I have just removed 55mm from my new Tak tube !! and.......

[Saganite]

I thought the title might grab the attention of certain people.

I have had this Takahashi for just two days, and the clamshell is two weeks away, so I set it up on the breakfast bar as I just had to look through it. I put in the T2 prism diagonal with the 2" nosepiece, loaded the binoviewer c/w a pair of Ultima 30's and.......nothing, I could not reach focus.The telescope was already considerably shorter than when it arrived anyway, as I had removed the spacer tube and 1.25" adapter to fit the 2" adapter that came this morning, courtesy of Ian King Imaging. I played around with the various OCS systems of my bino, but nothing worked. I did however discover that I had to hold the eyepieces a good 40mm above the binoviewer to get any sort of focus, but I had no way of extending the focuser to achieve that.

The  solution  would be found online, I thought, so off to Professor Google, and sure enough the answer to my problem was on Cloudy Nights, courtesy of our very own mikeDnight, who clearly showed that the removal of the green extension tube between the main tube and the focuser, allows the focuser assembly to be screwed into the tube directly. This I thought sheer genius by Takahashi, because to reach native focus ,which I now can, would normally involve hacking off a section of tube.

So my thanks to Mike for taking the trouble to post this "fix",( it is on SGL somewhere, but I don't now need to look for it), and I am absolutely delighted that all my bino pairs can be used at native focus.

N.B   My wife's somewhat mischievous  comments about my new scope were,

"Aren't you disappointed with such a small scope for so much money" and " you would think that a new telescope lens would be cleaner than that" knowing very well , I hope,that the scope focused on the greenhouse at the end of the garden showed every tiny piece of dirt and dust on the glass panes.

Also, whilst relaxing over coffee this morning, she said ," have you ordered a clamshell for it". After I had stopped choking , I confessed that I had done so before the scope arrived, and mumbled something about how she knew about it.

" You referred to it when You were removing the rings from the other scope, and I know you cannot use the scope without it, I do listen you know, and I am not daft.

At the risk of boring everybody, here are the pictures of the first glimpse of my new scope.

 

Edited May 26, 2018 by Saganite

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Looks brilliant!

[Saganite]

Cheers Michael, I am very happy, but two weeks waiting for the means to mount it, is going to be hard, however, I won't wish clouds on the rest of you , just to ease my pain.

Edited May 26, 2018 by Saganite

[andrew s]

21 minutes ago, Saganite said:

 

"Aren't you disappointed with such a small scope for so much money"

Many a true word spoken in jest. 

Nice scope.

Regards Andreqw

[Saganite]

Here she is, much shortened, but ready for action !

[jock1958]

Very nice...and the title did grab my attention lol!!  The thought of hacking 55mm off a pristine Takahashi tube made my stomach turn over

[Saganite]

46 minutes ago, jock1958 said:

Very nice...and the title did grab my attention lol!!  The thought of hacking 55mm off a pristine Takahashi tube made my stomach turn over

Exactly what I had hoped for 

Cheers Jock

[25585]

Clamshell when FLO sell 95mm rings now ? 

[Pig]

My heart also jumped into my mouth when I read the threads title ? but all’s well that ends well, and a useful piece of information to know ? enjoy your scope ?

Edited May 26, 2018 by Pig

[jock1958]

Do you know if it’s just the DC & DF that comes with that green extension tube?  And what’s the length?

My DL came without it but came with a black 52mm extension tube? 

[Saganite]

Hi Jock,

I don't know the answer to this, but Mike will, I am sure, be along sooner or later and he will be able to tell you. What I can say , again , is I  am so happy with this 'fix' because, though My bino's guarantee reaching focus in refractors and reflectors, by use of the OCS, it can be irksome to have to do it in the session, and so it is great to now have the freedom to use eyepieces at native, in both my refractors. 

Edited May 26, 2018 by Saganite

[Saganite]

29 minutes ago, Pig said:

My heart also jumped into my mouth when I read the threads title ? but all’s well that ends well, and a useful piece of information to know ? enjoy your scope ?

Thanks Shaun,

I much much prefer binoviewing, so to do this so easily in my new Tak , is just great. 

p.s my intention was to cause  a few 'hearts in mouths' 

[John]

33 minutes ago, jock1958 said:

Do you know if it’s just the DC & DF that comes with that green extension tube?  And what’s the length?

My DL came without it but came with a black 52mm extension tube? 

My DL was the same as yours - no extension section but it did have a 72mm black Tak extension tube (which I don't use).

 

[jock1958]

40 minutes ago, John said:

My DL was the same as yours - no extension section but it did have a 72mm black Tak extension tube (which I don't use).

 

John you are quite correct, it’s a 72mm tube and I don’t use it either. 

To bring my 1.25 eyepieces into focus I bought a 35mm TS optics extension tube and it works a treat 

[25585]

1 hour ago, jock1958 said:

Do you know if it’s just the DC & DF that comes with that green extension tube?  And what’s the length?

My DL came without it but came with a black 52mm extension tube? 

My second run DL had the same pale green focuser as DFs, but thankfully still a black extension tube.

[Stu]

Great stuff Steve, and I’m another who fell for it!  

That’s one of the beauties of Taks, they are very flexible and seem easy to make Binoviewer friendly, perhaps because of Taks imaging slant requiring more inwards focus?

There is an SGL topic on this very subject too; it started from a Feathertouch perspective which also allows native BV use, but then I think we somehow worked out the green extension trick with some helpful input. It’s a great feature and I’m sure you will love using the scope when your clamshell arrives  

[Pig]

2 hours ago, jock1958 said:

Do you know if it’s just the DC & DF that comes with that green extension tube?  And what’s the length?

My DL came without it but came with a black 52mm extension tube? 

I have the DF and it doesn’t come with the green extension, the focuser goes straight into the tube ? it does also comes with the secondary extension kit which I have used once for observing without the diagonal......

[Stub Mandrel]

Hack-a-Tak

?

[JamesF]

When I read the title I thought perhaps you were going to use it for a PST stage 2 mod

James

[25585]

DCs & DFs do look like a DL with a chunk sawn off. ?

Edited May 26, 2018 by 25585

[Peter Drew]

10 hours ago, jock1958 said:

Very nice...and the title did grab my attention lol!!  The thought of hacking 55mm off a pristine Takahashi tube made my stomach turn over

Grabbed my attention as well.  Disappointed.   ?

[Piero]

On 26/05/2018 at 14:03, Saganite said:

The  solution  would be found online, I thought, so off to Professor Google, and sure enough the answer to my problem was on Cloudy Nights, courtesy of our very own mikeDnight, who clearly showed that the removal of the green extension tube between the main tube and the focuser, allows the focuser assembly to be screwed into the tube directly. This I thought sheer genius by Takahashi, because to reach native focus ,which I now can, would normally involve hacking off a section of tube.

So my thanks to Mike for taking the trouble to post this "fix",( it is on SGL somewhere, but I don't now need to look for it), and I am absolutely delighted that all my bino pairs can be used at native focus.

I don't want to play the devil's advocate, but that finding comes from @marcus_z who is here on SGL and on CN. 

It was a great contribution indeed.

 

Edited May 28, 2018 by Piero

[25585]

I expect more to do with ease of manufacture and assembly than genius, but sometimes that is genius in the rough. 

[25585]

16 hours ago, Saganite said:

Here she is, much shortened, but ready for action !

Bino viewers colour compliment what remains of the green nicely. Very neat altogether. ?

[Alan White]

I was so waiting for a hacksaw picture Steve......

Pheww, that is such a modular design, they are clever our friends at Takahashi.