New scope, first light - Equinox 120ED

[Zakalwe]

The focus tube is anodised, not painted. There shouldn't be any need to flat the tube as the machining is a lot better than on the old ED80 tubes (flattening the focuser was mandatory on those). The Equinox focuser has two grubs crews that allow you to tilt the focusing rod a little, which means that you can get a much better alignment. It's also worth having a little play with the various grubscrews on the focuser....they can be easily tweaked to get the focuser to grip like the proverbial to an army blanket.

I tweaked the focuser on my Equinox 80. It made a heck of a difference. No slippage at all.

[F15Rules]

Hi Sirius,

Yes, that looks like the one, from FLO. It is very easy to fit, simply unscrew the two very small screws on the collar of the old focuser where it covers the eyepiece end of the main tube...(keep these screws, you will need to replace them..

Then remove the old focuser by gripping the collar of the focuser where it overlaps onto the main telescope tube and turn counterclockwise...the focuser will then just come out of the main tube. For the new focuser simply thread it carefully in to the tube and ensure it is tightened well (hand-tight tight is fine), so that use of 360 degree rotation facility doesn't inadvertently undo the actual focuser from the mount (I did this once, hence the tip!).

Finally, replace the two small screws you removed in the first place.

Moonlite focusers are collimated at the factory so as long as your OTA is collimated and true (which at the price they charge it should be!), you shouldn't have any alignment problems.

Hope this helps.

regards

Dave

PS: I have now sold my ED120 but would be happy to recommend it as a very good all round scope..

[nightfisher]

Dave, did you get the f11 you mentioned?