ-GTI as a EQ mount. The skywatcher legs are twist clamps and one leg got loose in the cold on a sub zero night, and one leg clamp let go. It smashed a 2 month old full spectrum modified Sony A6000. It also damaged the focuser in a Skywatcher 72ed but I fortunately fixed it by taking it apart. Best of luck on your new telescope project.
Those twist clamp leg extensions always scare me. I haven't had an issue yet. But, every time I set up, it's on my mind.
I bought a Celestron 6" SCT with a shattered corrector plate for spare parts. Have seen several available since then. So, it would seem that Ed is not the first person who dropped an optical tube.
Ouch :( Sorry that happened. It's pretty crazy that adapter plate isn't dovetailed and only clamped in with the thin edge of the mounting bracket.
During Expo ‘86, I visited Vancouver and read archived copies of the Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC) at UBC’s library.
There I read that in the sixties (IIRC), the Montreal Centre of the RASC observed from a 6th floor balcony of the Sun Life (insurance) bldg in downtown Montreal.
One night their 6 inch refractor fell off the balcony.
I returned home to Eastern Ontario. And I frequently observed with Terrence Dickinson in his driveway.
Terry’s father had recently passed away and he was mourning his dad. A bit before midnight, we took a break inside his house and I told him the 6” refractor story from Montreal.
Terry was beginning his use of Astro Physics refractors and had a 5” f/12 at the time.
The destroyed Montreal refractor was just the bit of black humour that Terry needed right then. He laughed and laughed and laughed.
The story seemed to relax him hugely. We had many superb observing sessions in his driveway.
Ed, you’re an honourable man to pay up for your buddy’s scope.
Terry D. had a Cerovolo 8.5” Mak-Newtonian for a while. Terry was a keen and accomplished planetary observer. The Mak-Newt had a very long cool down time and exhibited tube currents for hours after set-up.
OTOH, it showed the cometary impact remnants on Jupiter very nicely. I was fortunate - to say the least - to observe Jupiter with Terry fairly soon after impacts. Fascinating!
Sorry for the loss. Almost had a related story myself. Been suffering from the damage of a kidney stone for months. Finally doctors suggested for major surgery. Performed @ January 8th. Wasn't allowed to lift anything over 10 lbs for four weeks. Then bad weather settled over central Ohio for most of February.
Finally clear weather this week but an earlier old foot/nerve damage reared its ugly head again. So bad it was waking me at night. My podiatrist administered some shots and put me in a walking boot.
Well, I wasn't going to waste a clear night and walking boot and all I took my astro tech 115 out and got shots of Orion. Bringing it in, yes my boot caught a landscaping stone. I started stumbling forward my cement patio, tube and all. I don't know how, but I saved it.
But what is really sad I was processing the pictures Thursday night and the drive where I had the frames fried while stacking. Oh well...
I'd did appreciated the subtle commiserated humor inserted by Ed in this video.
This is my worst nightmare. Uggh. I used a similar adapter from iOptron for my C9.25. Once. I decided I needed a bigger mount for other reasons. I cannot help but think this would have happened eventually. These Schmidt-Newtonians are intriguing. Good luck getting this back into some usable form!
I dropped a Vixen SS 200 from a Vixen GP mount, because those saddles are funny, and designed specifically for that weird Vixen plate. Anyway, I was lucky. the tube had a significant dent by the primary, and it also landed on the focuser causing a deformation of the tube where the focuser is. I was able to make the area around the focuser near perfect, using some bent washers and screws, to pull the dents out. I learned a lot from that mistake.
Same thing here. Old Polaris mounts are great but you need an adapter and they don't always fit properly.
That's what my SN 10" looked like when it was first shipped out back in 2001, looked like it fell out of the back of the UPS truck and then ran over it, the secondary came loose inside the tube, thankfully they did ship me out a new one though, I still have it, I flocked it and put a Baader focuser on it.🙂
Many years ago (almost 20!) folks from Tucson and Phoenix were gathering at Farnsworth Ranch south of Arizona City for - I think - a Messier Marathon. One fellow from Tucson was one of the few that had set up the night before; but the rest of us started arriving mid-afternoon. He had a C11 on a very big mount (Losmandy?) with a solar blanket wrapped around it to keep the harsh AZ sun off of it. Well a dust devil came along, grabbed the solar blanket and tossed that setup to the ground. Corrector plate was toast - don't recall any details on the mirror. But man, there was a huge collective sphincter clinch when it happened. He just packed up everything and left.
