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CAN'T WAIT for mine to ship!
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The Hercules looks awesome on paper, I have no doubt that it will work really well and I am quite sure I will end up getting one. For the brave souls that get there first, it would be EXTREMELY appreciated if you overshare your experience installing it (pictures of the process will get you 2 years of clear skies!).
From the pictures / specs, am I correct in understanding that it does not come with a separate control box?
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The Hercules looks awesome on paper, I have no doubt that it will work really well and I am quite sure I will end up getting one. For the brave souls that get there first, it would be EXTREMELY appreciated if you overshare your experience installing it (pictures of the process will get you 2 years of clear skies!).
From the pictures / specs, am I correct in understanding that it does not come with a separate control box?
Yup, they built it into the focuser/rotator (or so I was told).
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Amazing thread. I am now thinking of getting a 160ED, and wondering what I need to get it full ready for full frame imaging remotely. Some questions for the experts here:
1) Does the 160ED collimate well with the Ocal Collimator? I also have a Howie Glatter 2" laser collimator and a Farpoint 2" cheshire. Do I really need the Tak tools to collimate this?
2) I already have an Opetec leo focuser that is gathering dust complete with hub and hand control. I never used it at all and not really experienced with this focuser. It just came on a second hand OTA I purchased and I replaced it with another focuser. So I would just neet to get a saddle kit from Opetec. So the way this installs is you replace the saddle, put the focuser, and then attache the Tak corrector to the focuser?
3) What is the backfocus distance from the corrector? 55mm? I have the ZWO assembly of 6200mm / OAG-L and EFW for exactly 55mm backfocus. It would be really convenient if it was 55mm.
4) I have a set of Chroma 50mm narrowband filters. The Ha is 8nm wide, and the Oiii / Sii are 5nm wide. Would these work reasonably well at f/3.3 or do I have to pluck down some $$$ on specific narrowband filters?
5) I live in an extremely humid climate (coastal texas). What is the best way to keep dew off the primary and secondary mirrors? Did you install mirror heating pads on?
6) For remote imaging what flat panel / automated OTA cap do you use?
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Ashraf AbuSara:
Amazing thread. I am now thinking of getting a 160ED, and wondering what I need to get it full ready for full frame imaging remotely. Some questions for the experts here:
1) Does the 160ED collimate well with the Ocal Collimator? I also have a Howie Glatter 2" laser collimator and a Farpoint 2" cheshire. Do I really need the Tak tools to collimate this?
2) I already have an Opetec leo focuser that is gathering dust complete with hub and hand control. I never used it at all and not really experienced with this focuser. It just came on a second hand OTA I purchased and I replaced it with another focuser. So I would just neet to get a saddle kit from Opetec. So the way this installs is you replace the saddle, put the focuser, and then attache the Tak corrector to the focuser?
3) What is the backfocus distance from the corrector? 55mm? I have the ZWO assembly of 6200mm / OAG-L and EFW for exactly 55mm backfocus. It would be really convenient if it was 55mm.
4) I have a set of Chroma 50mm narrowband filters. The Ha is 8nm wide, and the Oiii / Sii are 5nm wide. Would these work reasonably well at f/3.3 or do I have to pluck down some $$$ on specific narrowband filters?
5) I live in an extremely humid climate (coastal texas). What is the best way to keep dew off the primary and secondary mirrors? Did you install mirror heating pads on?
6) For remote imaging what flat panel / automated OTA cap do you use?
1) You need to use the takahashi collimation tools designed for this scope. I have no idea how it would do with Ocal, but it is a fairly easy scope to collimate with the tak tools, and a lot of remote locations have techs that are familiar with them.
2) If you have the LEO focuser, then yes. All you should need is the flange.
3) 56.2mm. If your filters are 3mm thick, then 57.2mm. You can get a baader machined shim set for 0.1 to 1mm machined shims. Very nice.
4) Should work perfectly.
5) Im in the NE USA and humidity is a big problem. You will need a fan for the primary (About $15) to eliminate tube currents (MUST HAVE)and you can use a dew heater. I know some people dont, and just use the fan. Astrozap makes a dew shield with heat strip for this scope
6) I'm doing sky flats, But I think some people on here are using panels. I think there was mention over the last few pages.
