spaceboy

I don't want to doubt you Derek but I would immediately cease using your combo until you have contacted Daystar directly.

I think moonshane has removed his rusty itf and replaced it with a 2" 35nm. As said before though I'm unsure how it all works as he already has an internal 80mm d-erf which I believe have IR rejection and pass 45nm ??

So from what I gather from Altair's site apertures of115mm and over you need a front mounted erf ? So you are correct DRT it's not 75mm ?

Says 3" here mate http://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/review/miscellaneous/daystar-quark-hydrogen-alpha-eyepiece-filters and I'm positive I have read it in more detail else where?? Either way I'm aware moonshane employs a Baader 35nm filter in his PST mod so he may be along shortly to offer a better understanding of the filters for solar. I know he has a Baader d-erf so why he uses a 35nm over a UV/IR I'm not totally sure??

I thought you had to use a proper ERF over a certain aperture? Just checked and it's saying over 3" and you need an aperture ERF. Obviously DRT has better knowledge on this than me though!

My guess ..... without having seen one in person, is that the head can be adjusted so that you can have the slow motion control facing in the direction you want. I have it in the back of my mind that this was done on a very similar mount. I'd be wasting my time trying to find the link but I am almost certain it is possible. Now the part you may not want to hear is that IF my memory serves me correct it would require the cap on the side of the alt being removed. You could of course try trawling the internet to see if you can find what I am referring to. There are after all only a handful of AZ mounts with slow motion controls so you may well come across the page yourself.

I'm now wondering if these are more for spotting scopes or at least hoping to insight the interest of bird spotters / photographers while still keeping one foot in the astronomers camp. You'd not see nature photographers lugging around a 1.75" stainless steel tripod after all. I know the AZ4 came with an L bracket as standard which could be construed as for similar reasons. .

To be fair it wouldn't be the hardest fix in the world if you have access to a simple hobby lathe but it's the fact that you'd even have to

Do you have a pic of the bottom. It seems odd to me why they did the AZ4 M10 so it would universally fit across a range of telescope tripods yet made a successor that only fits 3/8 camera tripods. WHY I have to ask?

I have possibly an even better and cheaper solution http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BERGEN-2pc-M10-x-1-25P-Tap-Set-Taper-Plug-2555-/282485253408?hash=item41c56ee520:g:VcgAAOSwGvhUCicR

Interesting review John and it sure does look a well built piece of kit. I still think if given the choice I'd go with the cool wedge as I have never heard any comments on people feeling the need to chop the ota to leave room for focus. Also I have to wonder.... I appreciate you know what you are doing and say it is ok to look at the underside of the diagonal and that no heat is emitted but as we all know the main dangers of looking at the sun are ones that are hidden and that don't expose themselves for several hours after exposure. These being UV & IR. I have to wonder how much of these invisible hazards would make it out the bottom on to your summer shorts exposed leg ???

This is why I went with a tilt tune. I came across too many niggles with the pressure tune reviews and given how much more they cost over the tilt tune it was a no brainer. There seem to be a few people disappointed with the views through lunt's at the moment and it is a shame as they are great scopes. I think the problem is you buy a new scope you automatically expect it to work perfect straight out the box and with the whole pressure tune thing faults are not always going to be that obvious if you have a slight leak. It is worth noting though that the seeing and transparency conditions play a huge part in the amount of detail that can be visible. Oddly cloud passing over in front of the solar disc can sometimes add to the amount of surface detail that can be seen. It's as if it brings another level of contrast to the views. High level haze on the other hand has totally the opposite effect and can make the views quite flat and disappointing. As others have mentioned though there has to be something going on for you to observe and the sun has started to settle down in to the solar minimum.

Yes I gathered it was in humour. Mine was the stupid question I meant.

Stupid question! Who would want a scope like this? I'm not knocking it as l'd love it!! but in all practicality what advantages could be expected? I'm guessing it is more an imaging scope over visual ? I'm guessing though that visually this particular scope would be mind blowing if you had a set of ziess ortho to unleash the full potential. A lot of money for a used scope so I'd love to be bff with the person who bought it new ?

I have to say I'm sad to see how this thread has developed. I value everyone's opinion but it seems to be turning in to tit for tat. If Olly isn't happy with his moonlite for imaging then fair enough. I think it is better to have a broad opinion rather than a singular one. I never thought a focuser thread would end up like negative opinions on televue threads tend to do I have to admit I agree with Olly's principle argument. I have no experience with moonlite other than ones I have seen on trade stands but I do have experience with refractor crayfords and gloss finished draw tubes. Look very posh but feel a compromise is definitely there regards overall performance. This is why I am probably more in favour of Baaders steeltrack although saying that I do like the look of the Revelation R&P focusers https://www.telescopehouse.com/accessories/focusers/revelation-rack-n-pinion-focusers/revelation-superfocus-2-inch-rack-n-pinion-refractor-focuser.html I have a revelation Crayford on my Newt and it has always performed well for it's price point so I feel confident that the quality of the gravity friendly R&P focusers could closely match. I know I had originally on planned for the top two higher end contenders of moonlite and Baader for discussion but it looks like I may have underestimated the value of the "budget brands" . Any comments welcomed on these also

Thanks for clearing up the confusion guys. I admit I had at first thought it a minor cosmetic issue but as it was mentioned several times I began to doubt my own judgment . I suppose if I had a five grand apo the tatty look of a well used draw tube could distract from the beauty of a well made instrument. Personally though I would struggle to notice anything in the dead of night.

