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UrthWorm
member
Reged: 08/17/07
Posts: 46
Loc: Los Angeles Vicinity
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Excellent review of the M703, Rob. It's a shame it didn't get posted by CN.
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Clear Skies,
Sal Giambruno
Intes M703D 7" f10 Maksutov-Cassegrain / Takahashi NJP Temma II / OPTEC TCF-S Focuser / SBIG ST-2000XM / CFW-9 / Astrodon LRGB Filters
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Arief
super member
Reged: 06/02/04
Posts: 441
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Thanks for your comments, Mark! 
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Arief
10" f/6.1 Swayze
7" f/5.5 Raycraft
6" Intes MK67 f/12 MCT
4.5" TMB 115 f/7 Triplet APO
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maknewtnut
Vendor (Teton Telescope)
Reged: 10/08/06
Posts: 580
Loc: SE Idaho
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Why it took me so long to read your review Senor Szabo, was a big mistake. Very well written, unbiased, and detailed. It's noteworthy that you obtained the results you did with an older model, namely without provisions for cooling. My results with an early model 603 were the same, until Winter hit. It was then that the cooling provision of the newer models make a huge difference(at least for most that store indoors).
Your polishing of the baffle where the mirror guides ride was interesting. I hadn't seen that done before. What's even nicer to many that may tremble at the notion is that these Maks are incredible easy to disassemble. I've done it often and most hold collimation throughout!
The procedure was to increase smoothness. I've nailed down the source of intermittent reports of tight spots as well. That is just as easy a fix. Those delrin guides are attached at the other end by a couple of screws. Keeping the assembly together, partially loosen them, run the mirror up and down, then retighten. Basically, we're centering them just a hair, which results in tight spots being eliminated since the guides may be slightly off center to cause this.
Mark
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rszabo
professor emeritus
Reged: 03/17/04
Posts: 547
Loc: Elk Grove, CA
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Mark,
Thanks for the kind words. I'm glad you enjoyed the review. If you are interested in using it (in part or in whole) you are welcome to do so. Let me know. I know the Intes Micro Maks you sell have changed so much that my comments are probably not relevant to the newer models, but what the heck.
Regarding the cooldown, I guess it's important to mention that I live in northern CA. Wild temp swings aren't the norm here. I always thought the cooldown "issue" with Maks is overblown. It was never really a problem here, but of course, CA weather is not representative of weather across most of the USA.
You're right, taking apart the Mak is not all that scary. I wish I would have known your tip about adjusting the guides, though. That combined with the polishing of the baffle probably would have made a huge improvement in both smoothness AND feel. I hope someone can try it and report their results. Thanks for the post!
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Rob
The Astrono-Pilot-Ographer.
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rszabo
professor emeritus
Reged: 03/17/04
Posts: 547
Loc: Elk Grove, CA
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Quote:
Excellent review of the M703, Rob. It's a shame it didn't get posted by CN.
Thanks, Sal. Welcome to CN. How do you like your M703D?
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Rob
The Astrono-Pilot-Ographer.
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UrthWorm
member
Reged: 08/17/07
Posts: 46
Loc: Los Angeles Vicinity
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Rob,
Thanks for the Welcome. It's nice to be back. It's amazing how much this CN has grown since the first time I began frequenting the site. I was one of the persons who actually contributed one of the very first reviews, upon request! It is the review of a Tak MT-160, still here after all these years!
In any case, my M703D got first light last night. Unfortunately, I wasn't as thrilled as I had hoped by this initial performance. Reasons being that 1), the focuser exhibits image shift, which I thought wasn't supposed to happen, 2), out of collimation and 3), the mods required for mounting to my NJP with rings are incomplete.
After tweaking for rough collimation, I discovered the secondary mounting was loose as I screwed the collimation adjustment cap back on. It just kept turning and turning, never tightening fully. So I'll have to detach the corrector plate(?) and figure out how to secure the secondary mirror to it.
As far as the image shift is concerned, I have no idea why this is happening. I thought it wasn't supposed to do so. I recall reading about "zero image shift" somewhere, but not certain about that without further research. I also would like to do the "supertune mod" by polishing and regreasing the focuser slides.
Someone posted an illustrated article about how to do that, but I need to find it again . . . Performing this service will also give me an opportunity to figure out why I'm getting image shift.
