Escher
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 08/30/07
Loc: Fenton, MI
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Good news for the ETX 125 owners!
#5691011 - 02/20/13 02:24 PM
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Jim Wegat contacted me a couple of days ago and wanted me to pass along that his website is up and running. He has his custom rear plate for the ETX 125 available for sale.
If you are not familiar with it, this will replace your plastic factory rear plate with a machined rear plate which includes a standard SCT threaded rear port. You can now use 2" diagonals directly.
Link to Jim's site:
http://wegatoptical.com/
I can tell you from personal experience - this completely changes the ETX125 in regard to usefulness. No more flip mirror worries or concerns about the flimsy rear cell threads stripping out of the plastic. Now you can have a real SCT rear cell on your 125.
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REC
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 10/20/10
Loc: NC
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Re: Good news for the ETX 125 owners!
[Re: Escher]
#5691100 - 02/20/13 03:00 PM
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Now if only I could get the focusing knob to focus easily I would get this. When I try and focus on a star the object moves out of the FOV.
Terabeam...now that's an old name I remember, that's the company that made Meade's stock to quadruple in a short time years ago!
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Escher
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 08/30/07
Loc: Fenton, MI
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Re: Good news for the ETX 125 owners!
[Re: REC]
#5691116 - 02/20/13 03:10 PM
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If your object is moving that far - your primary is likely loose. I had the same issue - had to tighten the primary locking collar as it was wobbling around. Once fixed there was very little image shift during focusing.
Its not a hard fix, but its a bit intimidating - and your collimation may be off when you do it...
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Photobud
super member
Reged: 01/07/13
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Re: Good news for the ETX 125 owners!
[Re: Escher]
#5692057 - 02/21/13 12:35 AM
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How difficult is it to install one of these? Any issues? What kind of adapter/etc. to continue to use my 1 1/4 EP's?
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stardolphin
journeyman
Reged: 02/10/13
Loc: MI, USA
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Re: Good news for the ETX 125 owners!
[Re: Photobud]
#5692295 - 02/21/13 07:39 AM
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I'm curious... I own a DSX-125AT. Unless I'm mistaken, the OTA is identical between my telescope and an ETX-125. Do any folks know if this is true or not?
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REC
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 10/20/10
Loc: NC
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Re: Good news for the ETX 125 owners!
[Re: Escher]
#5692348 - 02/21/13 08:31 AM
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How do you tighten the primary? My other 90ETX has good focusing.
Thanks,
Bob
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Escher
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 08/30/07
Loc: Fenton, MI
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Re: Good news for the ETX 125 owners!
[Re: REC]
#5692398 - 02/21/13 09:30 AM
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How do you tighten the primary? My other 90ETX has good focusing.
Thanks,
Bob
You have to remove the rear cell which holds the primary. There is a locking ring on the mirrored side which you tighten.
If you aren't a DIY type person, I don't recommend doing it, as its easy to scratch the mirror if you aren't careful...
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Escher
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 08/30/07
Loc: Fenton, MI
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Re: Good news for the ETX 125 owners!
[Re: Photobud]
#5692399 - 02/21/13 09:31 AM
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How difficult is it to install one of these? Any issues? What kind of adapter/etc. to continue to use my 1 1/4 EP's?
Same as your lx50.. You need a 1.25 visual back and diagonal.
Not hard to install, just three screws. I haven't personally done a retrofit on a standard 125, my scope was a terabeam model and I bought it from Jim Wegat directly.
Edited by Escher (02/21/13 09:33 AM)
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Photobud
super member
Reged: 01/07/13
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Re: Good news for the ETX 125 owners!
[Re: Escher]
#5692434 - 02/21/13 09:50 AM
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Quote:
Quote:
How difficult is it to install one of these? Any issues? What kind of adapter/etc. to continue to use my 1 1/4 EP's?
Same as your lx50.. You need a 1.25 visual back and diagonal.
Not hard to install, just three screws. I haven't personally done a retrofit on a standard 125, my scope was a terabeam model and I bought it from Jim Wegat directly.
Thanks, I'll see if I can save up for one of these.
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Escher
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 08/30/07
Loc: Fenton, MI
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Re: Good news for the ETX 125 owners!
[Re: Photobud]
#5692481 - 02/21/13 10:27 AM
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Just FYI - If your ETX includes the drive unit then you may not be able to do the swap... Do the fork arms attach to the plastic rear cell? If so, then you need to keep your existing cell if you want to use the forks...
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Chris Erickson
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 05/08/06
Loc: Waikoloa Village, Hawaii
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Re: Good news for the ETX 125 owners!
[Re: Photobud]
#5692712 - 02/21/13 01:02 PM
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How difficult is it to install one of these? Any issues? What kind of adapter/etc. to continue to use my 1 1/4 EP's?
I am going to guess that it is easy to install, however it isn't compatible with the ETX-125 GOTO mount so you will have to look at getting OTA rings and putting your 125 on a different mount.
