jock1958

A quick google reveals they were produced in the 1960’s to early 1970’s by Vixen. It may be worth a few $$ depending on condition. There’s some info about this telescope on the Cloudy Nights forum. For me I would be I would be tempted to keep hold of it but good luck with whatever you decide to do with it.

Brilliant image and a very informative report. Being purely visual all I can see through my 4" Tak is what looks like two small 'cats eyes'!

Very interesting report @John and to think you have some of the fragments from 4 Vesta. Made it out late last night for the first time in ages and made great use of goodies I acquired from Mr Hardie's SGL megga sale. Tried out the TV UHC filter with my 31mm Nagler & 14 mm Delos on M42.....wow!! best I've ever seen it in my fairly LP skies, fantastic contrast with a beautiful green hue.

I echo what others have said. Observing with my scope pointing to the zenith isn’t my favourite position either, but to make it easier I use an Alt Az Mount, tripod legs fully extended, an extension tube and sit on my adjustable berlebach chair.

Did anybody else see these last night (Sunday) between 6.30 to 7.00 pm ish coming from the west? I counted at least 30 fairly bright satellites following each other in very quick succession....I've never seen anything like this before, it was spectacular to say the least! Not sure how this bodes for the future as SpaceX plan to launch a lot more of these satellites, which could have long term implications for the star gazing community as well as ground based astronomy?

Might be a case of becoming a little creative if you have room on your respective mount. I mounted my Telrad on my Skytee 2 adjacent to my refractor using a DIY metal plate, also used similar ideas on my Giro Ercole & Vixen Porta mounts.

Nice one! Is that a little spiral arm galaxy to the lower left?

I do like it and It’s much better than my wife’s old makeup stool 😂 Some pics beside my set up with seat near up and near down positions.

I have the Hyrdra II and use it with my AZ4 tripod, Skytee 2 & TAK 100DL combination. Bought it from FLO earlier this year on a special offer. It’s small and lightweight, folds away easily, oozes quality with a nice comfy seat. One word of caution don’t lean back when seat is near the fully up position due to small back. I find it’s ideal for star hopping and moving around the garden, works well on grass or patio. Also like the easy to use seat ratchet mechanism for rapid height adjustments whether you want low to the horizon targets or up towards the zenith.

Thanks for your input @John & @mikeDnight In the morning I'll whip the focuser assy off and have a peek inside to see how its put together before attempting to adjust the FT focuser and small grub screws. If all else fails I'll send the focuser assy back to Ian King.....hopefully not in bits!

Thanks @John and @mikeDnight I can only see two little grub screws on top of my focuser either side of the tension knob? I think I may start from scratch by removing the Feather Touch focuser, adjusting the little grub screws on the top then re-installing and adjusting the FT focuser. Ive attached a couple of photos of the top of my focuser tube assy and another short video of the sideplay I’m experiencing. I’ll keep you posted. As a side note Ian King contacted Takahashi about my problem and they said it’s impossible to avoid sideways movement on rack and pinion focusers as there is no particular way to adjust them but they could try and improve things by adding more grease and shim inside. IMG_6441.MOV

Thanks for that @John I’ve fitted a Feather Touch focuser and followed there installation instructions to the letter as well as adjusting the two small grub screws on top, no real improvement though. I’ve also been in contact with Ian King who I bought the scope off, he suggested sending the focuser back for the Takahashi techs to carry out some adjustments.

I’ve got a small amount of sideplay on my Tak FC 100DL focuser tube. It became noticeable when racking the focuser in and out with my heavy duty 31mm Nagler attached. I’ve tried adjusting my FT focuser and little grub screws on top of the focuser tube but that just makes it stiffer in operation. Apparently it’s a common trait of Tak rack and pinion focusers, has anybody else experienced sideplay on their focusers and should I be worried or not? IMG_6362.MOV

Thanks Dave. It’s had some very good reviews so might order a jar up to while away those rainy days!

Looks very nice where did you buy the polish? After being outside only 30 mins the clouds rolled in followed by yet more rain ☔️ 😕

If you used one of those adaptors with a 1.25” filter on either a 2” eyepiece or diagonal would it reduce the AFOV significantly?

I like that RACI + Rigel finder combination as well, how does it work? special adaptor on the bottom of the Rigel to accommodate the RACI?

Welcome to the Lounge from down the road in very wet South Wales

I did it at home with an electric drill. If I wanted more accuracy then a pillar drill is the way to go. A local machine shop wouldn’t charge that much, however that Berlebach clamp does look rather nice 😉

Home made aluminium angle to mount my Telrad on, not a very good paint match for the Ercole though 🤣

Or the cheaper option? 🤔

That looks like a serious bit of kit. Can you expand on *Both slow motion controls remain in alignment with the observer at all times* assume it rotates in azimuth below the bottom slo mo control? I wonder if setting circles can be added?

Exactly you took the words right out of my mouth

@Piero thanks for additional info, I shall have a look at Suiters book. A couple of reasons I had my Tal 100RS pointing at the floor was my laser collimator wasn't a good fit in the focuser tube and I couldn't confirm the accuracy of where the red dot was pointing, also the draw tube was slipping and drooping when racking out (later confirmed to be poor machining tolerances). Having the OTA pointing at the floor alleviated some of these problems.

No worries glad to be of help, had a lot of advice off fellow SGL’ers, tinternet and lots of trial and error.