PST Help please

[Terry Byatt]

I have a PST which I’ve owned for about 7 years. Unfortunately, I’ve lost the small thumb screw that holds the eyepiece firmly in place while observing. The telescope is made by Meade and I contacted their main dealer (Telescope House) for Coronado PST’s. They informed me that they have been trying for months to get this spare (and others) from Meade but to no avail. I’ve even phoned Mead direct in the USA and they were totally unhelpful and unsympathetic. They just referred me back to their UK dealer! Does any Member know where I can obtain a suitable eyepiece thumb screw. I know it’s only a small item but it’s an important one.

Perhaps Members might also like to be aware of Meade’s apparent customer care attitude to an owner of their product in the UK!

 

 

[Mr Leonard Entwisle]

I can suggest trying http://www.scopestuff.com/index.html in the States (initially by an email question).They have a minimum order charge of $10 but a fantastic range of bits & bobs to add to make up a purchase.Hope this helps.

[Terry Byatt]

Thanks Len. I’ll give it a go

[Roy Hughes]

The screw is unlikely to be anything special.

So why not take the scope to your local engineering supplies shop and ask them to help?

A suitable Knurled Head screw should be fairly easy to find.

If my local shop is anything to go by they should be able to do a suitable screw for less than a pound or so.

[Terry Byatt]

I’ve emailed Scopestuff twice but with no reply. Perhaps their customer care to the UK is about as good as Meade (Coronado)!

[Mr Leonard Entwisle]

Sorry you have received no reply from the States. I thought that they may have been at NEAF http://www.rocklandastronomy.com/NEAF/Index.html‎ but they do not seem to be on the vendors list.

Looking in my Metal.plastic and Motors file you could try this UK supplier , particularly their Nylon Screws  http://www.modelfixings.co.uk/nylon_screws.htm

 Hope you can find something that fits (they do small quantities). It could be metric or UNC threaded. 

[Terry Byatt]

Of course your right, but I thought members might like to hear of my experience of Meade’s support and customer care.

[Terry Byatt]

Thanks again Len. I’ll persevere! 

[Callum Potter]

Hi Terry,

you could see if you could borrow a Meade star diagonal or focusser and see if the thumbscrew from that fits yours – at least then you would have a screw to compare against.

Most of these thumbscrews seem to be a bit non-standard to me… Though I must admit I have never measured one.

 

Callum

[Terry Byatt]

Hi Callum and thanks for reply.

For some unknown reason it seems that the thread used on the PST is a different one to that used on all other Meade telescopes and  accessories.

This lack of help from Meade would never have happened in Dudley’s day.   lol

[Mr Leonard Entwisle]

Following from #7 I would suggest you try 365Astronomy http://www.365astronomy.com/optical-accessories-other-accessories-c-4_29.html on this link and search thumb screws. A short chat on the phone may help as he has a good reputation. I bought my ASI120MM from him. Again I hope it is a help.

[Callum Potter]

I guess because they were originally made by Coronado, and they used their own tooling… Probably never been changed to use ‘standard’ Meade threads.

Maybe you could find someone with a broken PST available for spares?

Cheers, Callum

[Terry Byatt]

I finally found a thumb screw to fit my PST eyepiece holder.  A friend had an cheap old Japanese refractor that he bought through a newspaper advert many years ago. The telescope is rubbish but the thumb screw fits!!! Perhaps there is a moral here….never throw away any astro bits.  🙂

Thanks to all those who submitted suggestions

Terry

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