Nicola Fletcher

1 hour ago, Space Hopper said:

Not even a little one then....? 🤔

I think you should get a little one 😇

12 hours ago, Ibbo! said:

Congrats on your new Tak

That rabbit hole can get really deep.

My FS 60 looks very small on the Tak NJP mount .

The FS 102 looks more at home.

Would love a 128 or 130 to go along with them.

Thank you - yes I can imagine how the TSA130 would really complement both of our collections! I am going to just enjoy this lovely scope for a while though and keep it in the back of my mind!

10 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

That telescope will keep you awake at night Nicola. You'll be so tempted just to nip out for a quick five minute look at the Moon or something before bed, and find yourself still glued to the eyepiece an hour later. Then you'll lie awake for hours afterward trying to work out how such a small scope can possibly give such great views. 

I'm particularly impressed with your certificate of inspection. Mine's in Japanese so it's all Greek to me, but now after looking at your's, I've some idea as to what it says. ☺

I couldn’t believe it when I saw the certificate- imagine the President and such senior people all signing it. It’s almost as much of a treasure as the scope. I can’t wait to look through it now, the Kerry Dark Sky Reserve and eventually Botswana are what I have in mind - we can always hope!

2 hours ago, callisto said:

A thing of beauty 😍   (I'm hovering the Buy button for the FS-60CB)

The cert deserves a frame of it's own to hang on the wall 😁

 

Mark

I can guarantee, having done it, if you press that button you won’t regret it. I can see myself slithering down the Tak rabbit hole. They really are as good as they look 👍🏻

17 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

Skinflint!  Anything to save a few grand!!  If Nicola buys a Tak mount she won't need to worry about dovetails or screws.  

Just trying to be helpful! ☺

A Tak mount....what a great idea. I shall return the dovetail immediately! 🤣

On 01/02/2021 at 19:30, martin77 said:

Yes, you have a point I'm afraid!! - Barlow lens/eyepieces/filters etc - I have to keep telling the missus they came with it - Gawd help me if she ever looks on the website!!😱

Hi and welcome. Love this comment - and it reminds me of how many times I have done the same thing 😆

5 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Yes that’s the one (18 cm). I don’t think the screws supplied are the right ones for the Tak tube cradle, though. I used two screws from my toolbox instead. Note the advantage of the Tak dovetail is that it comes with correct screws (but as said above, it’s too narrow for some dovetail mounts)

Great stuff, thanks for your help. I don't mind the screws, I can get those from a hardware shop if necessary. Just don't want to buy the wrong thing as it's a bit of a pain returning items from Ireland!

15 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Congratulations on your new scope @Nicola Fletcher. It’s a Beauty.

I use a standard Vixen style dovetail on mine. The Tak dovetail bar is fractionally narrower and for some reason too narrow for my ADM. It’s fine for the clamps on all my other scopes tho.

Quick question before I buy it - is this the same as yours? https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dovetails-saddles-clamps/astro-essentials-dovetail-bars.html

1 minute ago, JeremyS said:

Tak narrow tube holder (on Tak FS60 Q)

I got the full size one - I also saw the smaller one that you have but thought I hopefully won’t be so tight on weight restrictions (even going to Africa) that it’ll make a huge difference. The smaller one looks very good on yours though, I must say.

5 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Congratulations on your new scope @Nicola Fletcher. It’s a Beauty.

I use a standard Vixen style dovetail on mine. The Tak dovetail bar is fractionally narrower and for some reason too narrow for my ADM. It’s fine for the clamps on all my other scopes tho.

Thanks a lot for that Jeremy - much appreciated. Good times ahead I imagine with this little gem!

5 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

What a little gem of a scope that is! congratulations! I feel the excitement from thousands of miles away! look at that Russian doll box, they know how to pack them. Enjoy it, it looks simply beautiful and you must be holding 

it like it was a newborn.

