DaveL59

I can't help re this particular scope but others here will have experience of them, @sloz1664 for example who can tell you more. There is this thread I found which may be worth a read TAL 150K Scope - Discussions - Scopes / Whole setups - Stargazers Lounge I'd expect being TAL it should be very solidly made and give good views so probably worth going and taking a closer look. Make sure it has the diagonal and other accessories as they won't be as easy to come by nowadays.

ahh that's a common misconception on the bay as the high bid could have been much more but the system only increments in small steps.

does your camera have a mirror lock-up function as that'd be the only way really. Also if it has in-body IS turn that off too

As a word of caution, you might want to check others opinion here as updating the firmware may not be that beneficial and can be a road to bigger problems. @malc-c and others here will know more than I on this. I've never upgraded mine as it works just fine.

Nice work Mark. I'd agree shims seem a mechanically better solution given the loads involved. Threadlock probably wouldn't hold up well for very long and if it crumbles and ends up in the bearing race it may just increase wear instead?

very nice images there, good to know what can be achieved. I keep saying one day I may have a go but never quite happens. I blame the clouds 😉

That'd be the way to do it tho it wouldn't be reversible. Another is to add a camera angle finder if you can adapt it to fit onto the existing eyepiece. It can then be easily removed if you want to use the finder straight through. Right Angle finder mod - DIY Astronomer - Stargazers Lounge

likely the threads will need cleaning and some new helocoid grease, and check/clean off any burrs and grit.

Same here Julian, tho am on my last reel now unfortunately.

and you don't have a soldering iron? 😮 😉

Good find and hopefully an easy self-repair, well done 🙂 I've had similar on ABS modules in a car where the solder fractured over time and then ABS light would randomly come on when driving. Seems a more common fail since lead was dropped from solder IMHO.

yep, that's them 🙂

yeah know that feeling, had more power outages since moving to Kent than I did in Essex, a couple that were >45 mins. I was the only house that had light PC and TV during those and in fact during the day I didn't even notice one for 10 mins when I thought hey, why is the fan still running on the UPS? Oh, I see 😄 I have geared them tho to be able to keep the work area and TV going for > 1 hour and the CCTV NVR for approx 30 mins.

The Leisure battery should be a good option and modern smart chargers are good at maintaining them long term, for sure don't cheap out and use a car battery as they aren't good for this sort of use. I have the car hooked up to a C-Tek almost permanently at the moment while it's being used so infrequently just so I know it'll start and run when I do need it. As for UPS, I don't have a generator so they run to bridge until power is back or software or I intervene. They use the 17Ah lead batteries that you'll find in many as well as the powerbanks. What tends to happen under load is the plates get hot and buckle and then a fairly rapid decline in lifespan and runtime follows. Some UPS will often not be charging/maintaining at the right voltage, again shortening battery life. I've adjusted these APC's so they sit just at the bottom of the battery manufacturer recommended float voltage and 3 years on these batteries do still seem to be holding up fine. I've seen some where batteries are indicated as failing after just 2 years, which makes things expensive, esp where I'd currently be replacing 12 batteries in a service cycle here at home.

not for the rigs as I don't do AP, but indoors I have a few APC SmartUPS units to ride through any blips and outages. Upside they are the sinewave type, downside they aren't double-conversion continuous type tho that hasn't caused any issues during changeover. Being the older (not SMT) type they were cheap to pick up used and usually only need new batteries to get them going again for the next 3-5 years. One of mine is the XL version which can take external batteries, that one has 6x17Ah batteries and can run my comms and desktop for around 2 hours or so. Runtime however will depend on the load you are driving. You may be better using a larger capacity battery and driving direct at 12v from that rather than wasting Ah on converting from 12v-240v-12v and run a UPS for any mains load you have to run alongside that. Bear in mind too that most UPS aren't exactly weather sealed, so outdoor use would be potentially very dangerous. Being quite heavy (if lead battery type) they aren't exactly a portable solution either. Also bear in mind that for many UPS's, running on them for extended periods puts a high load on the batteries and that will shorten their lifespan. Some will also not run for extended periods as internal components get hot and the UPS will shut down or fail, most are designed to bridge the gap between mains loss and generator start so only aim for 15-20 mins of supply time. This effect would be increased the higher the load so its best not to run them at capacity, ideally stay below 50% of rated load. The APC units with fan cooling can run longer (as long as the battery is above a capacity threshold), the XL ones being better for this sort of use case.