I also noticed that I have the flaky/thin/powdery paint on the tube inside, so I may want to find a solution for that (flocking?) as well.
Besides those concerns, I still am undecided as to how I want to ultimately mount and equip the 703D (finderscope, dewshield, focuser, diagonal, etc).
I also have a few issues/tweaks to work out with my mount - but that's another story.
I guess it would be safe to say that I've got some work ahead of me. 
--------------------
Clear Skies,
Sal Giambruno
Intes M703D 7" f10 Maksutov-Cassegrain / Takahashi NJP Temma II / OPTEC TCF-S Focuser / SBIG ST-2000XM / CFW-9 / Astrodon LRGB Filters
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Julio
sage
Reged: 01/18/07
Posts: 353
Loc: Pembroke Pines ,FL
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Quote:
Rob,
Thanks for the Welcome. It's nice to be back. It's amazing how much this CN has grown since the first time I began frequenting the site. I was one of the persons who actually contributed one of the very first reviews, upon request! It is the review of a Tak MT-160, still here after all these years!
In any case, my M703D got first light last night. Unfortunately, I wasn't as thrilled as I had hoped by this initial performance. Reasons being that 1), the focuser exhibits image shift, which I thought wasn't supposed to happen, 2), out of collimation and 3), the mods required for mounting to my NJP with rings are incomplete.
After tweaking for rough collimation, I discovered the secondary mounting was loose as I screwed the collimation adjustment cap back on. It just kept turning and turning, never tightening fully. So I'll have to detach the corrector plate(?) and figure out how to secure the secondary mirror to it.
As far as the image shift is concerned, I have no idea why this is happening. I thought it wasn't supposed to do so. I recall reading about "zero image shift" somewhere, but not certain about that without further research. I also would like to do the "supertune mod" by polishing and regreasing the focuser slides.
Someone posted an illustrated article about how to do that, but I need to find it again . . . Performing this service will also give me an opportunity to figure out why I'm getting image shift.
I also noticed that I have the flaky/thin/powdery paint on the tube inside, so I may want to find a solution for that (flocking?) as well.
Besides those concerns, I still am undecided as to how I want to ultimately mount and equip the 703D (finderscope, dewshield, focuser, diagonal, etc).
I also have a few issues/tweaks to work out with my mount - but that's another story.
I guess it would be safe to say that I've got some work ahead of me.
Sal take a look at this link
http://novac.com/resources/reviews/intes-micro-m703.php
The author had a similar problem and fixed it quite easily
Quote
"I noticed a clanking noise when I turned the scope 180 degrees. This was traced to a loose retaining ring that holds the secondary in the corrector plate. I snugged down the threads to just finger tight and touched up the collimation"
Wear soft white cotton gloves just in case, and no you don't need to remove corrector just tighten the ring holding the secondary against the meniscus.
--------------------
Telescopes
Intes-Micro M6511 Mak Cass Deluxe Spec
Orion 100ED SVP Mount
Orion ST 80
Edited by Julio (10/17/07 06:41 PM)
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UrthWorm
member
Reged: 08/17/07
Posts: 46
Loc: Los Angeles Vicinity
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Julio, that's exactly what I was hearing last night, a light clunk (not like hard material against hard material, but indeed like a secondary that was loosely attached to the meniscus/corrector) but wasn't sure whether it was coming from my mount(!) or from the OTA. Now I think I know, or at least know where to look. I'm hoping the clunk in fact is due to the looseness in the poorly-secured secondary - that would make my day! Even a loose retaining ring wouldn't be such a bad thing to fix - since I know I will be re-collimating the scope from end to end. After finding so many loose things, it will be necessary, whether I like it or not. And actually, I think I am enjoying the experience. I'm definitely learning a lot of things that I wouldn't normally have to learn, and that makes me a more well-rounded, grass-roots, ATM-kinda-guy  .
Thanks for the tip, and the custom-snipped quote!
Clear Skies!
Sal
--------------------
Clear Skies,
Sal Giambruno
Intes M703D 7" f10 Maksutov-Cassegrain / Takahashi NJP Temma II / OPTEC TCF-S Focuser / SBIG ST-2000XM / CFW-9 / Astrodon LRGB Filters
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