Rusted

Unbelievably poor packaging! There is no excuse not to use the stiffness of the OTA to reinforce the box. Think of the box as a fuselage. Not a container. Half circles cut from squares to extend the tube out to the box corners. Why place the OTA square in the box when the vulnerable focuser knob extension could be safely be housed in a corner on the diagonal of the box The box could easily be made smaller that way. Smaller box dimensions are self-stiffening planes. Less vulnerable to penetration damage or crushing in transit. The packaging designer is working well above his pay grade.

Not for want of trying. I have directly linked TS to your thread twice now. Including the tail end where everything went horribly wrong. ? They must be aware of the members' sympathy for your lack of service. I'm just grateful my case is finally resolved. TS are dispatching my pre-checked binoviewers via UPS today. I probably owe that to you simply for mentioning PayPal. I use it all the time for their easy currency conversion but never considered raising a case through them. Good luck, anyway!

The best of luck for a speedy result, Jon.

No, I just threatened to. I also sent them links to the two TS- relevant forum threads again. It finally seems to have hit the spot. Good luck with yours. You have a good case for replacement and lots more "media" attention.

Success! At least for me. I had a nice mail from Michael who offered a refund or replacement. I should [hopefully] have a new TS binoviewer by next week. They had a retirement, which coincided with staff shortages and absences through illness. Let us hope that TS gets better soon.

Perhaps the sick person is the boss and they've lost direction without his guidance? How many staff do you need to shift boxes from stock to the loading bay? Not as many as it takes to field complaints apparently.

I agree. Their stock range and fast turnaround were the standard for others to follow.

Jon, I do hope your focuser problem is resolved soon. Reputations are at stake here which could be very costly for TS. I could place an order for a new binoviewer elsewhere and then wait for TS. But they aren't exactly pocket change. Which leaves me with no binoviewer at all, or two! The TS is potentially a nice bit of kit, with most of the desirable features, despite my negative review Would any UK dealer be able , or even willing, to check one over for me before dispatch? I really don't know.

There has never been a cheaper and easier time in all of human history to communicate with one's customers. Nor has there ever been an easier or cheaper way of bringing attention to businesses which ignore customer's rights and expectations. Any company which doesn't send a replacement focuser by return of post must be completely uncaring or just plain idiots. The cost to this company in lost sales must be immeasurable by now! I have already moved my loyalty away from TS to their cost in many hundreds of Euros. It is costing me more and the postal delays from the UK are extremely tedious compared with TS's normal [next day but one] service. Despite being a loyal, long term customer with considerable expenditure in their favour, I am still waiting for a resolution, a full month after TS received a factory misaligned and rigidly cement locked TS binoviewer for examination. After sending links to the relevant forum threads they responded overnight but want me to be still more patient! They claim they have losses due to illness in their staff. [Presumably the only one with any brains!] Thank you for suggesting the PayPal resolution service. This may finally offer a means to get TS' [commercial] attention.

Lucky devil! The only thing we were allowed to take home were colds and 'flu. I'd use a continuous strip of something like good quality, self adhesive draught excluder. Otherwise you'll be wasting valuable observing time constantly re-dressing the pier gap.

One day, alien archaeologists, will rebuild our entire <cough> civilisation from the stuff which went down the gap between the pier and the floor of amateur astronomical observatories.

And four pairs of increasingly stronger reading glasses to find the right pair of reading glasses to be able to read the list. Nobody needs a list if they have a wife to remind you exactly how much time you have left to complete your allotted tasks.

All that John said and welcome. A 10" is still a very powerful instrument even by today's standards. I own two different Fullerscopes mountings. The MkIII and the MkIV. Medium and Heavy duty. Mountings are the metalwork with shafts which support the telescope and allows it to point around the sky. Fullerscopes mountings are simple and solid but the drives [motor and gears] are usually rather basic. They were mostly made back in the 1970s and 1980s. The optics [mirrors and lenses] are well respected. Fullerscopes produced simple B&W catalogues. Which are handy for identifying the instruments and accessories. If you can post some pictures here we can tell you a lot more about what you have.

"But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?"

Work lights? What will they think of next?

Apologies, Kev. I got all wound up at the mere idea of a south facing window. I've been tilting [at] them for decades at home and work! Rocinante is sick of them too! A louver of horizontal slats would still let you see the scope. No need for the usual sloping slats because the obs. walls will give shade with a low sun.

A south facing window is a heat magnet in sunshine and completely intolerable to sit there. That's why people detest being in greenhouses and conservatories without serious shade. Or any work or office space anywhere near a sunny window. You can't hang a monitor from a window. Nor fit shelves or working surfaces there. The window is a waste of vital space and a security risk. IMHO. Once the sun gets though the glass it is far too late. The heat is in and cannot be undone. The sun is blindingly bright and reflects off everything. It spoils books and charts and equipment where the sun can reach. Sunshine makes using any computer screen a nightmare even if you deliberately wear black clothing. Site your desk so you can see what needs to be seen without turning. Never with your back to the entrance nor the telescope. Make sure you aren't blocked from accessing the entire space in the pitch dark. Power cut? You need a torch which is returned to its allotted space every single time it gets used. An observatory and warm[er] room is not a 'power 'office to impress the underlings. It's an active workshop. Which means you need desk space/working surface for far more than just the computer/keyboard/laptop or screen. It's a warm[er] room where you'll want sit down in good light to work on or handle smaller equipment or just keep it from dewing. I thought it would be so simple to furnish an observatory. Until I actually tried it.

Yes I'm familiar with drag chain conduits from CNC machines. No idea what cables they had hidden inside the protective shield. Certainly quite a bit posher than pulling mains plugs every time. Suits you, Sir!

Neat! What was your method of indexing the holes around the circles? Did you use a hole saw for the larger ones? I forgot to mention I saw an add for a CF tube on U.K. Astronomy Buy & Sell in Reading.

With so many colour options I could spend years just trying to make a decision. It beats cloud watching. Cables, or flex, and lots of movement are not a marriage made in heaven. I have mains LED bulbs overhead in my dome and have to stop and unplug them all the time. I've tried long and short runs and neither works without a hollow PA shaft. The very long linear movement of an ROR might be much simpler running on battery LEDs. With the battery in the moving roof along with the lights they power. Rechargeable batteries could be "topped" up when the roof [or dome] is not in use?

A louvered panel will block direct sunlight while allowing air movement. It need not be in direct contact with the building. A similar arrangement could be suspended over a "hot" roof if it proved necessary. A grid of crossed slats [with halving joints] will cast a shadow without adding massive weight. Conifers or dense shrubs in moveable pots will cast shade in summer. A trolley, or sack truck, would allow rapid withdrawl if the shrubbery blocks the view.

It's always good to be prepared. I've got doors too. Ever so carefully planed they were. Now they're blocked by the handrails of the warehouse stepladder and the open wooden hatch. Circuses are crying out for my skills as a contortionist.

Space saving partition door? Cat flap? What about a portcullis? Up and over garage door? Plastic strip warehouse door [for the forklift?] ?‍♂️ For when you next upgrade your mounting?

And, it gets worse when you only think you're finished. Wait until you have to fit a shower tray and plumbing. Just for the condensation pouring off the mounting. You could always store it in a collection tank. Then water your garden in next year's drought.

I like his unshakeable optimism. Our lunar eclipse meant thick cloud and snow. The dome looks like an iced bun and the snow ploughs are plying their trade. ⛄ No sign of the bloody red wolf we were promised. At least not so far.. Observatories are never finished. They just grow older. Like their owners.