122 replies to this topic

[Jeff B]

Surface!  Surface!  Surface!

 

https://www.policein...ounds/625GQ.WAV

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[Jeff B]

Complete with instruction manual!

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[Jeff B]

Some Assembly Required

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[Jeff B]

Ahhhh up and "running".

 

More later.

 

After I follow the instructions.....

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[Xeroid]

If this was me, forget DPAC and put that puppy on a mount and LOOK UP!!

[Wildetelescope]

If this was me, forget DPAC and put that puppy on a mount and LOOK UP!!

Truer words have never been spoken:-).  

 

JMD

[RichA]

Some Assembly Required

Fascinating.  When I saw just the box, I thought they'd sent you the objective by itself.  How do the sections connect to each other?

[Jeff B]

A little back story first.   

 

This is the yellow submarine's (serial number 002) second voyage to my house.  Upon first arrival, it was completely assembled and shipped in a long, sturdy box with the scope well seated and supported by Yuri's usual expanding foam sacks that conform to the scope.  Everything seemed just fine until I checked focuser collimation with a quality laser firing at the hole in the middle of a paper mask over the objective.  It was waaay off, a good two degrees and not stable.  Two of the tube sections were loose.  I emailed Yuri and he immediately called.  Over the course of a couple of hours of talking and trying stuff out, we determined that the bolts used to clamp the flanges to each other were fine, however, the aluminum rivets used to secure the flanges to the tube sections were damaged during shipping by Ultra Poor Service, allowing the tube sections to move around.  The box was undamaged and the best we could figure is that the box was sometimes stored and shipped standing on end and allowed to fall over several times, or just plain dropped on its end.   Indeed when I opened my front door to get the box, it tipped over into my hands. It had been left propped up against the door.

 

Yuri immediately got me an Ultra Poor Service return label and I sent the scope back the next day.   Without hesitation, he offered me a full refund.  I said I wanted the scope instead and we discussed replacing all rivets with screws and, as an experiment, shipping the scope back disassembled.  Two weeks later, it arrived in the major sturdy wood crate you see.  But Ultra Poor Service left it sitting at the foot of my front porch steps in the hot sun.  I only discovered it while driving past my house coming back home.  No delivery notifications on my phone.  It sat there for about 6 hours until I discovered it.  IME, that's par for Ultra Poor Service.

 

Once I wrestled the 85 pound crate up the steps and through my front door (being 71 sucks...I don't recommend it), unpacking and assembly was straight forward, taking about an hour in total, taking my time.

 

Collimation checks with both my laser and Cheshire "eyepiece" showed the collimation to be "spot on".   I'll pause here to say I dislike the rotating collets on the bigger FT focusers.  Depending on how I seat the laser and tighten the collet, I would get up to a couple mms of wondering in the laser beam.  Not much, but enough to be annoying.  That's why I've always switched out that collet for either the AP visual back or the FT unit with the three radial screws.  With those, the laser does not wonder, very repeatable.

 

The scope is drop dead beautiful, with impeccable fit and finish.  The anodizing is beautiful.  The color is striking, not yellow, but an orange/gold.  Pictures do not do it justice.  It sure beats drab white.

 

The scope is surprisingly light weight, subjectively less than my TEC 160ED and about five pounds lighter than my old AP 178 F9 Starfire.

 

It has a TON (that's right, 2000 pounds) of back focus and is directly bino-friendly with all of my viewers, even when using my AP 2" diagonal.

 

It's also well balanced, not nose heavy, because of the LW cell (impeccably made) and doublet design.

 

Jeff

[Jeff B]

It's getting late so I'll leave you with this until tomorrow.

 

Like Paul, Scott and I keep harping on, let the scope under test sit in the rig for hours, preferably over night, to thermally settle out before you get serious.

 

But I can't resist having an immediate look.

 

In this case, the effects of lack of thermally stability are easy to see in the early green light DPAC image, inside of focus, labeled "start of cooling" as an asymmetrical rolled edge and some other disturbances.   I got the other image, labeled middle of cooling about an hour later and the "final" image the next morning.

