[RussellH]

So as you do when starting a new hobby, I tried to minimise startup gear costs where I could. One of these corner cutting measures was purchasing a cheap T-ring from eBay. The one I got came with a 2” adaptor, which was hard find, as everyone else only had 1.25” adaptors.

When I went to mount my DSLR for the first time last night, the camera connection was fine, but screwing the adaptor to the ring took multiple attempts as it kept sticking in spots as I screwed it in, and the last half of the thread to seat the adaptor flush with the ring took considerable force.

But it was together and working, so i gave it no more thought, until this morning. In my last 5 minutes before heading out to work, I decided to check the mounting of my Ba’ader MPCC Coma Corrector, the last piece of my imaging train to install.

So I removed the T-adaptor from the T-ring, and started to screw in the coma corrector. It started getting tight at the half way point again, so I unscrewed it until it came off, at which point I realise that I had not removed the corrector from the ring, I had unscrewed the thread adaptor of the corrector, and it was now stuck in the thread of the t-ring!!!

With no way to grip the now stuck thread adaptor, panic started to set in. Cutting the rest of the story short, I did finally manage to get it back out again, no harm done (I think). I’m now stuck in with a dodgy t-ring, and wondering how much I have to spend to find a decent replacement, as prices weekly wildly different with no way to tell you high ones are decent quality. I am also stuck without being able to use the Ba’ader until I find a replacement.

So, while I probably would play eBay bingo again if I had to do it all over again, sometimes there’s just no avoiding coughing up the big bucks for the right gear. Any suggestions on a good supplier that doesn’t charge the earth?

Thanks. Russell.