Tak MEF3 Micro Focuser First Impressions

[MalcolmM]

I had been considering getting one of these for a year or so now. Mixed reviews, particularly on other forums, plus liking very much the stock focuser, made me hold back.

Fast forward to now and I bit the bullet! I think it's brilliant! Very easy to install, 5 or 10 minutes did the job. And it's very smooth, very accurate, a pleasure to use. I might now be buying a couple more of them 🙂

Now in the interest of fairness, I have never seen or used other options (More Blue, FT etc) so I can't make any comparisons. I also like keeping my scope totally Tak if I can. I am also unashamedly Tak biased  I have also only used it the once, this evening on Venus. It is installed on an FS60CB and I had the Extender-Q attached with a 4mm Tak Abbe; a magnification of x140. It was on a Gitzo Traveler tripod with the center column fully raised, not the most stable of configurations. The stock focuser can deal with this fine, no problems, but with the MEF3 it was exceptionally easy and quick to get a very sharp Venus. A definite improvement over the already very good stock focuser. 

From my perspective I can thoroughly recommend the MEF3. I found I was able to spend more time observing and less time trying to achieve the best possible focus!

Malcolm 

[JeremyS]

Glad you like the MEF 3, Malcolm. I have one on several of my Taks. Though expensive, they work well.
 

I also love the way they come in a plain manila box, completely understated and so typical of Tak 😊

Edited June 17, 2023 by JeremyS

[MalcolmM]

58 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Glad you like the MEF 3, Malcolm. I have one on several of my Taks. Though expensive, they work well.
 

I also love the way they come in a plain manila box, completely understated and so typical of Tak 😊

I think I read somewhere that you said you had several of them. That did help sway me

Malcolm 

[The60mmKid]

Thank you for posting your impressions. I agree with you. I like the Tak microfocusers, and I'm not sure why they receive such mixed reviews. Perhaps people want them to feel like a Feathertouch. But do they need to?

[MalcolmM]

I put binoviewers on the above setup. Very unbalanced, actually could not move the scope/cradle forward enough to achieve balance. Extender-Q plus Maxbrights plus 2.6 GPC plus 12.5 Abbe eyepieces. I reckon the magnification was near enough the equivalent of a TOE3.3, about x170, maybe more. The scope vibrated for a couple of seconds after being disturbed. I think I would really have struggled to focus easily with the stock focuser. With the MEF it was easy!

Malcolm 

[Mr Spock]

My MEF3 is incredibly bouncy, you have to give it quite a tweak to get the focus moving. This is because the focusser is stiff, way too stiff. Poor QC from Tak I reckon.

[JeremyS]

Like all good manufacturers of high end equipment (not just optics), Tak allows for the possibility of adjusting the tension both on the focuser and the MEF. This allows for individuals’ preferences and equipment load.

[John]

Tak R&P focusers can be adjusted for tension. I did mine once soon after I bought it and it stayed "right" after that. When I fitted the FT micro pinion upgrade I did not need to re-adjust the Tak side of the focuser but I did need quite a bit of tweaking on the FT side of things to get the "buttery smooth" motion that I was hoping for. I used the motion of the FT unit on my TMB/LZOS as a benchmark to aim for. 

A Tak R&P with an aftermarket pinion dual speed upgrade will never quite feel the same is it did before the upgrade IMHO because of the inertia that the gearing and mass that the two speed focuser unit adds to the system. 

Edited June 23, 2023 by John

[Mr Spock]

On mine it's the tube/focusser interface which is tight. You can't adjust that! With all the mechanism removed it's hard to move the focusser by hand! I even tried removing some of the grease. It's just a poor fit.

[John]

2 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

On mine it's the tube/focusser interface which is tight. You can't adjust that! With all the mechanism removed it's hard to move the focusser by hand! I even tried removing some of the grease. It's just a poor fit.

Yours has the same focuser that mine does I think - the 2.5 inch inch ?

Was the action OK before the MEF-3 was fitted ?

[Mr Spock]

3 minutes ago, John said:

Was the action OK before the MEF-3 was fitted ?

No, it's stiff with or without. As I said above, it's stiff with mechanism removed entirely. 

[John]

Did you buy it new - is it still under warranty ?

 

 

[Mr Spock]

On 23/06/2023 at 17:25, John said:

Did you buy it new - is it still under warranty ?

New three months ago, and I've never regretted anything as much. When I think it cost three times what the Starfield did and is optically no better, and ergonomically only about 10%, I feel disillusioned.

[John]

2 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

New three months ago, and I've never regretted anything as much. When I think it cost three times what the Starfield did and is optically no better, and ergonomically only about 10%, I feel disillusioned.

I felt that coming through in the report you posted comparing the two scopes when you got the Tak 😟

 

 

[Franklin]

On 23/06/2023 at 17:12, Mr Spock said:

On mine it's the tube/focusser interface which is tight.

The FC100DC I had a while back had quite a stiff focuser but I managed to adjust it out and it was very smooth once eased off a touch. Very short travel though.