 

Jeff

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[ichdien]

Some Assembly Required

IKEA diversifying into astronomy?   

[jukim]

IKEA diversifying into astronomy?   

OMG, there's a hex wrench included, right?

[fate187]

I am glad that shipping issue got sorted! However, what is really missing is the bottle of wine for size comparison, so I can appreciate this maybe longish refractor more

[jukim]

Ahhhh up and "running".

 

More later.

 

After I follow the instructions.....

It definitely looks more orange/gold than yellow.

It's a really beautiful scope.

Thank JeFF and Tammy for sharing.

 

I know there's still a debate about its utility compared to faster scopes,

but having already admired the FOA-60Q (F/15), I can't resist this super telescope.

 

I hit the order button to include the Gutekunst Compact ADC that matches this crazy telescope. 

[Dean J.]

Ahhhh up and "running".

 

More later.

 

After I follow the instructions.....

Congratulations on the new scope!  Enjoy!

[Dave Novoselsky]

A little back story first.   

 

This is the yellow submarine's (serial number 002) second voyage to my house.  Upon first arrival, it was completely assembled and shipped in a long, sturdy box with the scope well seated and supported by Yuri's usual expanding foam sacks that conform to the scope.  Everything seemed just fine until I checked focuser collimation with a quality laser firing at the hole in the middle of a paper mask over the objective.  It was waaay off, a good two degrees and not stable.  Two of the tube sections were loose.  I emailed Yuri and he immediately called.  Over the course of a couple of hours of talking and trying stuff out, we determined that the bolts used to clamp the flanges to each other were fine, however, the aluminum rivets used to secure the flanges to the tube sections were damaged during shipping by Ultra Poor Service, allowing the tube sections to move around.  The box was undamaged and the best we could figure is that the box was sometimes stored and shipped standing on end and allowed to fall over several times, or just plain dropped on its end.   Indeed when I opened my front door to get the box, it tipped over into my hands. It had been left propped up against the door.

 

Yuri immediately got me an Ultra Poor Service return label and I sent the scope back the next day.   Without hesitation, he offered me a full refund.  I said I wanted the scope instead and we discussed replacing all rivets with screws and, as an experiment, shipping the scope back disassembled.  Two weeks later, it arrived in the major sturdy wood crate you see.  But Ultra Poor Service left it sitting at the foot of my front porch steps in the hot sun.  I only discovered it while driving past my house coming back home.  No delivery notifications on my phone.  It sat there for about 6 hours until I discovered it.  IME, that's par for Ultra Poor Service.

 

Once I wrestled the 85 pound crate up the steps and through my front door (being 71 sucks...I don't recommend it), unpacking and assembly was straight forward, taking about an hour in total, taking my time.

 

Collimation checks with both my laser and Cheshire "eyepiece" showed the collimation to be "spot on".   I'll pause here to say I dislike the rotating collets on the bigger FT focusers.  Depending on how I seat the laser and tighten the collet, I would get up to a couple mms of wondering in the laser beam.  Not much, but enough to be annoying.  That's why I've always switched out that collet for either the AP visual back or the FT unit with the three radial screws.  With those, the laser does not wonder, very repeatable.

 

The scope is drop dead beautiful, with impeccable fit and finish.  The anodizing is beautiful.  The color is striking, not yellow, but an orange/gold.  Pictures do not do it justice.  It sure beats drab white.

 

The scope is surprisingly light weight, subjectively less than my TEC 160ED and about five pounds lighter than my old AP 178 F9 Starfire.

 

It has a TON (that's right, 2000 pounds) of back focus and is directly bino-friendly with all of my viewers, even when using my AP 2" diagonal.

 

It's also well balanced, not nose heavy, because of the LW cell (impeccably made) and doublet design.

 

Jeff

“Once I wrestled the 85 pound crate up the steps and through my front door (being 71 sucks...I don't recommend it),” Agreed, and wait until you get to my age, being on the edge of 77 is even worse!

