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This might have been discussed before but...C14 edge.? This scope is an optical dog, has been since day one.? Primarily had astigmatism.? Took the corrector out.? There are three alignment marks:? there is one on the edge of the corrector plate, etched saying "align".? There is a black sharpie mark on the primary, and a black sharpie mark on the secondary/secondary housing.? I have rotated the corrector so that the "align" mark align with the mark on the primary.? This seems to have helped with the astigmatism.?But this scope is just not sharp.?

For example, last night my seeing monitor (Santa Barbara Scientific) showed about 1" seeing (sometimes better).? I used a Cool Edge to cool the scope, the scope acclimated for about two hours.? Collimation was checked and adjusted straight through the back end, no diagonal.? I have an external focuser.? I am using an Astro-Physics Maxbright 2" diagonal with Televue Plossl eyepieces.? Jupiter was well placed and at high elevation.? Had trouble deciding where focus was at 230X and 300X.? Pretty much a fuzzy tennis ball.? Stars are somewhat blobish.? Different eyepieces, different diagonal, same result.? This scope has always struggled with this.? And I do have virtually optically perfect scopes here-Astro-Physics refractor and a Mewlon 250.

So the question is-should all three alignment marks line up: corrector with primary, secondary with primary and corrector?? This is a "Covid" vintage scope, produced in I think 2021.? As it sat unused for some time, it is long out of warranty.?

Thanks,?

The C14s have a defect, going back decades, where the primary is not adequately secured.? In the times before EdgeHD, the fix was to tighten the circular lock washer on top of the primary.? That's what I did to my band new C14 back around 02 and it turned a dog into a great scope, has been ever since.

But the EdgeHD uses a different system and this procedure is not applicable.? It might still work on the "regular" C14s.??

When the primary is not adequately secured it can be functioning great on one side of the mount (German equatorial) and dog town on the other side.? You just won't get consistent reliable performance.

So it's possible that you have a quality control issue; and I would say, likely.? I wouldn recommend against the EdgeHDs given the frequency with which this problem occurs.? Get a regular.? (I realize you already have an EdgeHD).? ?We have a local outreach observatory, spent a fortune on an EdgeHD 14, and it's basically junk.

Of course you never really know how good the seeing is unless you have some other scope and can check for a "second opinion" on sky conditions.

Greg N

Greg, do you have some pictures or description of the fix which you described above, "to tighten the circular lock washer on top of the primary"?

I have C14 XLT which works fine, but just in case.

Thanks.

Milan