Help with sticking sunshade on telescope

[DonaldD]

Hi

I have just bought a TEL SIG Mk VI by Broadhurst Clarkson. It all works well, good optics, draws have nice patina and leather in excellent state. Only problem is that the sunshade is very stiff and only slides about .25".
Am looking for suggestions on what I can do to get it to work more smoothly and slide the whole way.

Thanks in advance

Donald

Information

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[Peter Laidler]

Does it rotate through 360 degrees when it's in its closed position? If it doesn't, it means that the shade and drawer over which it slides might be slightly oval.

[DonaldD]

The brass of the shade rotates through 360, but just noticed that the milled ring at the rear of the shade doesn't rotate. Tried a wee bit more pulling force while rotating and got it extended close to an inch. It will probably go further, but don't want to risk any damage if there is an easier way

Donald

[Peter Laidler]

Unscrew and remove the complete front end, complete with OG lens and shade to separate the OG assembly from the rest of the telescope. Then pull the shade off from the rear. Now set about deciding what's wrong and stuck

[DonaldD]

Thank you Peter
I have unscrewed the shade from the milled ring and slid it off the front of the scope. There seems to be a very slight indent in the front draw (the one which holds the OG lens) The milled rear ring of the shade will go this far with some difficulty but no further. This equates to the shade opening by just over 2" - is it meant to go further? Looking at other pics on the forum, that 2" looks similar. I'll try and clean the sliding parts as best as I can with some alcohol to remove the dirt or could it be powdered graphite that was used? I assume that they should be assembled dry, or did I see another post suggesting French chalk? If it wasn't part of a telescope, I'd be tempted to give it a wipe with some 3 in 1 but will resist that until someone says that it is safe to do so.
At the end of the day, if I can get the shade to open about 2" smoothly then I'll be happy. I'd rather have it that way rather than risk doing some damage I might regret!