You will have to forgive me chaps but I missing the significance of where the tram line topic is going? I can only assume I am missing something?? Do they have a significant impact on performance or is it purely a cosmetic peeve ? If anything would it not actually improve the performance as the bearings are no longer running along the shiny (possible soft?) black gloss surface but against a texture and solid metal surface?? Are looks more of a necessity to users than performance? On a side note I believe I would prefer to go with the Baader offering. I recently passed up on a feather touch for a good used price (I know some may consider this lunacy) as I particularly like rotating focusers. The only thing I am not sure with the Baader over the moonlite though is the ability to fix a finder to the focuser. I would rather have a quality R&P but moonlite seem to have considered everything an astronomer would want an upgrade focuser to offer. Even a selection of bling colours . As by far the biggest seller of astronomy kit synta refractors often come with focuser shoes on their focusers so this can leave one with a dilemma of drilling in to the ota to fix a shoe. Again this can lead to awkward positions for the finder to be viewed through.

I'm sure most can live with fixed focuser and just rotating the diagonal or the ota (not always easy with out risking the ota slipping) but I for one have gotten used to rotating focusers and appreciate the advantages of using them. The most notable advantage IMO is not flapping my hand about trying to land your hand on the focuser knob. If you use a DS focuser this can become even more frustrating depending which side of the meridian the scope is pointing. There is also the convenience that some allow you to attach finders to the focuser so there no need to crick your neck aligning objects. If you only use AZ mounts its not so much an advantage of course.

Sounds more like the end of the ota isn't 100% square and so the focuser isn't aligned with the objective. Have you ever checked collimation?

From what I gather an external adapter will be the solution. As I previously mentioned an adapter will have to be made so this can be took in to consideration when approaching an engineer. If anything this may be a good thing as it seems the seam on Tal100RS aren't the best as I too can confirm. Personally I found the crayford on my RS to be fine. I'm aware the older R version R&P focuser were poor though but ironically had far better optics.

I can't see why? You would at worst have to approach a local engineering shop to have an adapter made which I'm sure would cost not much more than buying a commercially available.

This is probably curiosity more so than anything else. I notice a lot of people on SGL tend to go with moonlite focusers when upgrading their refractors. Given that a moonlite despite being a superbly engineered piece of kit is still basically at the end of the day a crayford focuser, how come most go with the moonlite over say a Baader diamond track? As far as I am aware they both rotate and are both collimateable. The only difference aside from the glitz of the moonlite is that in theory the Baader should offer a performance advantage due to the precission r&p design. I will note that I haven't included feather touch focusers in the discussion as apparently these don't offer the option of rotating like the moonlit and Baader focusers do. This being a significant disadvantage when used on EQ mounts. Not only that they are considerably more expensive. I'm also aware that there are several other capable focusers available from revelation / gso but for some reason they don't seem as popular as Baader and moonlite for a stock substitute despite their affordability. Again I am purposely leaving out the budget end "upgrade" focusers from the discussion as while they offer some additional features over stock focusers I don't feel they offer the same level of engineering that moonlite and similar mid to high cost focusers offer. As far as WO focusers go this could be a muddy puddle as I'm aware they offer some truely superb focusers but also in a similar way to GSO have many comparable to the cheaper Chinese and quite poor offerings. I have also noticed that it appears to me anyway that we in the UK favor moonlite where the other side of the pond tend to have a larger following for Baader. I know a lot of member are happy buying used so I'm sure this also play its part and if something comes up that offers a significant advantage over stock at an affordable price then why not go for it. But if you had the choice which focuser would you go for if you had a realistic budget for new and what would your reasons be??

Is it worth keeping a quark in an air tight case? I keep my PST in one to help reduce exposure to the elements when not in use. @DRT glad to hear Daystar are going to sort it for you mate and fingers crossed the replaced filter turns out to be a fix and not just a repair.

As long as your 100% sure you have collimated the secondary and primary correctly including the depth of the secondary along with correct position of the spider vanes then you can give the focuser a go at collimation. There are 6 screws around the base of the focuser. Manipulate these the same way you do your primary. One locks, one adjusts. Larger is often the adjustment one. If you search sgl there are members who have posted in depth methods of squaring up a focuser using laser collimators bouncing off the back of the ota but I tend to do it by eye myself. It's all on SGL with a quick search but hopefully someone already has the link to hand that helps. HTH