moriniboy

Agreed, it was an excellent prom.

FLO have offered a return to base solution and they will undertake the polishing, I will be taking them up on this offer. Thanks FLO.

First problem (for me anyway) imprints of the tube rings in the tube CF. Not sure how to deal with this. The tube was covered in lightweight wrapping paper and the rings were on top of the paper.

5 minutes ago, The60mmKid said:

That looks great, and I really like those focusers. Did you require an adapter to fit the focuser?

Yes, got a local guy to machine it for me as nothing was available in the Baader catalogue.

Not sure if I have posted this before, my Vixen Super Polaris FL-80S with replacement Baader diamond steeltrack focuser.

Lets face it as its a new scope there should not be any dust or swarf - period.

The seller should take this scope back.

Did you by any chance pay by PayPal, if you have I would open a case for its return?

Hi, where are you based, perhaps you just need some tuition on this scope.

Yes its great, been there since I set up this morning.

Agreed Steve but PADAS does not have that level of funds, we are after a stop gap solution. An old Equinox 66 would be best.

Anyone tried this combination, did it work well?

I was not happy with the aesthetics of my original solution so now the new stainless weight and bar have arrived l have  connected it direct to the ADM saddle. The bar is also longer so the 1kg weight should suffice.

9 hours ago, DaveL59 said:

I had thought they were ally too, but a magnet does stick to the OTA on my 100RS so I'd say steel it is. The other TAL reflectors I have are all ally tho.

No idea if the idea of barlow-diagonal-eyepiece would work but worth a go. Bear in mind tho that it'll increase mag to more than the rated barlow because of the extra distance from the barlow lens. How much I don't know but your x3 may become more like x5 which could be too much for the optics.

For the baffles I did find a thread on here for converting to solar (PST) and that showed the removed baffles, which were likely a push-in fit.

So pulling the baffles and then using flocking to improve them and the inner OTA tube might be feasible.

 

I did not remove the baffles entirely, just moved it so that any stray light going around the ERF cell was blocked before it caused reflections further down the tube.

Ok so here is a working version, 1kg counterweight and bar (borrowed from my portable Altair AZ mount)

Works well but a 1.5kg weight would IMO be better, only time will tell

First photo with Nagler 26mm, second with 5mm BGO and TV bronze equaliser.

7 minutes ago, Deadlake said:

If the bar has a 10 mm thread on it you can attach directly to the pan handle bracket.

Agreed, but that option is only available with a Rowan saddle, this is an ADM and the stainless bar I have ordered will be 12mm.

My take on the ep balancing counterweight to overcome my issues, just a mock up and I will provide feedback.

Luckily the ADM saddle is 1" wide so lots of metal is available to attach to.

Sorry if this has been covered before in this thread but I'm looking for solutions re balancing.

As The AZ100's bearings are that good its easy for the scope to move excessively when swapping weighty ep's over.

To give an example I have a TV Nagler 26mm (702g) and a BGO 5mm with a TV bronze equaliser (418g) a difference of 284g, this is enough to throw my APM 152 f8 scope off balance. I find I'm constantly having to shimmy the scope about to re-balance.

Tightening the tension screw (alt axis clutch) helps a lot but sometimes the scope still creeps downwards.

Found that one of the ADM replacement dual saddles fits the AZ100 so I ordered two of them (35mm spacing and M8 bolts)

As I do Ha and white light solar at the same time I needed both scopes to look at the sun. Rowan makes an az adjuster but its not designed for the ADM so I adjusted out one edge of the LHS saddle by approx 0.75mm using two M6 grub screws (and threadlocked in place) to bring them into line.

Not exactly conventional but I saved £213, happy chappie.

2 hours ago, Deadlake said:

How many scopes are you planning mount?

If it's the same pair then it's just set it up once.

Err at the last count 12 refractors from a TV60 to an APM 152.
Main reason would be for solar i.e. TAL PST on one side and a 102mm with wedge on the other.

Thinking of getting a Rowan AZ100 Saddle Altitude Adjuster, just how essential is it when mounting two scopes, I would hope the AZ100 would not be that far out knowing Rowan's attention to detail.

Also as scopes vary there is a good chance that it would be adjusted every time, how easy is it to adjust?

Thanks

Evening, considering getting the AZ100 with encoders and using the Nexus from my dob, will they work together?

Rowan use the Nexus DSC and Nexus II so i'm hoping it will.

Thanks.

Just thought I would share the mount I made for my Heritage 150, it uses an old TAL 1 pier and legs.

Very stable.

Here is my effort.

Our astro society has been just been gifted this scope and we have noticed it uses a  flip mirror 1.25" diagonal, would it be worth changing over to 2" and if so what parts will we need?

Thanks

Off a Skytee 2 with a large counterweight, very easy to use.
As you can see with the photos looking at the zenith would mean that the eyepieces look towards the ground, hence my preference for 90 degree binos in this configuration.

Having owned a pair of 100mm 45 degree (Quantum 5.2) if I were to buy again I would opt for 90 degree versions.