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Ikharus 102mm ED Unboxing

ribuck

By ribuck
in Member Equipment Reviews

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ribuck

ribuck

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Wohooo finally got my focuser back, albeit with the minor issues of the barrel being inserted into the focuser house the wrong way round so that it couldn't be fitted to my scope.

A quick call to Ian who talked me through removing the barrel and fitting it back the right way round and i'm back in business.

Lets just hope for some clear skies now..... :-)

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mobi

mobi

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If the scopes are being shipped from China on Tuesday 19th July 2011, then it will be about 4 weeks till they arrive by ship and 2 weeks to clear UK customs,That,s my estimate!

Glad to hear your back up and running Rich, you waited long enough for a straight repair.

What I don,t understand Rich, is how could Ian King put the barrel into your focuser the wrong way round? Did it damage anything or leave threads marked?

Post a pic soon Rich when your got time and lack of clouds!

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ribuck

ribuck

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Hey Mobi,

it's hard to explain, but basically the focuser housing is tapered on one side, and normally the focuser eyepiece compression end of the barrel butts up against the tapered end of the focuser housing, and the non-tapered end of the housing connects to OTA.

Ian had accidentally put the eyepiece compression end of the barrel at the non tapered end which mean't that the focuser could not be fitted to the OTA.

I rang in an he talked me through carefully removing the barrel and putting it in the right way round so that it was inserted from the tapered end.

Anyway i managed to put it right easily enough, and all is well.

I've just checked metcheck and it says Thurs and Sun night are looking ok, so will be keeping my fingers crossed, then again metcheck.com's forecast's change every 5 mins not really going to rely on it too much.

Rich.

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ribuck

ribuck

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Hi Merlinxlm,

Not sure if you missed the start of the thread, as i covered quite a bit on the quality and build of the scope and added a example of a 30 second exposure i took.

I'm hoping for some clear sky tonight so i can take some more images.

Rich.

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merlinxlm

merlinxlm

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Hi Rich,

Thanks just found the information that you posted at the beginning of the thread. Quality does look very good indeed, I do like the focuser and that It comes with a reducer/flattener. I'll be using it mainly for viewing and imaging, just bought myself a Canon 450d so I'll be modifying that. Does the scope come with a carry case? Have you had a chance to take any more images with it? How does it handle CA on bright objects e.g the moon and bright stars?

Thank you.

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mobi

mobi

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HOT UPDATE!!!

Email from Ian King received today July 25

Ikharus scope was posted out to you today should be delivered Tuesday 26 July!!

Ian Kings emails are always extremely short and to the point lol! here,s exact copy & paste.

Quote

"We sent thr above out to you today.

It should arrive tomorrow during business hours.

Best wishes

Ian"

YAY! Good News chaps, means everyone else should be getting theirs around the same time!

********************************************************************************

Rich good to see your back up and going.

From your last post above at 6.25pm Sunday 24 july the night sky near me north wales was clear alnight (Except no scope to view through lol)

So you hopefully should have had clear sky above you aswell?

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ribuck

ribuck

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No clear sky as the forecast was wrong again.........but at least now if lots of folks are getting their scopes soon, then there will be lots of images showing up very soon :-)

Next alleged clear night for me is Wed night, so will wait and see if i actually get clear sky.

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Martin-Devon

Martin-Devon

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I also have an Ikharus, and you'll see some initial images I've got on the weblink below. You'll have to excuse the crummy Photoshop processing, since I'm still a beginner - but it shows you what can be done, even by a beginner, with this very nice refractor. The attachment of the finder I used is also covered in the link below:-

http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-deep-sky/149038-ngc-6995-ngc-6960-my-first-images-veil-nebula.html

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ribuck

ribuck

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How did you mount the finder - did you use on of these?

Hi Andrew, do you mean the red dot finder or the finder scope ?

Anyway, if it's the RDF, it came with the shoe which bolted directly onto the scope

The 50mm guide scope also came with the shoe when i bought the guide rings.

Just to point out that the guide rings and the RDF are both made by williams optics. The reason you may want to look at williams optics accessories is because the Ikharus is the exact same OTA as the williams optics 102mm Megrez and is made in the same factory on the same production line. The only difference is the focuser.

So any williams optics accessories fit perfectly. I bought mine from Ian King.

Rich.

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andrew63

andrew63

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Thanks Rich

Yes The RDF - I've the Orion version of these 102, and I want to use a 6x30 finder. I've ordered a finder mounting shoe from FLO which fits on a Megrez 72 so it should fit ok.

I only use mine for visual - but looking forward to seeing some results from you guys when the dark skies return.

andrew

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mobi

mobi

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Hi Rich, just got the Ikharus delivered and wanted to ask you some advice, there is quite afew specs of dust on the inside front glass lense on the one I got , did your or anyone else reading this who has the same Ikharus have dust on the inside glass front lense?