Thank you! Yes, every bit of it is amazing, I just keep thinking of the people that make these scopes with such precision and attention to detail. Can’t believe how lucky I am 🤗

I bought myself a Takahashi FC-76 DCU from FLO on Thursday night. I’d been obsessing about a Tak for a while, especially since reading the recommendations by @DirkSteele and@JeremyS. It arrived today, and I can’t even articulate how excited I was when I saw the box, opened the ‘box origami’ and finally beheld the magic within. The Certificate of Inspection with the autographs of Mr Takahashi and colleagues was the icing on the cake!

I’m planning on using this as an ultra portable setup for travel, and putting it on my Giro Ercole mini with a (yet to be purchased) lightweight tripod. 

Quick question - I bought the TKA20420Q tube cradle for it - but now realise that I need a dovetail bar to put it on the Giro (there’s a TS Optics dovetail clamp for vixen dovetails on it) or my EQM35 Pro. Will the Takahashi TKP71423 dovetail bar work for both of these mounts or would anyone be able to suggest something if not? The dovetail bar supplied with the EQM35 Pro doesn’t look like it will be suitable - the screws supplied with the clamshell are too wide.

Thanks in advance for your help!

It’s very frustrating Carl - lucky you have a nice portable setup! I got my first clear night last night to have a longed-for look through my 102 ED-R - Clear Outside promised me a couple of clear hours and the scope didn’t disappoint. I find this time of year very frustrating but the clear nights are some of the best of the year IMHO!!

1 hour ago, Seelive said:

OK, so the gear wasn't aligned correctly in the first place, or the screws weren't correctly tightened sufficiently or the packaging was insufficient to protect from the rigors of transport?.  Quality control does not necessarily imply checking every single item off the production line, but it at least means having procedures in place to prevent the likelyhood of such things happening and I fully admitt that this could just be one of those that 'slipped through the net' (but I suspect it may be a net with a large mesh!).

I agree that the QC may not be everything it should be. The box wasn't damaged and the mount head is within an inner box with polystyrene around it. The screws weren't loose or anything when I took the motor cover off. It's a shame because I like the look and versatility of SW mounts and they are clearly very popular. I am, however, very glad that the SGL community is so willing to help and hopefully this was a simple solution to a (rare?) problem with what seems to be a very nice mount. 

I also use the BST Starguiders, they are great. I've recently bought a Baader Hyperion 8-24mm Zoom and I really like it too.

5 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

Excellent! Score 1 for the SGL community 👍

Definitely! Legends! 😎

9 minutes ago, malc-c said:

There ya go... a simple fix.

There could be 1001 reasons the gear wasn't engaging correctly.  At any stage in transportation (factory to docks, dock to ship, transit by ship, ship to dock, dock to distribution, distribution to OVL, OVL to retailer, retailer to customer) the box could have taken a knock... or it could have been one that slipped through the QC... I doubt that they QC every single mount off the production line... 

Thanks so much for all your help

I was initially a bit disappointed at their lack of QC too, but as you said, it could have happened during shipping. I am so glad I didn't have to send it back for repairs - I would have had to hoist my lovely new refractor onto someone's shoulder just to have a look through it!

16 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

Looking at the pics of the EQM 35 it loos like its a couple of black screws to remove the black plastic motor cover, which should reveal the motors and the brass spur gears.  It should be obvious which screws need undoing slightly in order to move the motor towards the worm, but if not posting a pic up here will help.

Fixed. It was very straightforward, just as you said. I removed the motor cover, being careful not to stretch the wires underneath. I could then loosen two screws at the back of the motor and adjust the cog so it engaged with the worm. The gap between them was very visible once the cover was removed. I then just tightened the screws and replaced the cover. 

I've attached a photo of the cogs before I adjusted them, just in case anyone else has this problem. You can see the gap just above the blob of grease. 

I really appreciate your help Craig and everyone who offered advice. What a great forum this is!

59 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

Really sounds like the motor gears aren't engaging with the worm shaft gear. That graunching sound you can hear sounds to me like the motor spur gear is just about touching the worm spur gear but not engaging. 

I'd have a go at fixing it if it were me. If it doesn't work then you can send it back warranty protected as per SW instructing you to have a go,  but if it does work you don't have to send it back and wait for repair, plus you've learned something about your mount and how it works and gained confidence that you can do this kind of stuff.