Many a mental note was made. Keep sails off the scopes.
Wow, the wind on the blanket had enough force to pull over the entire rig, eh?
@@edting oh yeah, when we get hit by those, tents with a cinderblock or two will go flying, or at the very least get torn to shreds.
Hey ed! I had an interesting accident somewhat like that last month. I had left my 5” Newtonian reflector on its mount fully set up when all of a sudden, I hear a load bang! The telescope just randomly popped off the mount! Somehow even though it landed on the mirror end of the telescope, it only had a small nick on it! I have been using since then and have been getting great view!
I saw a dust devil at a Wyoming star party pick up a large canopy tent, drag it about 30 feet into the air, and drop it on someone's vehicle.
I own an SN-10. One of the first things I did when I bought the OTA off another club member was swap the vixen plate with a losmandy plate. It's really stretching the limits of my EQ6r pro.
I always had that fear of dropping my 38lb scope or having it fall off the mount. Sorry it happened to you Ed.
40 years ago I accidentally knocked my Edmund Astroscan 2001 off its makeshift stand and irrevocably broke it. Not nearly as big a loss and it was mine, not another's. I feel for you bigtime man.
Sharing the downs and ups is important. Sorry that happened to you.
Also going to go check the plate on my Takahashi....
Yes! The next morning I went to all my scopes and tightened the knobs on the plates.
I have the reverse situation with a Losmandy plate adapted to a Vixen mount. The Losmandy plate slipped once and dinged one tooth of my focuser. It's still fully functional. I use a safety bolt on the dovetail plate now, so it can only slide up. There is not enough room on the Vixen plate to use a bolt, but at least the Vixen clamp has a main bolt and a safety bolt. The standard Vixen clamp is not popular, but it does seem less prone to slipping. I think they need to make some design adjustments.
OMG Ed, I feel for you! Now, this scope was obviously made into quite a beautiful instrument by the previous owner. My guess is that there are still a bunch of these around with the original crappy plastic focuser, most likely out of collimation, sitting in a garage gathering dust. That's the one you want!! The owner will be thrilled to get $400 for this large piece of crap and that's where your renovation journey starts... Two ads, one on Cloudy Nights, one on Astromart, asking for a 10" Meade Schmidt Newtonian that is no longer seeing much use. Shipping will be expensive, but maybe they'll cut you a deal after seeing this video. Keep it up!! :)
P.S. You may even be able to get them to sell you just the corrector plate... less shipping costs... It seems like a shame to discard a telescope that once was really nice - and I have read that with some TLC, these 10" Schmidt-Newtonians can be turned into wonderful performers.
Sad. I have seen other corrector plates broken like that from ground impacts.
Heartbreaking, but testament to your character, you did the right thing!
Don't feel too bad Mr Ting. I bought a Celestron Nester 8SE. On my second venture outside I didn't check to make sure the tube was properly seated in the mount. As the telescope slew it fell off the mount. Yes I now have a spider web on mine too. Called Celestron, they said since the tube had a small dent in the end it would be cheaper to buy a new one. They don't sell the 8SE tube only so I bought a whole new 8SE. The only positive out of this situation is I now have a Go To mount for my Explorer Scientific ED102 4" refractor. Now I can use both at the same time!
Ed, I think this might be the time to invest in a good dual saddle for your Mount. Otherwise, somebody might be able to mill some slots into your Vixen Adapter to rectify your issue as well.
Something just occurred to me - the stock dovetail bar is cast aluminum and is mostly a rectangle, not a dovetail (prism) shape - there is only a small area near the middle of the bar where the clamp can "bite". Your adapter may have been biting on a rectangle and not a dovetail. Check that - you may feel better afterward. (That system was cloned from Vixen, like so much of the LXD55/75 mount.)
