jock1958

What a cracking job, brilliant!!

8 hours ago, A McEwan said:

Is that the one that's on AB&S at the mo for £375? I looked at it.

Ant

Yep that’s the one, tempting but it’s a case of look but don’t touch 🤣

2 hours ago, A McEwan said:

Skytee 2 mount is a great bit of kit. I'm on my second (and last, hopefully) now!

Ant   

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!! 😃

1 hour ago, Steve Clay said:

I'm in the process of building fireball XL5. I was intending to fly it off a 45deg launch rail. However, when I threw the numbers at Rocket sim it would only get 15m off the ground.  Here's the tail section on the printer.

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!

3 hours ago, F15Rules said:

Hi Neil,

No, I bought it from an astro forum..to be honest I think I'm done with eBay now...too many scams, too many dictatorial eBay edicts. the latest one being their threat to stop me selling (not buying) if I don't give them my bank details for processing payments, instead of the PayPal system which I've used without problems for 15 years. It's a simple con to take most of the PayPal fee, add it to their eBay fees, and then only pay you within 4 working days rather than within minutes with PayPal (if the buyer pays promptly.

I don't respond well to threats from large online US companies!

I also think that eBay are in terminal decline..my.grown kids hardly use it, preferring Gumtree and Facebook marketplace, and eBay are clearly more interested in online retail sellers than ordinary folks like us..

Rant Over! 👍😁

Dave

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! 

1 hour ago, tompato said:

So the slow motion cables arrived, they were great @jock1958, apart from the fact by hand tightening they kept undoing and so I went to tighten it a little bit and this happened (photo attached). To say I'm livid is an understatement, I've only had them for 5 minutes.

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? 

20 minutes ago, HollyHound said:

These adaptors also arrived today from @Plantins, thank you 👍Amazing coincidence these came up for sale the same week I buy the Mewlon 😃

It wouldn’t be one of my Taks, if I didn’t replace the standard visual back with something else 🤣

This gives a little bit more back focus and (hopefully) will allow the binoviewers to focus 🤞

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

1 hour ago, Chaz2b said:

I thought I’d join the jet set and bought a Telrad reflex sight. But just one question, can I change the two AA batteries for one Li-on battery?, I’ve got lumps of them round the back! I want to make use of them.

Theres even space in there for my sandwiches! Big ain’t it!

chaz

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. 

1 hour ago, Chris said:

I do wish it came with the finder though hehe

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! 

 

4 minutes ago, tompato said:

Yeah, my fingers are destroyed. I will get something but no cables were in stock. I've ordered some 6mm potentiometer knobs which are coming tomorrow which should make it slightly easier.

I've made the adjustments of the small screws and the larger ones on the Alt and that seems solid and just about moveable when fully tightened and I've tightened up the Az as well to match the same sort of tightness. Both seem to move the axis correctly now. 

I'll give it a go with the telescope again.

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 

5 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Each page of the instruction manual has a QR code which if you scan links to a video 

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. 

 

7 hours ago, laudropb said:

Correct Jeremy.

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

4 hours ago, HollyHound said:

Best investment I’ve made out of all the Astro gear... easily adjustable during a session and makes it more relaxing for observing... you’ll love it 😃

If you regularly adjust it high, then the optional footrest is excellent too 👍

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! 

15 hours ago, IB20 said:

Are there any cons? Well like I’ve mentioned I’d like a fine focuser, and the peephole finder can be a bit hard work on dim targets. 

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)