Baader Q turret

[acey]

Thinking I might get one but have a few questions for anyone who's used one:

1. By how much does it raise the eyepiece - i.e. how much spare focuser in-travel will I need? Not a great deal to spare on my 12" flextube. And I don't want to use a barlow.

2. What sort of weight/size can it cope with? Would like to put my Baader and Speers Waller zooms on it, and they're pretty chunky.

[Naemeth]

Thinking I might get one but have a few questions for anyone who's used one:

1. By how much does it raise the eyepiece - i.e. how much spare focuser in-travel will I need? Not a great deal to spare on my 12" flextube. And I don't want to use a barlow.

2. What sort of weight/size can it cope with? Would like to put my Baader and Speers Waller zooms on it, and they're pretty chunky.

Have you tried contacting John? I believe he had the Q turret on loan at one point - although that might have just been the BCOs with the barlow.

Failing that, I'd pop FLO an email .

[BillP]

It adds about 1.5" (38mm).  While for some time I did have 4 Pentax XWs in mine, I felt that was a bit taxing as those 4 eyepieces are a lot of weight.  With that much weight where the issue arose was nothing to do with the turret really, but with being able to tighten the compression ring on the diagonal enough to prevent the turret from rotating a little from all the weight if the scope was slewing to an odd position for it.  The turret itself operated just fine under all that weight...but psychologically it was nerve wracking as would really feel more comfortable if my $100+0 USD eyepieces were secured in an all metal unit.  But in the end, it worked just fine.

[acey]

I bought one anyway after realizing that with my Flextube the focuser travel wouldn't be an issue - I could just extend the upper cage to an inch or so less than full extent. Made of heavy-duty plastic, for which £70 may seem a bit steep, however it looks built to last. So far I've only been able to have a quick peek at the full moon between clouds but it looks like it will work fine. I loaded it up with my full viewing set: TV 32mm plossl, Baader 8-24mm zoom, Speers Waler 5-8mm zoom and Nirvana 4mm. The EPs were sufficiently angled so that I could look through each one comfortably without another being in the way, and the turret clicks nicely into each position. The weight meant that my scope slipped at low elevation, but that was without the tension adjuster in place. The focuser struggled to raise the weight - but it needs tightening. The eyepiece locking screws held everything in place with no slippage. Early days but I think it will be a very useful accessory. I shall be sure to keep the EPs capped when not in use as they'll dew otherwise. Will possibly keep the whole assembly in one piece for storage as the field lenses are covered by the turret itself. The turret also has its own dust caps, and a nice touch is that the barrel is threaded for filters. Now I have a magnification range of x47 to x375 without having to reach into my eyepiece case. Nice!

[BillP]

FYI, yesterday I was observing using the turret and had a 40mm Plossl in one of the slots and noticed that the turret vignettes the FOV when using a 40mm...and I expect for a 32mm Plossl and 24 Pan also as they both also show maximum TFOV for 1.25" barrels.

[acey]

Resurrecting an old thread I started two and a half years ago.... The Q Turret has served me well, but over time there seems to have been wear on the dimples responsible for the "click", so that I'm beginning to get slippage, and I can't always tell if an eyepiece is properly in position. I can't see a way to dismantle: there's a central screw that I've tried adjusting, but with limited success. Has anyone else found/solved this problem?