well, having said just the other day "how many tripods does someone need"... I took a punt thinking it may suit the vintage frac but that collar is much smaller, for a 60-65mm OTA. The secondary plan was to swap out the metal legs on the LT70AZ with these wood ones that might improve the stability. Tis old and will need a little TLC to sort the metal and refinish the woodwork but they should be a simple swap as the gap between the upper sections is about the same. edit: so a test fit and... they went on easily and yep, more stable and any wobbles quickly dampen down, result! 🙂 edit-2: out of curiosity I tried that old collar on the TAL2 finder I have and with a little felt added it would carry that perfectly. So if I wanted a super-light grab n go... 😄

Now the postie dropped off a package from China that I've been awaiting Pentacon Six to Minolta-AF adaptor Now the big Zeiss can go directly onto the camera without needing a M42 to M-AF adaptor added onto the P6-M42 that it came with

This morning I received this leather case, for the big Zeiss lens Dropped to my door by the bay seller as they live not too far away 🙂

I guess I'm far to random in my efforts, more a case of look outside, if it seems good the out with one of the scopes and play a while. I get where @jonathan is coming from too, brrr no ta! tho if things are placed well in the sky I've just opened the conservatory door and used the scope from inside which helps a lot 😉 No real resolutions, other than perhaps spend more time using than fettling all the optical gear. That said tho with all the cloudy wet nights at least the fettling passes the time and keeps the idle hands busy 🙂

also possible if it had had fungus that the paint was stripped away but not renewed?

decided to renew some tools, so new Vessel precision screwdrivers for when I'm working on optical gear, some new synthetic PTFE helicoid grease etc and some PEC Pads to use with the Zeiss lens cleaning fluid while servicing Guess there's no excuse to not do that full strip-down on the huge vintage Zeiss Sonnar 180mm lens now... but it can wait a while I think 🙂

could be there's just some paint flakes on the reticule glass which should hopefully clean off easily.

Hi and welcome aboard, congrats on that find too! For the TAL finder, are you able to tell if the black specks are on the outer surface of the eyepiece/objective lenses? If they are then a blower or camel hair brush to tease them away and a clean with a lens cleaning fluid on a microfibre cloth may be all that's needed. Otherwise you'll be looking at dismantling the finder to clean inner surfaces and reticule. For that you'd need good jewellers screwdrivers and ideally a lens spanner.

Thanks David, those were very lucky finds I'd say! I've likewise added 323 plates so the 200PL QR can just click into place in use, I've a few of those on the various bits of gear and it makes life much easier. I had thought about getting a carbon fibre one but then for very few pennies I have 3 tripods for way less than a single one would've cost new, what's not to like 😉

funny how things work out. Having seen and won a couple of vintage velbon camera tripods and then one with a posable column popped up and I bought that too I now have a trio of triffids. The one in the centre just arrived this morning. With the leg braces that VGB-3C is very stable, perhaps slightly more so than the posable VS-3 at the back. The HE-3 at the front is nice and light so will be the travel-about one, am considering if to swap the Manfrotto video head onto the VGB-3c and switch that head onto the HE-3, hmmm. Other than the head on the HE-3 that I swapped out , all are in very good condition considering they date from the 70/80's they look barely used. Says a lot for the built quality back then. No more purchases on this front for me tho, I mean, how many tripods does someone really need! 😮 I already had a Pyser one, tho that being ally and plastic is a lot less stable than these which are all metal construction. Was almost considering if I could swap the LT70AZ head onto one of these but perhaps not.