Sorry for your loss, but you have made it into a teachable moment. Kudos on you, Ed.
P. S. Why on earth are these mounting plates NOT dovetailed???? This seems more like a product defect than an accident.
agreed; absolutely stupid design on Losmandy's side. I really dont know what they thought when making this because a dovetail is so easy to cut that it really wouldnt even add to the price at all.
if you do experiment with the spherical mirror, do as I did and play around with different aperture masks to see if that much spherical aberration can be made tolerable. I stopped my firstscope down to to roughly 60 percent diameter to get the SA below a quarter wave and the focal ratio to around 6. This is roughly the ratio that Newton used on one of his specimens.
Wow! Thanks for sharing, it could save a scope in the future.
Well, you probably saved someone else's equipment with your honest (and brave) video. It serves as a terrifying reminder that if it can go wrong, it likely will go wrong.
I just want to echo the thoughts that all the prior posters have expressed. I'm hopeful that somewhere in all your followers and friends that a solution will be found to repair this telescope. Keep us posted and keep up the great work. I am still a novice at this passion but I take great inspiration from you and your many experienced and knowledgeable subscribers.
Sorry about the slipped mount and all the ensuing damage it caused, all you can does just pick up the pieces and keep moving forward. I have really enjoyed watching your reviews and the astronomy community owes you a big thank you for your efforts. I have a 2000's Meade LXD-75 and the mount worked for about 6 months till it succumbed to a slipped gear. I still have the mount and thought about spending the money to have it fixed but I would probably be better off replacing it with something beefier like an Atlas. The 10" optical tube is still in great shape and would like to replace the focuser.
Sorry to see the damage.
Maybe you'll consider replacing that V-D adapter now with a proper one even with lighter loads. No sense risking much more expensive equipment for the sake of an proper adapter.
I recently pulled out my Orion SkyBlast 6 and I would like information on how to travel with it. Orion no longer makes a travel case for it. Love your channel!!
My condolences! I love my 6 inch SN6 and I'm sorry to see one less SN under the Universe. I replaced my focuser with a GSO one and plan to flock the tube. I, too, did have an accident--I managed to drop the secondary out of the corrector onto the primary when I was trying to do a collimation--result a slight chip on the edge of the secondary and a small scratch in the primary coating. What black Sharpies are good for! That secondary mount retaining ring is dangerous! Frankly, the way we mount our scopes on an EQ mount is pretty dicey--there must be a better way than pressure plates. I'm surprised we don't have more accidents.
i had the same thing happen with my one month old 6" Celestron SCT.... breaking the corrector plate sucked.
I'm very sorry that happened. In my Astronomy club
( GOAAA in Portugal ) we have a SN-10 and a SN-8. We both changed the focusers. Mine being the SN-8, I use it with the PO IMX585C camera. Due to the sensor being small, I don't need extra correctors. The images produced are of very good quality. I hope you can find a solution to get it working.
Paulo
That sighed silence was 90% of the story. That is rough man.
Ouch! Might be some ATM glass glass pusher out there who might want to try their hand at a Schmidt corrector plate. Probably not, but it doesn't cost anything to ask around... Or perhaps try for a parabolic replacement mirror and forget the corrector plate. Otherwise, condolences. That's enough to make anyone feel bad... 😢
I've always felt that that design of dovetail plates, now they are pervasive in the hobby, lend themselves to the possibility of these kinds of accidents when a scope is near horizontal (due to the moment) or vertical (due to the lack of end plates). I wish there were more secure mounting standards but none seem to have really caught on.
There's actually a much better plate that I should have used. The whole thing is my fault.
@@edting I have the 7953 Orion adapter. It is extremely solid and could likely hold my entire body weight clamped in a mount, the downside being that it is very heavy for the job weighing in at over a kg. For sure overkill but I want to be extra sure my equipment is going nowhere. Definitely hate to see a nice scope go down like that
There was a guy making corrector plates for those making Schmitt Newtonian's I recall, if still in business he could produce one for that F4 spere you have there.