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Chris White- Overcast Observatory:
Ashraf AbuSara:
Amazing thread. I am now thinking of getting a 160ED, and wondering what I need to get it full ready for full frame imaging remotely. Some questions for the experts here:
1) Does the 160ED collimate well with the Ocal Collimator? I also have a Howie Glatter 2" laser collimator and a Farpoint 2" cheshire. Do I really need the Tak tools to collimate this?
2) I already have an Opetec leo focuser that is gathering dust complete with hub and hand control. I never used it at all and not really experienced with this focuser. It just came on a second hand OTA I purchased and I replaced it with another focuser. So I would just neet to get a saddle kit from Opetec. So the way this installs is you replace the saddle, put the focuser, and then attache the Tak corrector to the focuser?
3) What is the backfocus distance from the corrector? 55mm? I have the ZWO assembly of 6200mm / OAG-L and EFW for exactly 55mm backfocus. It would be really convenient if it was 55mm.
4) I have a set of Chroma 50mm narrowband filters. The Ha is 8nm wide, and the Oiii / Sii are 5nm wide. Would these work reasonably well at f/3.3 or do I have to pluck down some $$$ on specific narrowband filters?
5) I live in an extremely humid climate (coastal texas). What is the best way to keep dew off the primary and secondary mirrors? Did you install mirror heating pads on?
6) For remote imaging what flat panel / automated OTA cap do you use?
1) You need to use the takahashi collimation tools designed for this scope. I have no idea how it would do with Ocal, but it is a fairly easy scope to collimate with the tak tools, and a lot of remote locations have techs that are familiar with them.
2) If you have the LEO focuser, then yes. All you should need is the flange.
3) 56.2mm. If your filters are 3mm thick, then 57.2mm. You can get a baader machined shim set for 0.1 to 1mm machined shims. Very nice.
4) Should work perfectly.
5) Im in the NE USA and humidity is a big problem. You will need a fan for the primary (About $15) to eliminate tube currents (MUST HAVE)and you can use a dew heater. I know some people dont, and just use the fan. Astrozap makes a dew shield with heat strip for this scope
6) I'm doing sky flats, But I think some people on here are using panels. I think there was mention over the last few pages.
Really great info. Would have really liked not to buy yet ANOTHER colliation tool. But if the Takahashi collimating tools are the best way it is what it is.
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Ashraf AbuSara:
Chris White- Overcast Observatory:
Ashraf AbuSara:
Amazing thread. I am now thinking of getting a 160ED, and wondering what I need to get it full ready for full frame imaging remotely. Some questions for the experts here:
1) Does the 160ED collimate well with the Ocal Collimator? I also have a Howie Glatter 2" laser collimator and a Farpoint 2" cheshire. Do I really need the Tak tools to collimate this?
2) I already have an Opetec leo focuser that is gathering dust complete with hub and hand control. I never used it at all and not really experienced with this focuser. It just came on a second hand OTA I purchased and I replaced it with another focuser. So I would just neet to get a saddle kit from Opetec. So the way this installs is you replace the saddle, put the focuser, and then attache the Tak corrector to the focuser?
3) What is the backfocus distance from the corrector? 55mm? I have the ZWO assembly of 6200mm / OAG-L and EFW for exactly 55mm backfocus. It would be really convenient if it was 55mm.
4) I have a set of Chroma 50mm narrowband filters. The Ha is 8nm wide, and the Oiii / Sii are 5nm wide. Would these work reasonably well at f/3.3 or do I have to pluck down some $$$ on specific narrowband filters?
5) I live in an extremely humid climate (coastal texas). What is the best way to keep dew off the primary and secondary mirrors? Did you install mirror heating pads on?
6) For remote imaging what flat panel / automated OTA cap do you use?
1) You need to use the takahashi collimation tools designed for this scope. I have no idea how it would do with Ocal, but it is a fairly easy scope to collimate with the tak tools, and a lot of remote locations have techs that are familiar with them.
2) If you have the LEO focuser, then yes. All you should need is the flange.
3) 56.2mm. If your filters are 3mm thick, then 57.2mm. You can get a baader machined shim set for 0.1 to 1mm machined shims. Very nice.