It looks like the back of the plate has standard 2" SCT threads so anything designed to screw on the back of a typical Meade 8" SCT should screw onto the back of this plate.
Just FYI.
Edited by Chris Erickson (02/21/13 01:04 PM)
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Chris Erickson
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 05/08/06
Loc: Waikoloa Village, Hawaii
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Re: Good news for the ETX 125 owners!
[Re: stardolphin]
#5692720 - 02/21/13 01:05 PM
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I'm curious... I own a DSX-125AT. Unless I'm mistaken, the OTA is identical between my telescope and an ETX-125. Do any folks know if this is true or not?
It is identical. The last two letters indicate additional features. AT means Autostar 497 included.
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meade4ever
sage
Reged: 08/23/07
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Re: Good news for the ETX 125 owners!
[Re: Chris Erickson]
#5694041 - 02/22/13 05:27 AM
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except the grey color and the lack of uhtc coating
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Photobud
super member
Reged: 01/07/13
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Re: Good news for the ETX 125 owners!
[Re: Escher]
#5694265 - 02/22/13 09:27 AM
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Thanks for your valuable comments. They saved me from an error! I am not interested in remounting my telescope as it performs well for my purposes.
Quote:
Quote:
How difficult is it to install one of these? Any issues? What kind of adapter/etc. to continue to use my 1 1/4 EP's?
I am going to guess that it is easy to install, however it isn't compatible with the ETX-125 GOTO mount so you will have to look at getting OTA rings and putting your 125 on a different mount.
It looks like the back of the plate has standard 2" SCT threads so anything designed to screw on the back of a typical Meade 8" SCT should screw onto the back of this plate.
Just FYI.
Quote:
Just FYI - If your ETX includes the drive unit then you may not be able to do the swap... Do the fork arms attach to the plastic rear cell? If so, then you need to keep your existing cell if you want to use the forks...
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easye
Thinking Ahead
Reged: 04/08/10
Loc: Moved to Long Island
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Re: Good news for the ETX 125 owners!
[Re: Photobud]
#5694701 - 02/22/13 01:10 PM
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Would it be a sin for me to sell my ETX125AT and purchase the Meade Terabeam ETX-125TB OTA??? I didn't even know that this was available.
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Escher
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 08/30/07
Loc: Fenton, MI
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Re: Good news for the ETX 125 owners!
[Re: easye]
#5695029 - 02/22/13 03:50 PM
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It all depends on your goal.
If you want to move to an EQ mount and have a great 5" Mak - Then go for it. If you are happy with the performance of your existing setup, then keep what you have.
Do realize, as mentioned above, the Terabeam scopes don't have coatings - which to me is a minor issue - But to some it may be a bigger issue. Whatever the numbers are for light transmission, I can't remember, but to my eye- it wasnt a big deal to not have the coating...
Also - Terabeam scopes are for tinkerers - you *will* be tweaking the scope... You will likely need to adjust collimation, etc... which is no small deal on a Mak - I did it on mine and it took me several tries before I got it sorted out. Just dont expect a Terabeam to be Plug and Play necessarily.
Once tuned in however - they are great..
Also - there are a LOT of de-forked ETX125 tubes out there that are good candidates as well... and then you get the coatings as well.
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cavefrog
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 11/11/08
Loc: loozyanna
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Re: Good news for the ETX 125 owners!
[Re: Escher]
#5697447 - 02/23/13 10:10 PM
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I am going to guess that it is easy to install, however it isn't compatible with the ETX-125 GOTO mount so you will have to look at getting OTA rings and putting your 125 on a different mount.
why exactly, will this not work?
Theo
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Chris Erickson
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 05/08/06
Loc: Waikoloa Village, Hawaii
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Re: Good news for the ETX 125 owners!
[Re: cavefrog]
#5698263 - 02/24/13 01:25 PM
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I am going to guess that it is easy to install, however it isn't compatible with the ETX-125 GOTO mount so you will have to look at getting OTA rings and putting your 125 on a different mount.
why exactly, will this not work?
Theo
Because the part this part is replacing is what connects to the fork arms of the Meade mount.
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cavefrog
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 11/11/08
Loc: loozyanna
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Re: Good news for the ETX 125 owners!
[Re: Chris Erickson]
#5702718 - 02/26/13 11:44 PM
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Thanks Chris.
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Pentax Syntax
member
Reged: 11/03/12
Loc: Maryland
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Re: Good news for the ETX 125 owners!
[Re: Escher]
#5763209 - 03/28/13 09:20 PM
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Just a follow up to this thread. I was wondering if any of the folks who have replaced the back of their ETX-125 with this unit would comment on any increase in field of view. The baffle is not replaced and would seem to be limiting. I have attached an SCT adapter to the back of the ETX-125 and see and increase in apparent field. Certainly this high quality back would be nicer and stronger than the plastic stock unit but does it increase the field?
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