[Scott99]

Maybe it's just me, but I look at pictures and think "it's not really that long"???  Maybe because I use a 6" f/9 myself, it looks normal.  It's shorter than the old AP f/12 Superplanetaries or f/15 Unitrons.  The light weight is more important IMO - when you're lifting it, the length doesn't matter - just in the car or on the mount.

 

That's amazing it fits into such a small box. (btw advice from the land of the bad back - open the box on the front stoop and bring the parts in one-by-one next time).

 

I could regale you with the story of Fedex leaving my signature-required Star 12ED box on my front porch, in an urban neighborhood, in the rain, for 3 days of a long weekend.  Or the scope box I recently got from DHL that had one end severely compressed, looking like it had fallen from 5-6 feet up.....

[RichA]

A little back story first.   

 

This is the yellow submarine's (serial number 002) second voyage to my house.  Upon first arrival, it was completely assembled and shipped in a long, sturdy box with the scope well seated and supported by Yuri's usual expanding foam sacks that conform to the scope.  Everything seemed just fine until I checked focuser collimation with a quality laser firing at the hole in the middle of a paper mask over the objective.  It was waaay off, a good two degrees and not stable.  Two of the tube sections were loose.  I emailed Yuri and he immediately called.  Over the course of a couple of hours of talking and trying stuff out, we determined that the bolts used to clamp the flanges to each other were fine, however, the aluminum rivets used to secure the flanges to the tube sections were damaged during shipping by Ultra Poor Service, allowing the tube sections to move around.  The box was undamaged and the best we could figure is that the box was sometimes stored and shipped standing on end and allowed to fall over several times, or just plain dropped on its end.   Indeed when I opened my front door to get the box, it tipped over into my hands. It had been left propped up against the door.

 

Yuri immediately got me an Ultra Poor Service return label and I sent the scope back the next day.   Without hesitation, he offered me a full refund.  I said I wanted the scope instead and we discussed replacing all rivets with screws and, as an experiment, shipping the scope back disassembled.  Two weeks later, it arrived in the major sturdy wood crate you see.  But Ultra Poor Service left it sitting at the foot of my front porch steps in the hot sun.  I only discovered it while driving past my house coming back home.  No delivery notifications on my phone.  It sat there for about 6 hours until I discovered it.  IME, that's par for Ultra Poor Service.

 

Once I wrestled the 85 pound crate up the steps and through my front door (being 71 sucks...I don't recommend it), unpacking and assembly was straight forward, taking about an hour in total, taking my time.

 

Collimation checks with both my laser and Cheshire "eyepiece" showed the collimation to be "spot on".   I'll pause here to say I dislike the rotating collets on the bigger FT focusers.  Depending on how I seat the laser and tighten the collet, I would get up to a couple mms of wondering in the laser beam.  Not much, but enough to be annoying.  That's why I've always switched out that collet for either the AP visual back or the FT unit with the three radial screws.  With those, the laser does not wonder, very repeatable.

 

The scope is drop dead beautiful, with impeccable fit and finish.  The anodizing is beautiful.  The color is striking, not yellow, but an orange/gold.  Pictures do not do it justice.  It sure beats drab white.

 

The scope is surprisingly light weight, subjectively less than my TEC 160ED and about five pounds lighter than my old AP 178 F9 Starfire.

 

It has a TON (that's right, 2000 pounds) of back focus and is directly bino-friendly with all of my viewers, even when using my AP 2" diagonal.

 

It's also well balanced, not nose heavy, because of the LW cell (impeccably made) and doublet design.

 

Jeff

Next time, they should check the UPS box on the form that says, "signature required on delivery" it's about $5.00 extra.  Good to hear you've resolved the issue!

[Dave Novoselsky]

Maybe it's just me, but I look at pictures and think "it's not really that long"???  Maybe because I use a 6" f/9 myself, it looks normal.  It's shorter than the old AP f/12 Superplanetaries or f/15 Unitrons.  The light weight is more important IMO - when you're lifting it, the length doesn't matter - just in the car or on the mount.

