Bresser Messier 127mm F15 Maksutov

[Mark at Beaufort]

John I noticed that you changed the finderscope bracket. I assume the old bracket are simply held by screw bolts with no nuts to worry about falling inside.

[johninderby]

10 minutes ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

John I noticed that you changed the finderscope bracket. I assume the old bracket are simply held by screw bolts with no nuts to worry about falling inside.

Yes it was a simple bolt on. However the rear dust cover that the bracket fastens onto is plastic so very, very easy to strip the threads which happened to me so I tapped the holes out to the next larger size. Would be asy to loosen the dust cover and put nuts on the inside though.

BTW there is a proper metal back plate on the scope under the dust cover.

Edited July 9, 2019 by johninderby

[johninderby]

Focuser mod to the Bresser 127 mak

While I find the focuser works well I didn’t like the slop in the shaft and the knob wasn’t the best either. There is no bearing where the shaft passes through the hole in the rear cover so the shaft does flop around quite a bit so I decided to fit a bearing. Got a suitable flanged ball raced bearing that would fit the shaft. Drilled out the hole in the cover to 12mm and then filed it out nearly to the bearing diameter of 12.65mm making sure it would be a tight press fit. Decided to fit the rubber knob cover off the Skymax 180. Found a 14mm diameter motor shaft coupling to fit to the shaft and then the ribber cover was a tight push fit. 

Much nicer focuser knob and zero wobble. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

The rear cover is simply held on to the backplate by three screws and slides off. While the back was off fitted a new finder foot on the “other side”. 

 

Edited July 24, 2019 by johninderby

[dweller25]

Good work 👍

Have you had chance to view Jupiter with it ?

If so what was your impression of it’s performance ?

[johninderby]

Jupiter was the first thing I looked at. 🙂

Was surprised by the amount of detail I could see. Considering how low Jupiter is at the moment image was clear and had very good contrast. Used a Baader neodymium filter. 

Edited July 24, 2019 by johninderby

[Mark at Beaufort]

John you really make some wonderful modifications to your scopes. The more I read about the Bresser Mak/Cass the more I want one.

[John]

That looks neat John.

Is the rear cover plastic or metal ?

 

[johninderby]

The rear cover is very thick plastic. Seems up to the job. The black SCT connector bits are aluminium though. Rear plate of the scope is metal.

[JG777]

@johninderby I have to say this is the most comprehensive thread anywhere on this particular scope so thank you for your efforts here, it has been very interesting to read, particularly your mods. I'm looking at various Maks at the moment for future purchase and this one has piqued my interest although really a 150 class Mak is appealing to me more. I did have a SW127 briefly, maybe I should have kept it but it was at the time competing against a 100 SW ED PRO and the refractor won on cool down for my short sessions. Look forward to more observing reports.

[johninderby]

The Bresser 152 mak looks quite interesting. Have used that focuser on another scope and it’s a really good one. 1:10 fine focus option is worth getting though.

https://www.bresser.de/en/Astronomy/BRESSER-Messier-MC-152-Hexafoc-Optical-Tube-Assembly.html

Edited July 25, 2019 by johninderby

[Rob]

Defo re spawn ETX

https://www.telescopehouse.com/bresser-messier-mcx-127-goto-telescope-az-eq.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIn42XrsXP4wIVAbTtCh1z_wRSEAQYAiABEgJ1__D_BwE

Looks good John!. Nice upgrade mod there.

[John]

2 minutes ago, Rob said:

Defo re spawn ETX

https://www.telescopehouse.com/bresser-messier-mcx-127-goto-telescope-az-eq.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIn42XrsXP4wIVAbTtCh1z_wRSEAQYAiABEgJ1__D_BwE

Looks good John!. Nice upgrade mod there.

This is a bit confusing though:

"Primary mirror diam. (mm): 125" (mm presumably)

The ETX 125 used an oversized primary as far as I know - 138mm is the figure that I've seen measured. That would tally with a working aperture of 125mm.

Probably just a sloppy spec from TH.

 

 

[Rob]

1 hour ago, John said:

This is a bit confusing though:

"Primary mirror diam. (mm): 125" (mm presumably)

The ETX 125 used an oversized primary as far as I know - 138mm is the figure that I've seen measured. That would tally with a working aperture of 125mm.

Probably just a sloppy spec from TH.