Ugh, so sorry to hear all that, Ed.
My SN8 fell off the mount, didn't check the dovetail properly, nearest I've come to having a stroke! Such is life. The mount was hard work and poor. That said the optics when I did use it seemed quite good, even with that original focuser.
Ouch!
It might be possible to flex the mirror into a parabola with an annular pulling ring mounted on the rear of the mirror.S&T mag had an article on it, but I don’t remember which issue.
I have one of those scopes. The LXD55 mount actually still works after over 20 years. The UHTC coatings work very well. I also replaced the terrible focuser with the Moonlight one. Great scope for tic tac toeing up and down the Milky Way. It provided my best view of M31 ever using a 22 Pantopic. My ZWO cooled camera (294MC Pro) is very happy with the large fast aperture. On the downside aside from the focuser, the paint is coming off the tube in big chunks.
It happens to all of us eventually. I dropped an 8" mirror that I was grinding myself. I still remember the sound it made, and the huge chip it caused and crack it left.
I'm sorry that this happened to you Ed. I had my 8" F4 Orion oriented the same way when my mount decided to let go of that weird Vixen plate. Thankfully for me the real damage was a fairly small dent in the ota and a scraped up focuser knob. I don't know if this is a great solution, but you could always modify it with a conventional F4 mirror system. At least the tube and the focuser could still be put to use. For the old optics you could maybe modify it into a really good shaving mirror🙂
Post Edit: After reading the comments I guess disregard. I hope that pans out. If it does, I hope you can eventually do the testing you originally planned.
well look at it this way, those cracks will produce some awesome diffraction spikes on bright stars. Might be cool looking!
Oh boy! Sorry to hear about the accident. Nice that you're doing reviews on old Meade equipment. Dropping a large scope always scares me now that I'm in my 60's. Your cautionary tale will do me and many others good though. After watching this, I will be paying extra attention to the set up on Monday with my Lunt LS152 THa. I would dig a hole and jump in if anything happened to that scope. Keep up the good reviews.
Condolences on the loss of the instruments. But at least you didn't get hurt. I question the design of the Losmandy converter. Since it works by friction alone, I wouldn't even use it on the lighter scopes. It might be prudent to look for a better design.
As for the SN10 - I sold mine to an imager because although the low power views were indeed fine, it struggled at 30x per inch. Like all Schmidt telescopes of the era, it was hit or miss if you'd get one that could take high powers. I built a 10" f/4.5 Newtonian to replace it. That has a Royce mirror and 1/20th wave secondary. BTW the "blue ghost" collimation method was my invention! :) It really did make a big improvement. All Schmidt telescopes need perfect placement of the corrector and secondary precisely centered in it. There is a lot of factory slop to reel in.
Each time I mount my C9, I imagine what it would be like if I didn't quite tighten everything down just right and it falls off. Sorry you experienced this costly misfortune.
🙁... I dropped a 6se OTA within an hour of buying it. At least it was used for a good price and I still had the mount.
The LXD 75 is fine. (Unlike the LXD 55 it replaced)
Bought mine in 2004 (The SN8 version), still works great for me!
I did a hypertune back in the day, but other than that, it’s pretty much how I bought it. YMMV
Ed,
The pain you feel clearly comes through in your video. I hope your new project helps to heal your loss. Always enjoy your videos but this one maybe not so much...
BC
I feel that. I have a classic 10" SCT and it fell off the tripod. Luckily it all hit the wall and cut into it before hitting the floor. The tube was attached to the fork arms still. It was very heavy. It fell into me, rolled over to the wall smashed into the wall and fell to the floor. I was on the bottom trying to get the screw in the center to go into the fork arms. Luckily nothing broke in the glass department, but I had a focuser on the back that was misaligned. I could fix it. Even the collumation was good. Now the blue paint is scratched though and there's a very slight dent on the outside.
I reached the part with the spacer. Celestron spacers for their scts which weren't cork, were pieces of paper glued together. I replaced them all with us postal service small box cardboard which perfectly matched the space and solved the spacer issue
My LXD75 mount is now 20 years old and still runs perfectly. I would buy an f/4 paraboloidal mirror for it. Or take a class to refigure the mirror yourself. The hard work is already done, it's a sphere with a good edge.