If it helps it's pretty easy to do, well on my EQ6 it is at least. Just 4 screws to release the cover plate with the control board attached (careful with this). Then two screws holding the motor in place, loosen those, gently push motor down toward the worm gear, then tighten motor screws to hold it there. Replace control board/cover and your done. Maybe this works or maybe it doesn't!

Of course your mount is probably different in terms of the procedure to do this than it is on my mount but won't be that much different I'm guessing. If you are really uncomfortable with opening up the mount then its probably best to just send it back and wait for repair/replacement 

 

Ok, that's really helpful. I'm happy to have a go since SW said it won't void the warranty. It sounds like they think it's simple enough. I will report back!

1 hour ago, Seelive said:

Looking at the video, the RA worm shaft does not appear to be turning (although the clip of it was very short). If you turn it by hand presumably the RA axis moves?  So it appears to be the spur gear train between the motor shaft and the RA worm gear shaft.  I had a similar problem on my DEC axis which was an easy fix but I've never had the RA motor cover off (if you do you I would suspect that you need to be careful so as to not the damage any of the motor wiring).

Yes, you’re right, the RA worm shaft doesn’t turn. So do you think that might indicate that there is more to the problem than just mis-alignment? If you move it by hand, the RA axis does move but it feels a bit stiff (with the clutch off). I’ve tightened the clutch when trying to move it with the hand control but it doesn’t move at all.

3 hours ago, koningmokum60 said:

It's a new mount and under warranty.  It's their problem to fix, not yours.  Plus as you're not sure of what you're doing, you could accidently damage something else and void your warranty.  Have you got written permission from Sky-Watcher to tinker with the mount?  You could be opening up a whole can of worms by trying to fix it yourself.  I'd send it back and let them fix it.  It's what the warranty is for.  Good luck 😀!

It’s a good point but I do have written permission from Sky Watcher to remove the cover on the motor - if it is a quick fix like they say I’d prefer to check before shipping the mount back to them. They said:

”The customer will not void the warranty if he removes the cover.

 Please ask him to try and visually check that the motor gear is turning (sounds like it is). It is probably the simple task of loosening the motor and repositioning it closer to contact with mount gear”.

2 hours ago, John said:

Yes, I've been caught out like that as well !.

At low tracking rates (ie: 1x, 2x etc) the motion is not really obviously visible.

Try one of the faster tracking rates (I believe the mount slew at up to 800x) and you should see it moving.

 

I wish that was the problem but I can see the dec motor slewing - but not the RA motor at a speed setting of 9x. Here’s a quick video of it. 

2 hours ago, Scooot said:

I thought mine wasn’t working at first either, but then I realised the speed was set too low to notice any movement. 

I thought that might be the problem but the speed was definitely set to 9. You can hear the difference between it and the dec motor- it’s like the cogs aren’t engaging or something. 

Hi everyone,

I just got a new EQM 35 Pro Mount and set it up on Saturday. The RA motor doesn’t move the mount at all when I try to move it with the hand control, even though I can hear the motor working. The declination motor works fine. I’ve taken the counterweight and telescope off, and loosened the RA setting circle knob, but it still doesn’t move. I reckon the wheels within the motor are not connecting, similar to the problem described here: https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/690145-help-eqm-35-ra-engine-problems/. Manually moving the RA axis with the clutch loosened is stiffer than the dec axis (not sure if this is contributing to the problem at all).

So the supplier contacted Sky-Watcher and they said I won’t void the warranty by taking the motor cover off and I should loosen the motor and reposition it closer to contact the mount gear. I must have used bigger words than I intended when explaining the problem because I really don’t know how I should go about this. There are some videos on YouTube and instructions online but these seem to be mainly for the HEQ5 mounts, to correct backlash. Could anyone that might have done this before be able to give me some pointers - to say I’m not a DIY type is an understatement!

Thank you in advance - any help is very much appreciated!

Welcome! Although waiting for opportunities to get out and see the stars can be frustrating, I have also found that this forum provides plenty of entertainment for cloudy evenings!