Celestron C-130 Maksutov Cassegrain

     This is a nice little scope with a huge focal length. This scope has very good optics for it's price range, and fills a niche for it's portability. The C-130 has many quirks to overcome, but has great potential. As an astronomical scope it is best mated with owners that have the desire to tinker, or build their own scopes. The casual astronomical observer not interested in "messing with things" is unlikely to enjoy this scope as it has issues that need to be worked around. Having said that, let's take a closer look.

The Back End- This is where all the troubles lie. Some designer had the bright idea to attempt to create a multi-purpose scope, but lacked either the ability and/or budget to pull it off effectively.

     The flip-mirror assembly is a novel idea, if left on the drawing board only. This is the weak link in an otherwise great telescope. If an observer feels the need for a flip-mirror, it is not necessary to buy a whole new telescope to get one. Why then does a manufacturer feel the need to integrate a flip mirror into the back of a telescope? This is the question all C-130 owners ask themselves shortly after their first night out with this scope. If left to the birds (meaning bird watchers) the flip mirror is all well and fine since most terrestrial viewers will bypass the mirror and sight through the included erecting prism. One big pain in the neck (quite literally) about the flip mirror is the inability to rotate for comfortable viewing; when the telescope is set up on an equatorial mount, the fixed location of the eyepiece on the top of the tube forces the observer to crook their neck to view near the horizon . Another problem is the seemingly poor quality of the mirror itself, if compared to a high quality star diagonal the image difference becomes obvious. All of this stated without mentioning the severe misalignment that plagues the flip mechanism. These concerns assure many will abandon their flip mirrors seeking adaptors to attach more conventional star diagonals. By this point the scope appears like a criple limping
along on one good limb. The reality though is that telescopes
are always one-legged, otherwise they would have two legs
and we would call them binoculars.

The Rest of the Scope- A diamond in the rough. It looks like a real optician was on staff working independently of the scope designers and market analysts that came up with the flip idea.

     With the flip-mirror aside the telescope starts showing real promise. There are collimation screws hiding under that plastic back, so the scope has fine tuning abilty at least on the primary mirror. The focusing unit moves the primary mirror smoothly, no slop or image shift on my example. The secondary mirror looks like a silver spot on the meniscus, so no tinkering there. The meniscus is multi-coated. The primary and secondary baffle tubes, as well as the main tube have finely ringed baffling inside to reduce light scatter. Everything a scope builder or tinkerer needs is right here just waiting to be realized despite that flip mirror. Having had some fantastic viewing through this scope it is easy to understand the desire to modify one to
perform better. The telescope inside is
just too good for the monkey on it's back.

Freeing the Monkey- Time to peel away the scabby back.

Here are the steps for removing the flip-mirror assembly.

Step1: Remove the focus knob. Pull towards yourself, there are no set screws retaining the knob. Some of the knobs are well glued. It might be necessary to tap the knob lightly with a small rubber mallet to break the glue bond. Be careful and patient on this step and you will be able to reuse the knob without doing any damage.

Step2: Unscrew the 3 recessed philips head screws. Remove the plastic back.

     Once inside feel free to make any necessary adjustments. Since I will be discarding most of the flip-mirror assembly in favor of my redesigned aluminum back I will not go into too much detail here. I will say that I really dislike the maze of random angles and glossy finish inside the flip assembly.

Glossy Inner Surface- The glare from the flash shows how the inside assembly might benefit from an anti-reflective coating.	Remove Dust Lens- You will need a lens spreader wrench, this is a good investment for anyone working on telescopes.