That's really bad luck, Ed, commiserations. Having broken a few expensive bits of kit myself I know how gut-wrenching it can be. It's not the cost so much as the "how can I have been so stupid?" feeling, and the sadness of ruining a nice telescope.
THIS SCOPE MUST BE SAVED!
People have come to the rescue. It might be saved!
We’ve all done something like this Ed, I have a couple I can’t even talk about!
So very sorry, take care and clear skies
Love this video because shows me even someone as well spoken and brilliant as you is human.
❤
Sell some tshirts. You've certainly inspired me. An I support library astronomy T-shirt . But first an I support astronomy equipment accidents shirt. I've had one myself and I know how soul squeezing feels.
So sorry that happened to Ed. I almost dropped an 8" Newtonian trying to put it on a too high mount. I waited until I got help, but your scope went on, but fell off. In hindsight you should've ..... I hope the owner gave you a break on the price.
Oh my...we had an SCT go down of its mount once. The sound it made I can still hear.
Wow, sorry to hear this Ed. I am sure that is a very expensive mistake but things happen and we learn from them.
Hi Ed, sorry for your accident... Now considering the amount of damage, wouldn't it be interesting to try to .... glue it back together? Maybe with a ground marble reference plane that is accurate enough? But I have to admit that I don't know if you can find these at a reasonable price...
Soon after I got my new 6 inch Mak, I accidentally tipped it over while I was adjusting the tripod legs. I was lucky in that the red dot finder absorbed all the impact. The finder was smashed to pieces but, luckily the OTA seemed to weather the ordeal unscathed.
Oh god. This reminds me of when I cracked the primary mirror of my brand new RCOS RC. More than 20 years later I still feel guilt for that. The mirror was reground and recoated and is still in use.
That sucks!!! That is my biggest fear. I am sure the owner was not very happy as well. At least you learned a lesson even though it was very expensive. It happens to all of us at some time or another. Thanks for sharing the mistake.
tough break, since you smashed the telescope, i'm smashing the like button 👍
Wow, anyone’s worst nightmare. Love your positivity re the focuser though. Hopefully, the commenter that mentioned having a corrector plate can help you out.
Oh dear Ed. I feel your pain man.
I happen to have an unused sn10 corrector if you're interested! (Tucson AZ)
put an aperture stop at the center of curvature of the mirror and make a "Lensless Schmidt". The lensless Schmidt is probably the most planned but never executed camera in the hobby so it will be cool to get a test and review of one, make some good out of the accident.
Interesting! I'm going to look into that.
It happens to the best of us 😢 but be hopeful you might find a second hand corrector plate at sometime so whatever you chose to do make sure you can go back to the original configuration.
I did EXACTLY the same thing with exactly the same scope, about 6 years ago or so. It's been sitting in storage since then. The funny thing is when I looked through the eyepiece after the accident, the image was COMPLETELY CLEAR. I as astounded. It happened about 6 years ago, and prompted me to move onto a different scope because I posted on Cloudy Nights and basically the response I got was "yeah, you might be able to find someone to make a replacement corrector plate, but it would probably cost 10x what the scope was worth. So I've moved on. But it's still an unfortunate accident. Mine also had an upgraded focuser (not a Moonlight, can't remember the brand off the top of my head) which I'd be happy to sell if someone is interested. The main mirror is also in fine condition.
Good outcome for you! I don't want to try looking through this one in this condition. The damage to the corrector plate is so extensive I'm surprised the secondary is still attached. It won't take much for it to break loose and hit the primary.
I had one of those and must have been lucky with my LXD75 10" version as the optical tube was pin sharp with great colour accuracy, as you said when fully collimated with a good laser as it took some time to master the art of collimation with it! The downside was the Meade's mount could not handle the weight of such an optical scope even when balanced perfectly the motors would struggle, and I had one motor replaced as well as a new handset.
Sorry for your trouble on this one. Hope you had some sort of insurance to cover the loss.
