Which adaptors for Tak TCE100 collimation scope to 2" Crayford?

[mldee]

I just took delivery of my Tak collimation scope from OPT, 1 week from CA to outer BNE. Not bad.

I want to use it with a 2" Crayford on my RC8. There were no adaptors shown on the OPT website, and a cursory search of the usual sources doesn't show anything, apart from the official Tak TCN0050 adaptor.

Are there alternate sources for such an adaptor that may be easier to locate, or is there any alternative method of suitably mounting to a 2" holder?

I should have been asking these questions a week ago!:P

[RickS]

The adapters that come with Tak refractors will get you there, but at great expense.

I searched fairly thoroughly a few months back and the only other (currently available) adapter I could find that will mate with the M36.4P1 male on the Tak collimating scope is the Borg #7423 (http://www.sciencecenter.net/hutech/prices/borgparts/html/7423.htm). That will get you to a T-thread at least.

Cheers,
Rick.

[gbeal]

From Rick's post, is it M36.4? If so I have an M36/T thread fitting, it is a Baader product and not hard to find.
Gary

[RickS]

Yep, the thread on the collimating scope is a male M36.4P1 (need to be careful because I have also seen adapters with M36.4P0.75 threads).

[gbeal]

Looks like the Baader one is for Taks.
http://www.alpineastro.com/eyepiece_adapters/eyepiece_adapters.htm#Telescope%20A dapters
Near the bottom of the page.
Gary

[mldee]

Thanks for the heads up Gary. Since Rick lives not far from me, he has kindly offered to let me check out his Tak adaptor set, so I can have a chat with him and get a feel for how things go together.

I'll probably go for either the Borg or the Baader adaptor. The Baader one seems about $10 cheaper, and since both come from US, no big difference in postal cost. I plan on ordering one after I check out Rick's Tak set.

[gbeal]

No worries Mike, glad it was of some use.
I can scoot about and find mine if you need and "borrow" it for a while if it helps, until you source one.
Bob Luffel at Alpine Astro is pretty slick though, so getting one should not take too long, and I think some of the Baader stuff is available locally in Oz too.
IIRC though, it is male both sides, so you may have to acquire a gender bender as well, the T thread side will be simpler.
Gary

[mldee]

Well, thanks to RickS, I managed to try the Tak scope on my RC8, and hmm, that was a totally painless exercise, all done in daylight on my kitchen bench. Collimation was off by about the thickness of the mirror donut, took all of about 5 minutes to get it perfectly concentric, and that included checking both extremes of the GSO focuser positions.

All I need now is some cloudless nights to do a star check.

I ordered the Baader from Bob Luffel yesterday, will be interested to see if it's the wrong gender on the Tak side....Pic isn't clear enough to show and since it's already shipped, not much point in asking Bob! Anyway, I'm sure I can find a 36.4 Tak gender bender at Woolies or Coles....:)

[RickS]

Glad to hear you got it sorted, Mike. I wouldn't mind a cloudless night or two myself!

Cheers,
Rick.

[gbeal]

Mike
I can tell you exactly what it is, shoot me a PM and we can go from there.
Gary