 

That's amazing it fits into such a small box. (btw advice from the land of the bad back - open the box on the front stoop and bring the parts in one-by-one next time).

 

I could regale you with the story of Fedex leaving my signature-required Star 12ED box on my front porch, in an urban neighborhood, in the rain, for 3 days of a long weekend.  Or the scope box I recently got from DHL that had one end severely compressed, looking like it had fallen from 5-6 feet up.....

Yep, the AP Superplanertaries were loooong.  I loved mine, but it was a real beast to wrassle up into the saddle, but once there, ahhhhh.

 

But let’s not forget the fabled ApoMax, the 130 f12 discussed in this old CN article https://www.cloudyni...-refractor-r869

 

It was even more of a beast to mount and move than my old Takahashi FCT 150, a true pair of ‘built and weighing like tanks’ but superb optics. I guess everything in life is tradeoffs and I am happy to see Yuri seems to have done that balancing quite well.

[Dean J.]

...

 

That's amazing it fits into such a small box. (btw advice from the land of the bad back - open the box on the front stoop and bring the parts in one-by-one next time).

 

...

 

Yes, that definitely is a pro tip.

[Tamiji Homma]

Surface!  Surface!  Surface!

 

https://www.policein...ounds/625GQ.WAV

 

Hi Jeff,

 

I am really glad to see #2 arrived home safe and sound.

 

Mine (#4) came assembled in one piece in the well foam padded 12.5x12.5x64 inches cardboard box.

The cardboard box is on top of the wooden crate below, which came with TEC 140 ED binoscope

 

 

 

Tammy

Edited by Tamiji Homma, 31 July 2024 - 05:42 PM.

[RichA]

IKEA diversifying into astronomy?   

They probably did the rivets as a way of achieving the flattest look for the outside of the tube.  However, rivets being rivets, especially aluminum ones, they can be fragile.  When you see an old steel bridge built with thousands of rivets, or a plane, you'll see they use a lot of them.  What would be spectacular and impossible owing the engineering needed, would be a bayonet mounting system like with a camera lens, but bayonets that large would cost $$$$$$$ to develop and would be very expensive to implement.  Plus, people being people, they'd screw them up by trying to snap them together in the wrong position, etc.  One time, I saw a guy who had a 4 inch f15 refractor who'd cut it in half and put a fitted aluminum sleeve with a rim that fit inside the tube. It was then held together by 3 bolts on either side.  He used some kind of very flat allen screw so the protrusion from the tube was minimized. 

[Scott99]

Next time, they should check the UPS box on the form that says, "signature required on delivery" it's about $5.00 extra.  Good to hear you've resolved the issue!

A lot of times they ignore it and just leave the box, unfortunately.  So does DHL.  At least the shipper and receiver are not liable when they ignore it.

Edited by Scott99, 31 July 2024 - 02:03 PM.

[Rick Runcie]

Ive had several expensive scopes left on the porch that had signatures required. One an Astrophysics 130mm GTX. Another was a Lunt 80mm that was left on a neighbor's porch that required a signature and they weren't home. Fortunately we are friends.

There is never a guarantee regardless of what the instructions dictate.

Only time it is, is when they have to collect some sort of tariff because it was imported then they're quick to want that up front.

Best regards, Richard

Edited by Rick Runcie, 31 July 2024 - 04:20 PM.

[Jeff B]

Hi Jeff,

 

I am really glad to see #2 arrived home safe and sound.

 

Mine (#4) came assembled in one piece in the well foam padded 12.5x12.5x64 inches card box.

The card box is on top of the wooden crate below, which came with TEC 140 ED binoscope

 

 

 

Tammy

Tammy, the cardboard box is the same as the first box I had.

 

My wood crate has nice wooden handle/grab bars built in to the ends which really helps when moving it around.  All the corners and edges are sanded smooth (no slivers!).  Excellent job really.

 

Jeff

[ris242]

OMG, there's a hex wrench included, right?

Forget the wrench..........scopes come with wine now?   Even better.