Sorry to see mate. I would not stay as composed as you talking about that Losmandy adaptor with its square base. What were they thinking?
You could put a parabolic GSO mirror in there.
The Celestron Astromaster 130 is notorious for some (many?) samples featuring a spherical mirror. I looked through one once. Low power views were ok but higher magnification - forget it. Not interesting, just crap.
Oh PAIN! Love the Meade SNs.
I made my own Vixen adapter for my mount using hardwood. I molded it to fit snug under the lip and then bolted onto the existing plate. Still, I cannot help but check it over closely before using each session.
😬I wondered how one would make good to the owner but you answered my question. Send the owner a generous check with a letter of apology. I wonder if the machinery used to figure mirrors has advanced enough to bring down the price for parabolics to make corrector plates redundant. I bought my six inch mirror from Coultier in 1989. It was spect an 1/20th of a wavelength. Cost a pretty penny at the time.
I've been thinking about laying down some of that thick rubber gym floormat around my telescope. It might prevent disaster for dropped eyepieces. Don't know if it would do much for a full 38 lb telescope.
It seems like if someone wants to grind a mirror, you could grind the coating off the spherical mirror and then parabolize it. It would still take all the skill and a lot of the work of making a 10" mirror of that size, but at least there'd be a use for it, and you'd save the cost of the blank and some of the work rough-grinding out the curve in the beginning.
If you could get the right lenses you could also try turning it into a Jones-Bird design (huge if, though).
One more comment - I helped a beginner set up a 5" f/5 Celestron she received as a door prize from her work. That had, to my absolute shock, a spherical mirror. Here is what you see. On one side of focus, you see a pattern of rings that looks like an archery target. On the other, it looks like just a fuzzy blob of light. There IS no actual focus. The ring pattern goes over into mush in such a way that NO focus is ever achieved. When you get to 4 or so rings, the mush takes over and you transition from mush to sharp rings without ever getting focus. Jupiter was just a pale yellow disk with no features other than hints of the equatorial bands. It was the worst telescope I've ever looked through. The limit for a spherical mirror depends on the aperture. For a 4" mirror, you can start to get good images at f/10 or so. For a 6", f/12 to f/15.
Sorry for your accident. That's everyone's nightmare. But that "adaptor" just looks like a regular Vixen saddle plate. A D to V adaptor would definitely be dovetailed.
So sorry this happened to you Ed.
This hurts to see. I’ve observed several times through the exact same OTA just still with the stock focuser.
As for saving it… You can probably replace the primary along with a traditional secondary to avoid the wave errors or send to someone to refigure as a parabola.
Could we design some safety harnesses to attach to the tripods???hmm itd still impact but maybe not so rough
Hello, Mr. Ting;
I'm so sorry to hear of your misfortune and the ongoing consequences.
I appreciate your honesty and your responsible attitude.
It sounds like your fellow club member may actually benefit from your misadventure.
I don't think I want a Schmidt-Newtonian, after hearing your description.
I have enough trouble w/ my cheap refractor & newtonian.
At least I think I have enough mount/tripod for my OTAs.
If I can I want an 8 or 10" Dob, just the basic 'eye full of sky'.
I'm not adept enough to know if a scope is bad unless it is really obvious.
I have no interest in astrophotography so I need much more than say, a XT8 or a XT10.
Then again, I may try to sell my scopes & spend my nights in bed, if I could get to sleep.
Thank you for sharing.
Have a GREAT day, Neighbor!
Kudos for owning up to it, Ed.
oh... I really hope the damage could be fixed...
I almost pulled the trigger on one in the mid-90's glad I didn't, I bought a SC ten inch instead. My regards on you're loss.
Have you tried asking Huygens Optics - Dr. Jeroen Vleggaar or Toscanoptics in Italy?
That's the same scope I am using. I even still have the LXD75 mount. Mount still works fine. I upgraded to a skywatcher eq6-r pro last summer.
How are you liking the Eq6 mount? Ive got the 10" Schmidt Newt ota and ive got to get a mount for it. I think ive settled on the Eq6 R pro myself, but keen to hear from users.