2nd quick question Rich the focuser on mine is stuck fast the 2 silver side focusers knobs will not turn at all,the gold focuser knob is also not able to be turned, is this how these scopes are sent out? Is there an ajustment I need to make?

Also the Bleeping courior was VERY rough with mine one of the silver focuser knobs had punched a hole right through the thick walled inside cardboard box!!

That means the courior has thrown the box around alot!!

I,m not happy about the dust on the inside front lense though, hope I don,t have to pay return post on this back to ian king.

What,s your thoughts on the stuck focuser knobs everyone?

cheers!

OK quick update the focuser is bust, the loving courior who destroyed it bent the shaft on the micro gold focuser knob.

So phoned Ian King, he is very helpful and said straight away he would have to send a replacement focuser unit out.

As this is my very fisrt refractor I am more of a hindrence in explaining things over the phone, as I don,t know which grub screw tightens what and which nut not to loosen etc.

Great how these couriors cause all the hassle then walk away.

Not sure what to do about getting rid of the dust on inside of front glass lense, do you think a compressed air can would be safe to spray the air down the inside of the tube?

Anyone else had one of these delivered today?

cheers!

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mobi

mobi

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The courier has just delivered mine. Although it's tempting to open it I don't finish work till 6. However, the benefits of homeworking mean it'll be opened at 6:01 :)

Hi John, good to here you got yours aswell,:) I hope everything is all ok for you.:)

It really is a beutiful nice scope, I was surprised just how nice the one I fleetingly had was.

I returned mine to Ian King so he could change the whole rear focuser unit,(Which is really good of him to do).

Thanks to the dastardly courior company being so rough they destryed the focuser unit on the one sent to me.:eek:

I have photos will upload in a bit so others can see.

Sorry for my moan.

Here are some pics of the one I received showing the hole punched through the box by the micro focuser knob because of the courior throwing the box around, and also showing the dust on the inside of the front glass lense,it looks like it is on the outside in the pic but it is on the inside of the front glass.

IMG_2297.jpg

IMG_2289.jpg

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ribuck

ribuck

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Hi Mobi,

did your or anyone else reading this who has the same Ikharus have dust on the inside glass front lense?

I didn't have any dust on my optics when it arrived, it was very clean.

What was it packed in ? it wasn't shredded paper was it ? The reason i ask is that when i got my focuser back it was packed in shredded paper and was absolutely covered everywhere in fine paper dust which took me ages to clean.

It sounds like your scope has had a horrendous journey and for the focuser knob to come through the cardboard box would take a hell of a lot of banging around, so for me i would be more worried about the collimation of the optics or and damage caused.

Regarding the focuser knob sticking, I honestly don't remember if there was a locking screw or not, so afraid i can't help there, so would contact Ian and double check.

Have you tried loosening off the hex grub screw on the underside of the focuser ? - Please be very careful here only 1/4 or 1/2 turn to see if it releases the focuser.

Also look at the underside of the focuser, you will see a flat metal plate. At the end of the metal plate there is a very small metal screw which limits how far focuser can travel. this might have got jammed if it's taken a knock.

Sorry I couldn't help more on the focuser sticking. I'll check mine when i get home to see if it can be locked, but i cont recall seeing anything.

Rich.

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mobi

mobi

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Hi Rich , your a good chap, thanks for the good points about the focuser,

I have sent it back to Ian King for him to replace the whole rear focuser unit.I guessed he would do a better job than me.

As for the optics I had no chance to test.I also am worried about the front doublet element being knocked out of line.

I asked ian king if he could replace the scope I was sent with a replacement but he said he had none left all sold.

Ian said on the phone to me that all refractors have some dust on the inside front lense, but I have never heard anyone else on any astro forum say that.

I will phone ian king on wednesday and ask him to give the optics a quick test before he sends it back to make sure.

I,m really really bummed out about this, I saved for months and months to buy my fisrt refractor and get a cowboy courior to destroy it for me I would name the courior but won,t.

I donot blame ian king for anything, I bet he gets alot of couriors damaging his scopes he sends out.

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LongJohn54

LongJohn54

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After reading Mobi's problems with the courier damaging his scope I approched mine with a little trepidation.

I've recorded every step of unpacking here Unpacking 102ED - a set on Flickr

The packaging wasn't as good as I would have liked.

With no front or rear padding the scope could slide about and indent the cardboard.

Also the Focal reducer was loose and not in its carton. I wonder if the box was opened by customs and not repacked properly?

There is a small amount of dust between the lenses.

Not a much as Mobi's but enough to know these scopes are not assembled in a 'clean' room.

Otherwise the scope is pretty much perfect.

John

ps: Ian hasn't taken the money yet so I'll give him a quick call in the morning.

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