Hi Terry. Is you cap a metal one that threads on or a plastic one?
It is an aluminium threaded cap.
I have made a dew strap from some nichrome wire sandwiched in some tape. This is wrapped around the back of the dew shield and this prevents any dew even when pointing straight up.
My scope is on a permanent pier so I never remove the shield or the strap. Works well for me.
Well, all of 20 mins outside with the ED127. Didn't even have time for an alignment before clouds spoiled the parade.
Anyway, scope appears great. Only tried TV 32, 25 & 15mm Plossl's which gave 30, 38 & 63X.
Stars nice & sharp no spurious colour's but this was all with low powers and not much cool down time. So it's difficult to tell but from the few star fields I saw the views were crisp & sharp indeed. Like the ED80 but more photons.
The finder is a mixed package. It exhibits what I think is off axis Astigmatism. The central area nice & crisp and the reticule crisp (yes I focused the main finder lens & eyepiece lens) but it appears to go out of focus off axis.
It's a bit hard to tell ATM with such a short effort.
So who brought in the clouds!. Please take them with you when you go!
Last edited by wasyoungonce; 07-06-2010 at 10:29 AM.
I've been following this thread and wondering about the various points of difference that seem to have emerged between successive generations of these North Group 127 APOs. I've had mine a year or so now and think it's the duck's guts. Looking at the photos in this thread, I couldn't see the focuser clearly enough to say whether it is the 'old' or the 'enhanced' version. I specified the enhanced when I bought mine and am managing reasonably well with it - although has been mainly due to fitting a Hotech flattener to it. This was in part because of a small amount of coma in the extreme edges but also because I wanted to be able to take advantage of the much better system Hotech has of securing itself (and imaging gear hanging behind it) into the drawtube of the focuser using those compressed rubbed rings rather than those darned compression things that seem to me to throw things off-axis more often than not and only give a decent grip on heavy gear if you screw the locknut up really firmly. Why manufacturers don't put at least 2 securing screws onto these compression rings I don't know.
If it will help anyone I'd be happy to post a few photos of the focuser I have and you can compare with your own.
Peter.
Isn't that thumbscrew for locking the (rotatable) focuser?
I think collimation screws would be a set of three and be inside the focuser (accessible after you've taken off the rotatable part).
Cheers
Steffen.
No it is a funny setup and I could never get it working on the 80mm meade version. I ended up putting a Moonlite (collimatable as you have described) on it and am very pleased with the result.
Right. The pics didn't turn out all that well but they are clearly of a very different focuser. Mine is shown with a Hotech flattener in it and I include a few pics from last night so you can see the sorts of results the combination is giving.
cheers
Peter
Yep we have different focuser's. I believe you have the advanced focuser.
I'm not disappointed with the focuser I have (although I have noted some problems so far) ...I don't have enough time with it to judge.
Edit:
I should have said I asked for an advanced focuser (in Emails) and the invoice stated "ED127 with advanced dual speed focuser for camera, OTA,with ring and dovetail rail,with aluminium case package,without diagonal, eyepiece, finder scope".
So I was expecting the Advanced focuser and appeared to have got the std focuser. Is this just a communication error or what?
Last edited by wasyoungonce; 08-06-2010 at 10:42 AM.
Here are the original and enhanced focusers side by side...the heavy duty unit has three machnied flats for the draw tube to ride on and the lock is not on the draw tube (so zero image shift). It is smoother and can carry a bigger load without flexure BUT it uses more backfocus than the original design so some eyepieces will not come to focus when a 2" diagonal is in use. No issues with CCDs or 1.25" diagonals however.
As a matter of interest I have both models available for sale if anyone is interested....with/without the 127 flange plate.
Thanks H. In my communications with Gilman we spoke about the focuser and I was originally going to get the std focuser.
However in my last few emails to him (when we started talking costs) I asked for an Advanced focuser. I was quoted a price on the invoice that stated "Advanced focuser for cameras"...so I thought we were on the same wave length about this.
Appears not the case.
Anyway, it's not the end of the world, I've fired off a nice email about it to Gilman. I'm sure we can find a solution.
Last edited by wasyoungonce; 07-06-2010 at 06:29 PM.
I've been trying to buy one of these - well at least make contact as I ponder way too many scopes to buy. No luck - no reply on either the shopping website or his email address. Any secrets? Or is there anywhere local that is reselling them at an ok price? I found 1 certain shop that was selling it under the prostar brand but for $2900.
woohoo I got a reply from gilman. In his email he mentioned the tube was for observing only, and there was no mention of an advanced focuser or similar so I guess he pulled the plug on that stuff in the meantime.
So in general, if I just get the tube, then buy a 3rd party focuser I'll be ok photo wise right?
. Please take them with you when you go!
Or is there anywhere local that is reselling them at an ok price? I found 1 certain shop that was selling it under the prostar brand but for $2900.