 

 

I agree John. Its like some sort of re-invented ETX!. And of course that mount screams Meade. I really do like the look of this OTA mind.

[johninderby]

The OTA is a few mm bigger in dia than the Skymax 127 so the primary mirror should be bigger. It’s the same scope as the Explore Scientific 127 mak. Someone on CN measured the scope’s effective aperture  at 127mm. 

Edited July 25, 2019 by johninderby

[johninderby]

My little mak has a proper focuser now. 🙂🙂🙂

Ordered a 1.25” dual speed crayford focuser from Telescope Express a month ago but had to wait while they had an adapter made up to suit. 80 quid for the adapter. Ouch!!!  Wanted a small and light focuser to fit the mak. Yes a regular SCT crayford would fit but would be big, heavy and bulky for this scope. Won’t be using two inch eyepices to 1.25” is all I need.

Fits perfectly and looks like it came from Bresser that way. Very, very pleased with it.👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

A really well made bit of kit. Sort of a mini Baader Steeltrack quality wise and feels like a Steeltrack as you move the drawtube, Has that same weighty but smooth feel. Has a T2 thread on the drawtube so easy to fit a camera if you wanted to. Don’t know who the actual manufacturer is but it has a US patent number on it. 🤔

 

Edited November 30, 2019 by johninderby

[Greymouser]

Yes, a very interesting thread, thank you for posting. 

You do indeed have no fear in modifying scopes do you? I doubt I would have the confidence unfortunately. Certainly plenty of food  for thought though. Have you ever thought of offering your services out to others, for money etc.?

[johninderby]

Don’t mind messing with my own scopes but wouldn’t like to mess up spmeone elses. 🙁

 

[Paz]

On 30/11/2019 at 10:41, johninderby said:

My little mak has a proper focuser now. 🙂🙂🙂

Ordered a 1.25” dual speed crayford focuser from Telescope Express a month ago but had to wait while they had an adapter made up to suit. 80 quid for the adapter. Ouch!!!  Wanted a small and light focuser to fit the mak. Yes a regular SCT crayford would fit but would be big, heavy and bulky for this scope. Won’t be using two inch eyepices to 1.25” is all I need.

Fits perfectly and looks like it came from Bresser that way. Very, very pleased with it.👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

A really well made bit of kit. Sort of a mini Baader Steeltrack quality wise and feels like a Steeltrack as you move the drawtube, Has that same weighty but smooth feel. Has a T2 thread on the drawtube so easy to fit a camera if you wanted to. Don’t know who the actual manufacturer is but it has a US patent number on it. 🤔

 

I like that focuser. I've got a SCT focuser that I use on my Bresser 127 Maksutov and my C8 but in comparison it is a lot of extra weight and bulk.

[johninderby]

Yes there has been a lack of 1.25” crayfords. This one is really lightweight and compact and just perfect fpr the Bresser mak. Had chance to use it this evening and it was a pleasure to use. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[Louis D]

Here's a link to the patent description.  There's no assignee, so I'm not sure who is manufacturing it.  A good guess might be GSO since they're based in Taiwan.  However, the markings look different from their focusers.

The innovation appears to be the addition of hardened steel tracks for the bearings to ride against.  However, Starlight Instruments Feather Touch focusers use hardened steel rails for the bearings, just in a different location than these rails.  See US patent 6,069,754.

[johninderby]

The focuser mystery deepens. Found an Orion Optics UK label on the box so it is being made for OO with the part number ACUR1. However you will find no mention of it on their website. Only retailer seems to be Telescope Express who do sell a lot of OOs stuff so it’s probably only intended for TS.

It has similarities to the ACU-3S 3” focuser so probanly comes out of the same factory. Thankfully it’s nothing like the ACU-2S 2” focuser which seems a much lower quality focuser. 

 

Edited December 2, 2019 by johninderby

[bthoven]

Sorry to dig this thread up. I'm interested in buying one. Does it come with carrying bag like Skywatcher?

[johninderby]

40 minutes ago, bthoven said:

Sorry to dig this thread up. I'm interested in buying one. Does it come with carrying bag like Skywatcher?

No ot doesn’t come with a carry bag.

[bthoven]

Thanks.

[Louis D]

I just keep my Synta 127 Maks in padded camera bags or wrapped in bubble wrap and placed in a gym bag.