[MalcolmM]

On 23/06/2023 at 17:21, Mr Spock said:

No, it's stiff with or without. As I said above, it's stiff with mechanism removed entirely. 

If you bought it through FLO it would be worth emailing them. I have always found them very helpful and very keen to fix any problems. 

The DC focuser assembly can be tweaked easily, though I'm sure it would be more advisable to let FLO do it. The stiffness of the draw tube is very sensitive to the 3 grub screws on the focuser assembly. If they are tweaked, a tiny amount should be all that's needed and each should be adjusted equally. 

The rack and pinion tension can also be adjusted, but I have never done this. 

In my experience, the Tak focuser is very smooth. I adjusted the 3 grub screws ever so slightly on my 60CB to get it 'just so'.

Whatever you do, I hope you get it sorted to your satisfaction. It should be a pleasure to use; admittedly I have no experience with FTs or many other scopes.

Good Luck  

Malcolm 

[Mr Spock]

14 hours ago, MalcolmM said:

I adjusted the 3 grub screws

Found the three grub screws. They were sealed in with something though - once I dug that out I was able to adjust the screws. That was it, the focusser is now a lot more free and the micro focusser doesn't bounce.

Shame such an expensive scope leaves the factory that badly adjusted. 

[MalcolmM]

4 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

Found the three grub screws. They were sealed in with something though - once I dug that out I was able to adjust the screws. That was it, the focusser is now a lot more free and the micro focusser doesn't bounce.

Shame such an expensive scope leaves the factory that badly adjusted. 

That's brilliant news! Very pleased you got it working smoothly. I put the tiniest drop of loctite on the grub screws after I adjusted them in order to keep them secure. 

I am embarrassingly biased towards Taks and I feel more attached to a scope after I have done a small tweak like that! But as I've said before, that probably says more about me than it does the scope!

Malcolm 

[HizerKite]

I tried one of these on my TSA-120. Very unimpressed.

 

The 'reaction arm' is made from flimsy, thin metal and bends causing the focuser to feel spongy. I made a thicker one and it sorted this issue but after a while the securing screws came loose. I sold it and bought a starlight instruments focuser which broke soon after installing.

Starlight sent me a replacement part which I've fitted and will see. It's likely to last forever as haven't been able to use the scope for months due to the ever present clouds.

I posted an honest review of the Mef-3 on the flo website but they obviously only publish the positive ones as has not appeared.

Edited March 5 by HizerKite

[JeremyS]

36 minutes ago, HizerKite said:

I tried one of these on my TSA-120. Very unimpressed.

 

The 'reaction arm' is made from flimsy, thin metal and bends causing the focuser to feel spongy. I made a thicker one and it sorted this issue but after a while the securing screws came loose. I sold it and bought a starlight instruments focuser which broke soon after installing.

Starlight sent me a replacement part which I've fitted and will see. It's likely to last forever as haven't been able to use the scope for months due to the ever present clouds.

I posted an honest review of the Mef-3 on the flo website but they obviously only publish the positive ones as has not appeared.

That’s odd about bending. I’ve never experienced that on my TSA 120 (or FS 100DZ). I wonder if the focuser itself was too tight (can be user adjusted).

[Mr Spock]

Final solution to the MEF-3 

Expensive, but you know its worth it 

[Piero]

Personally, I am not a fan of Tak focusers (even after tweaks) and my MEF-3 was sold as I didn't like that either!

When building my 16" f4 dob, I ordered an FT focuser with a drawtube 2" long, whereas the 1.5" version was actually more suitable as this telescope is used with a paracorr2 (therefore the drawtube length is less relevant and the 1.5" model allows me to screw nebula filters directly onto the base of the coma corrector). To cut the story short, I was lucky enough that an FT focuser with 1.5" drawtube came up in the second hand market (thanks @Stu). Therefore, the 1.5" model was fitted on my dob and the 2" model was fitted on my tak fc100 (before DF, now FC 😎). A short extension tube is needed with the tak but this is not a big deal.

The difference in use is striking to me. Never looked back, no remorse.

[John]

I remain very pleased with the Feather touch micro pinion upgrade that I fitted to my FC100-DL. After some tweaking and adjusting it now has the same feel as the full FT unit on my 130mm refractor.

I didn't feel that the stock Takahashi R&P was a particular problem though, I lived quite happily with it for 5 years. The FT unit just came along at a nice price 🙂

 

Edited March 5 by John

[Littleguy80]

I’ve recently installed @Mr Spock’s MEF3 on my Tak FC100DF. It’s really helped having the fine control. The MEF3 can be adjusted and I found doing this got the Focuser feeling really nice and smooth without backlash. I just need to avoid trying FT focuser now 😂

Instructions for the adjustment:

Edited March 5 by Littleguy80

[MalcolmM]

20 hours ago, JeremyS said:

That’s odd about bending. I’ve never experienced that on my TSA 120 (or FS 100DZ). I wonder if the focuser itself was too tight (can be user adjusted).

I have noticed the spongy feeling, but only when I've had the draw tube clamp tightened and forgotten to loosen it! So what @JeremyS says seems very possible to me.

Malcolm