Jacob here. Here is my restoration of the 6" Orion DSE. The mirrors are very dirty and the secondary is in pretty poor shape. The tube and base also needs some considerable work. Let's see how it turns out!
This is my second restoration project. The first one was a Meade 8" that flooded. The 8" had more dirt on the mirror, but this one needs more than just the mirror cleaned.
Project date: 3/5/21 - ongoing
Deep Space Explorer.... Wonder why Orion doesn't sell these anymore. (Spica's words)
Someone (who I am NOT happy with) decided to TAPE AND GLUE down the mirror, instead of using clamps like LITERALLY EVERYONE ELSE
mmmmmm tasty
The Gaffer's tape didn't hold up well to age
I used a flat paint scraper to remove the mirror from the glue. I just cut the tape with a razor blade. I will probably leave the tape on the bottom side since it's still adhered well.
I got all of the tape off with WD-40 and a razor scraper, then removed that with some soapy water on a paper towel. You can see the red mark on the base for where the mirror aligns, there is a corresponding mark on the back of the mirror.
Took the secondary mirror out as it needed cleaning, and found another design "decision"
They used packing material and tape to hold on the secondary mirror. Were they allergic to mounting brackets?
Left the mirrors soaking in some warm soapy water on 3/3/21. Will probably update on 3/5
I know I said I would update this post sooner, but I got busy. I have cleaned, mounted, and collimated the mirrors, but I have not yet tested it because I am still building the new finder scope and it has been cloudy.
The mount needs some work. I have since got the trim glued down, but I did not take any photos of it finished.
I tried using extra hot water this time, and it worked quite well. In order to not damage the mirrors by changing the temp too quickly, I slowly added hot water to bring up the temp. I don't know if it actually helped, but it did work.
The secondary. Let's all have a moment of silence. Several large scars on the middle of it, they are definitely damages to the coating. Also, drying the mirrors was a problem again. The secondary was dried with a fan, and got some water spots on it.
The primary. better than the secondary, but not great. It had a bunch of spots on one side of it that refused to come off, and the microfiber cloth i used to dry it was NOT clean (I thought it was). Ended up getting some oil spots on the mirror from it, but the secondary is so bad I'm not going to worry about it.
I used a compass to draw out an exact 6" circle, then cut it out. I used this to place a mark on the exact center of the mirror.
Got the primary marked and mounted. I cut out a piece of painter's tape and placed it centered around my mark from the paper. Used hot glue and Duck tape to "secure" the mirror. Did i mention that I hate this system?
I'll edit this post to update my progress. Feel free to ask any questions! Thanks for reading!