4) Should work perfectly.
5) Im in the NE USA and humidity is a big problem. You will need a fan for the primary (About $15) to eliminate tube currents (MUST HAVE)and you can use a dew heater. I know some people dont, and just use the fan. Astrozap makes a dew shield with heat strip for this scope
6) I'm doing sky flats, But I think some people on here are using panels. I think there was mention over the last few pages.
Really great info. Would have really liked not to buy yet ANOTHER colliation tool. But if the Takahashi collimating tools are the best way it is what it is.
You do not NEED to use the Takahashi collimation tools. It is a Newtonian design same as any other Newtonian. It has an offset secondary same as any other fast Newtonian. It has a primary mark and a secondary mark same as most reflecting telescopes. The Takahashi collimating tool is no different than any Cheshire out there with a center hole, a cross hair and a reflecting ring. I own a dozen or more different kinds of collimation tools. I have collimated dozens of telescopes. I can do it in minutes with a collimation cap and a laser.
Save your money for something else if you already have a collimation cap or an OCAL. I use my farpoint laser and collimation cap for both of my epsilons. If Takahashi wants to build a threaded collimation tool for better precision then fine but otherwise, what they offer is a big waste of money that doesn't do anything better than Celestron's $20 Cheshire.
You spend $100 for the crosshair piece to have to tape them on yourself? What a joke. Takahashi needs to step into the 21st century.
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Just my .02 as I have just finished collimating my 130, basically the same procedure.
A few thoughts:
1) Some have said that a laser is useless for this scope. I call total BS on that. A high quality well calibrated single beam laser such as a Glatter (not the silly fancy ones with patterns and such) will help you with one very critical part and that is aligning the focuser on the center of the secondary. This is especially useful when swapping to a better focuser (which is mandatory, IMHO, as Tak focusers always have been mostly garbage) . Since this is basically the first step and you will not have touched the primary yet, I simply remove the rear cell and put the laser in the focuser. Now you can easily see the dot on the secondary by looking thru the back of the scope and the laser spot is very visible which makes it dead simple to get the focuser aligned with the center dot on the secondary. This can be verified with the Tak collimation crosshairs as well so now you have a double check. This method also has the advantage of being less confusing since you are getting no reflections from the primary to confuse the newbie.
2) Laser can also be used for an initial rough secondary collimation adjustment by now getting the laser mostly in the center of the primary "circle dot". Follow that with the Tak tool crosshairs once again to tweak.
3) Finally tweak the primary using the accepted method described many other places and using the Tak collimation tool.
NOTE: I do not mean the Tak Collimation SCOPE. I am not a fan of those (I have one). In fact, I found it to be not accurate at all for the Epsilon and will likely make things worse.
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Thanks for the info. Has anyone tried the Ocal collimator on the Epsilon? It was made for Newtonians primarily. I just like the fact that it is a threaded device. Any issues using it?
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Chris White- Overcast Observatory:
5) Im in the NE USA and humidity is a big problem. You will need a fan for the primary (About $15) to eliminate tube currents (MUST HAVE)and you can use a dew heater. I know some people dont, and just use the fan. Astrozap makes a dew shield with heat strip for this scope
Hi Chris,
Are you using a dew heater on the primary and/or secondary mirror? I am in the final stages of setting up the E160 in my observatory and so far I was planning to try things out with the Astrozap dew shield/heater and the primary mirror fan.
Thanks!
Luca
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Luca Marinelli:
Chris White- Overcast Observatory:
5) Im in the NE USA and humidity is a big problem. You will need a fan for the primary (About $15) to eliminate tube currents (MUST HAVE)and you can use a dew heater. I know some people dont, and just use the fan. Astrozap makes a dew shield with heat strip for this scope
Hi Chris,
Are you using a dew heater on the primary and/or secondary mirror? I am in the final stages of setting up the E160 in my observatory and so far I was planning to try things out with the Astrozap dew shield/heater and the primary mirror fan.
Thanks!
Luca
Awesome! No you shouldn't need heaters on either mirror. I have high humidity and using a fan behind the primary as well as the astrozap dew shield with heater I never had a problem.
I don't even know if I would have needed the dew heater though. I just did it for peace of mind. I think the primary fan is really all you need. Do you need a link to the fan?
