Stu

What we don’t realise is that Jeremy actually has an EQ8 in that obsy which is what he normally uses for the FS-60

It’s the tripod that is the issue. Pop it on an decent photo tripod, or even one of the 2” stainless steel tubular ones (EQ6 ish which I think you can get an adaptor for) and it will be much better.

Ultimately aperture and double stacking do different things. Increasing your aperture adds resolution, whilst adding a double stack will increase contrast. Increasing the resolution will allow you to see finer detail, contrast will make it easier to see the detail that is there. I have used a PST 40, a Quark in a variety of scopes up to 150mm and now have a 100mm PST Mod. All of them single stack. Cost is probably the single reason I haven’t gone to double stack, if I did I would want probably 70 or 80mm aperture and I can’t afford that! A 100mm PST Mod gives wonderful views and doesn’t cost ‘000s but they are not necessarily the easiest things to to put together yourself. The best Ha scope I ever looked through was a double stack SolarMax 90mm. Amazing proms, amazing resolution and amazing contrast. Amazing price too I hesitate to say, but until you know what floats your boat, it is hard to give a definitive answer. I enjoy proms in Ha more than I do surface detail so DS is less of an attraction. You could easily and rightly counter argue that to say that I might prefer surface detail if I had a DS scope!! You certainly don’t ‘need’ to tell us what you have got already, but it would be helpful if you did put some more context on the question so you get better answers.

Well it’s a 100DL not a 60, but still....

@Lockie you are indeed the owner of a Tak , lovely. Any of the lightweight mounts will do the trick, I used a Giro-WR with mine but a Porta, AZ 4 or 5 will all do very well I’m sure. The AZGTi would make an ideal grab and go GoTo for it. By the way, you can now buy the 76mm Objective upgrade and have two scopes for the price of...... errrr....two!

Are you havin’ a giraffe after fitting four rings and a losmandy clamp to yours?

I had totally forgotten you had that one!!

It’s definitely a very nice piece of kit. Hopefully you can find some way around the problem, how about one of the T2 Baader prisms? Is there a T2 thread on it?

Aaaarrrrrggghhh

Have you tried it pirate style?

That’s a shame, limits it’s use as a RACI finder with a decent field of view

This is a thread about celebrating ALL the wonderful kit we have at our disposal. I am picking up on your continued anti Tak sentiment and it needs to stop. We all know the 120ED is a wonderful scope, there is no need for barbed comments to defend it.

What a lovely looking setup Derek, looks very simple and very colour co-ordinated. The 50ED looks fab too, have you tried it out yet? Is that an Ercole it’s mounted on?

Simon, this continued sniping nonsense is becoming tiresome, please stop it.

I think we should have a vote on that Mike

You are quite right, the ‘correct’ adapter is the 304. I started down the Tak/Feathertouch route with an FS-60C and FC-76DC and these used the 302, which just so happens to fit the FC-100 too. Personally I prefer the look of the 302, it just seems smaller and less dominating, and leaves the silver ring at the back exposed, whereas the 304 covers this up. They basically do the same job, although I think the 304 may be ever so slightly shorter. There is a thread somewhere which I will try to dig out. DOH, it is in the thread above after all.

To me that misses the point. Why take a lightweight scope and add a heavy weight focuser to it? The 2” Feathertouch is totally capable of handling heavy 2” eyepieces and to me is much more in keeping with the scope. Non rotatable, but easy enough to rotate the scope in the rings, although having to loosen off four of them each time may change that.....

That was my logic Piero. I had experienced perhaps some older Tak focusers which had been brutalised by imagers and showed their age so I went straight for the FT. Yes, if the two screws come lose then the knob moves around a little which is something I’m not keen on. Hopefully as a new assembly yours will perform nicely though.

How do you find it Piero? I do wish Tak would redesign their focusers, that metal plate always seems a weak point and comes lose. Hope it works well for you though.

Yes, agreed. You’ve laid it all out very clearly so it should be very helpful for others. I’m interested (for other projects) as to how you get the PTFE to stick to the tape? Was this the degreasing step?

Nice piece of work Alan, wobbly focuser/image shift are very annoying so I’m sure this makes a good improvement to your enjoyment of the scope.

Lovely setup Dave. I was so tempted by that Vixen f15, it looks beautiful. Glad you got it! Looking forward to the results

Yum ?, looks lovely with matching clamp and focuser. Get yourself a Herschel wedge and enjoy the sun through it too, the views are stunning!!

Really John, it’s a great mount. You know it makes sense

I guess you will have to make a call on whether you think FLO and Es are incompetent or not?