The TAL2M 'Siberia' F8 Equatorial Newt.

[Les Ewan]

Hope this helps John.

[Les Ewan]

My much neglected Tal 2 seems to sparked some  interest,so more about this tractor technology telescope

I bought it in 1994 mail order for around £630.

I came in 2 wooden boxes,when I moved the main box yesterday I had use a sack barrow!

[Les Ewan]

Here it is being set up after 20 years.(I know criminal)!

[Les Ewan]

It is supplied with 3 eyepieces,achromatic X4 Barlow and a reticule.

The 15mm is a Kellner and the 25mm is Symmetrical. The 42mm is unknown.

The eyepieces barrels seem to be some Russian dimension and are slightly oversized and are too big fit into a normal 1.25" focuser.

[Les Ewan]

The spherical mirror give stellar images a slightly blobby appearance but resolution for doubles such a Epsilon 1 and 2 Lyrae are perfectly fine. From memory the primary give a somewhat soft view of the planets.

[John_D]

@Les Ewan Thanks for this information. I've maybe found a copy of the manual online - https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1386910/Npz-Tal-2.html#manual I'm not sure if this is the one you've got.

From my measurements the eyepieces are 32mm rather than 1.25" / 31.75mm. This is a pain when you want to attach a camera.

When I got mine it had a different ( 1.25" ) focusser with it and I modified an old Barlow lens to make an adaptor so that the Tal eyepieces fitted in the alternative focusser.

[Les Ewan]

One odd feature of this Newtonian is its supplied with a Solar projection screen that attaches to the counerweight shaft. This screen is one of the few items that is made of plastic. 

A Newtonian that is designed to allow solar projection must be a rear beast and I had it up and running again yesterday.

I had forgotten just how potentially dangerous Solar projection can be-but great fun.😎

I even managed to image the projected image(after some tweaking with Faststone).

[John_D]

I wondered how well the solar projection screen would work but never had the courage to try it 😁 I also have a second end cap with a hole in it presumably for a solar filter? ( Although it's probably not a common diameter size ☹️ )

Thanks again for all this. I'll print the relevant pages and try some tweaking.

[Les Ewan]

19 minutes ago, John_D said:

I wondered how well the solar projection screen would work but never had the courage to try it 😁 I also have a second end cap with a hole in it presumably for a solar filter? ( Although it's probably not a common diameter size ☹️ )

Thanks again for all this. I'll print the relevant pages and try some tweaking.

My scope came with the off axis aperture cap but the UK supplier had removed the highly dangerous Suncap from the filter set,not that I would have used it anyway and would of thrown it away.

The manual has much in common with mine although the eyepiece selection is differant with the 15mm replaced by a 7mm.

The filter set fits externally by clicking them over the the ridges on the top of the eyepiece body. 

As for the use of the Solar screen I would only use it using the drive manual controls as balancing is a big issue and using the electric drive without the OTA properly balanced could damage the drive mechinism.

Edited April 28 by Les Ewan