Doc

Maybe look for thinner flocking I'm sure you can get 025mm and 0.75mm.

Here's a video on youtube off my mount.

My two homemade alt/az mounts

I only have one pair and they are the Swarovski EL 10x50 binoculars with Swarovision, simply amazing for stargazing and birding.

I have the Rukl book of the moon which is the last photo you show. It's an excellent book and rather expensive to buy now, look after it as it's an investment now.

What I found good was tapping the scope very lightly so the eyepiece view wobbled this sometimes made the object appear against the background. Also sweeping the area while looking through the eyepiece had the same effect. Most of the time it's just experience, you get to see the mottled effect a DSO has against the grey/black background.

The "Nodding DocMount" I like it Marvin. As for motivation I suppose it was to use the machines I bought for my workshop. I bought a Myford and a Sharp Milling machine after hunting around for a first class Alt/Az mount. A friend of mine had already purchased a DiscMount DM6 and after looking at it in the flesh I thought this would be quiet easy to build and in fact make it stronger, more capable of handling larger loads. I later done the same with the TTS Panther mount which you can see above. Both of my mounts can hold a considerable weight without any wobble and are well made. They are not anodised or anything but have kept the shine I gave them. I have designed a new mount which I'm going to make over the winter based on the gimbal design.

I used to have the Losmandy AZ8 mounted on a barlebach Planet tripod, it took the weight of a Skywatcher 120ED Esprit which is not a light scope by any means and I would imagine heavier then the 140mm TEC. I only sold it because I made my own clones of the TTS Panther and DiscMount. The AZ8 is very well machined and once balanced very smooth, the slow motion controls are very nice, even the degree scales work and are accurate.

Oh sorry I should have answered this, for some reason I didn't see the post.

Surely at F24 it's got to be approaching APO quality. I wouldn't even attempt to do the maths but I'm sure it's aroud that number.

Glad it all worked out for you Ron, smashing images as well.

Thanks for all the info Rob. The Turret will be a secondhand TEC. What I'm aiming for is my Clave 80/1203 F15 scope combined with a Feathertouch 3.5" focuser, a TEC Turret, and a complete collection of Clave eyepieces. Happy days.

Would be about 12 foot long so will need a substantial mount.

There will be no imaging at all, the scope is F15 so will only be used for visual. The eyepieces hanging off the back will be pretty lightweight as well but in time I'm investing in a TEC turret so the weight will be the turret plus 5 Clave' eyepieces. Thats a great photo Rob really shows the workmanship of the Feathertouch.

Thanks for all your suggestions guys it's basically cemented what I already knew, my next purchase after I have robbed a few piggy banks will be a feathertouch focuser. The next dilema is which one. My tube is 90mm in diameter and I see the feathertouch 2.5" one has a M95x1 thread and the feathertouch 3.5" one has a M109x1 thread so If I go for the 2.5" one I need an adapter with a female M95 on one end and 90mm diameter on the other so I can drill three holes to secure the tube to is this correct?