jock1958

Bought mine second hand for a good price and it hasn’t disappointed especially after ironing out the bugs!

Great thread this and some excellent model making skills, looking forward to launch day!! 😃

I had this as an Xmas pressie in the 60’s wish I’d looked after it as they are worth a few Bob now!

Talking about Gumtree there’s a Vixen SP 102m with a matching Vixen EQ mount including some bits & bobs for £390, not sure how much they usually go for? Looks nice though! Agree what you say about eBay, been buying stuff for years and recently sold my first item which I found easy enough but had to wait at least a week for the funds to hit my account...not impressed at all!

There’s a small amount of thread protruding which you might be able to get some mole grips or pliers on, failing that cut a small slot with a junior hacksaw and use a screw driver to remove or drill a very small hole and use an easy out to remove what’s left of the sheared off screw. It’s a pain but it’s doable!

Ok that’s not good and very frustrating. What did you use to tighten it up? If it’s a big screw driver it probably exerted too much torque and sheared the head off. There’s a few ways out of this but not sure what tools / expertise you have?

I’ve been after an even thinner adapter that attaches to the ultra short clamp for quite a while now which will save you even more back focus, only problem is nil stock everywhere ☹️ https://www.firstlightoptics.com/baader-diamond-steeltrack-focusers/baader-takahashi-sky90-m64-x-075mm-m68f-zeiss-adaptor.html

Bought my Telrad over 4 years ago and its still on the original batteries and that’s including leaving it on overnight at least twice.

I agree, is £65 for the very Takish looking bracket & finder too much? maybe @FLOcould add it onto the package 😉

You are most welcome @tompato and glad to be of help. Yeh a few people have mentioned that the brass nuts seem to be a bit tight from the factory, apart from that the quality is top notch certainly in comparison to my Skytee 2!

Those instructions from FLO make sense now. I haven't adjusted or touched the tension or case screws as yet only the brass adjusting & brass locknuts. As you probably know its a simple worm gear and worm shaft arrangement very similar to my Skytee 2 Alt Az mount and probably lots more. Adjusting those tension screws will either increase the engagement of the worm shaft onto the worm gear making it tighter or looser depending which way you turn the tension screws, the brass nuts that I adjusted basically affect the end float of the worm shaft giving you more or less backlash. Great result on the slo mo cables you will definitely notice the difference, you might even find things too loose and you will end up re-adjusting things again. Below some pics of my setup, two 13mm open end spanners to loosen off the brass adjusting & locknuts (notice I filed down the inboard 13mm spanner to get it to fit). Also a pic of a typical worm gear and worm shaft if you are not familiar.

The only things that I’ve adjusted (slackened off & re-tightened) are the brass locknuts on the ends of Alt & Az worm drive housings using two 13mm open ended spanner’s and clutch tension knobs on both axis, as recommended by FLO. Must admit I found those instructions above a bit confusing as well 🤔 I assume you’ve only tried FLO for the slo mo cables? there’s a few other vendors worth a try, Rother Valley Optics, Widescreen Centre & 365 Astronomy. I believe Astroboot is closed just now. Also might be worth a read of the thread @Stu started last year titled Scopetech Zero Mount. If u you like I’ll post some pics tommorow of my setup and where I adjusted mine.

Hi @tompato you inspired me to get my Scopetech & Tak FS-60 out last night, it’s ages since it’s seen any action mainly due to the awful weather we’ve had down here. As an experiment I tried turning the Alt & Az worm gears with my fingers and it is very, very difficult and really sore on fingers, slo mo cables are a definite must. I have the clutch knobs moderately tight on mine but one thing I’ve noticed is the Az knob seems to loosen off after a few operations which I’m not sure about or why it does this? Anyway let us know how you get on when you receive those control knobs and good luck!

Nightmare I can understand now why you’ve had these problems. You definitely need Slo mo cables or ADM do knobs, if all the usual places are out of stock try Astroboot. Once you have these your problems should disappear

Your right Jeremy I totally forgot....dughhh!

Just watched your video you need to tighten the clutch knobs and some Slo Mo cables would help instead of trying to use your fingers

Yeh you have to tighten the clutch knobs for the slo mo’s to work and adjust tension to suit your needs. It would help if Scopetech brings out an English version of the manual, also there is a Japanese video out as well, can’t remember where I saw it though 🤔

I’ve got my Tak FS60Q (a lot smaller than your 6” Newt) mounted on a Scopetech which still requires careful balancing. Before swapping eyepieces I tend to tighten up the Alt tension knob or the scope drops and contacts the Azimuth part of the mount. I messaged FLO about the tight Slo Mo controls and was advised to slacken off and retighten the brass coloured locknuts which helped a lot, also try Google translate with your phone on the instruction manual...it does work although it’s a bit clunky! I know @Stu has mounted bigger OTA’s on his Scopetech so he might be able to offer further advice.

Lovely bit of kit and wouldn’t be without one now.

I got one of those as well, great init!! 👍

Great result with the insurance @Commanderfish and IMO a wise choice with the DF as a replacement. Initially I was happy with the stock focuser on my FC-100DL but after a year or so I felt I needed that extra bit in the fine focus dept and went for the FT pinion upgrade, so far haven’t regretted it at all!

Very good report and it certainly looks the part! Looking on the FLO website there’s a matching 6x30 finder and bracket which would be a step up from the peep hole sight, not so sure about upgrading the focuser as the housing looks different to the standard Takahashi ones which possibly rules out the MEF 3 & More Blue offerings? Wonder if Feather Touch do anything that might work? Then that’s big bucks unfortunately $$$ 😩

Hi @John you probably know this already but if you can’t see anything obvious you can always adjust the slo mo worm gear housings. I did this on a number of occasions to get rid of some backlash and am happy with it as is (with a bit of backlash)

Hi @John I’ve just had a look at my ST 2 and apart from a small amount of backlash when the axis are locked there’s no additional movement. If it’s a fairly recent thing just wondering if the locking collars at the end of the rotational shafts have worked loose? from memory they are held in place by 3 grub screws. Last time I stripped mine down I also ensured the contact areas of the Alt & Az shafts and locking lever bushes were thoroughly de-greased.

Spot on with your analogy in communicating how you used to make things work, all I can say the combinations I’ve used so far have been endless and mind boggling! For native low power views I reduce back focus with an ultra short clamp & adapter on my Tak FC-100DL in conjunction with a 1.25” Baader prism diagonal with a 2” nose piece. If it’s high powered views (more back focus) I’ve been using the 2” visual back that came with my Tak, Baader 2” mirrored diagonal and the lens off my Baader 2.25x barlow screwed into the BV nose piece or more lately my TV 2.5x power mate.