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Matthew Proulx:
You do not NEED to use the Takahashi collimation tools. It is a Newtonian design same as any other Newtonian.
Actually it is an RC-Newt.
Bill
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Bill Long - Dark Matters Astrophotography:
Matthew Proulx:
You do not NEED to use the Takahashi collimation tools. It is a Newtonian design same as any other Newtonian.
Actually it is an RC-Newt.
Bill
ACKTUALLY  It's a newtonian with a hyperbolic primary. An R-C is a cassegrain with 2 hyperbolic mirrors.
Isaac Newton's telescope was a spherical mirror not parabolic that is commonly used today. So the mirror type is not the design factor. The concave/flat mirror combination is.
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Ashraf AbuSara:
Thanks for the info. Has anyone tried the Ocal collimator on the Epsilon? It was made for Newtonians primarily. I just like the fact that it is a threaded device. Any issues using it?
I just used my OCAL to collimate a 130D and it does work. I'm making a new thread where I will show all the information I have as to not clutter this already long thread too much.
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Just checking to see if anyone has received their Hercules yet. Sound off if so.
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Jeff Ridder:
Just checking to see if anyone has received their Hercules yet. Sound off if so.
Last week, jeff told me that initial orders would be shipping in July.
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Reg Pratt:
Ashraf AbuSara:
Thanks for the info. Has anyone tried the Ocal collimator on the Epsilon? It was made for Newtonians primarily. I just like the fact that it is a threaded device. Any issues using it?
I just used my OCAL to collimate a 130D and it does work. I'm making a new thread where I will show all the information I have as to not clutter this already long thread too much.
Cool! Looking forward to that write up.
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Chris White- Overcast Observatory:
Luca Marinelli:
Chris White- Overcast Observatory:
5) Im in the NE USA and humidity is a big problem. You will need a fan for the primary (About $15) to eliminate tube currents (MUST HAVE)and you can use a dew heater. I know some people dont, and just use the fan. Astrozap makes a dew shield with heat strip for this scope
Hi Chris,
Are you using a dew heater on the primary and/or secondary mirror? I am in the final stages of setting up the E160 in my observatory and so far I was planning to try things out with the Astrozap dew shield/heater and the primary mirror fan.
Thanks!
Luca
Awesome! No you shouldn't need heaters on either mirror. I have high humidity and using a fan behind the primary as well as the astrozap dew shield with heater I never had a problem.
I don't even know if I would have needed the dew heater though. I just did it for peace of mind. I think the primary fan is really all you need. Do you need a link to the fan?
Thank you, Chris! I am all set with the primary fan, I used Tyrel's model and it printed beautifully. I used the Noctua NF-A6x25 FLX 60m fan and it's super quiet. Do I remember correctly that you run it at 9V?
Luca
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Has anyone used this flat panel with the 160ed?
https://astrohutech.store/product/wandererastro-flat-panel-v4-ec/
Seems like a good fit. Just wondering what the best mounting solution is.
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Luca Marinelli:
Thank you, Chris! I am all set with the primary fan, I used Tyrel's model and it printed beautifully. I used the Noctua NF-A6x25 FLX 60m fan and it's super quiet. Do I remember correctly that you run it at 9V?
Generally, when imaging I run it at 6v. For the hour before it's dark (after I open my roof) I run it at 12v. But 9v should work fine. I think that 12v when imaging could introduce vibration, however I dont know if I've seen that be a problem. (I forget sometimes to change it).
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Reg Pratt:
Ashraf AbuSara:
Thanks for the info. Has anyone tried the Ocal collimator on the Epsilon? It was made for Newtonians primarily. I just like the fact that it is a threaded device. Any issues using it?
I just used my OCAL to collimate a 130D and it does work. I'm making a new thread where I will show all the information I have as to not clutter this already long thread too much.
There is no reason why OCAL or other collimation tools would not work with the Epsilons as the collimation process is still about making the focuser tube, secondary mirror outline, and primary mirror reflection concentric. The only question is tolerance and this is where the Tak tools are especially designed for the Epsilon. In particular, the Tak cheshire allows a very tight tolerance for the alignment of the primary mirror. The shape and size of the primary mirror marker is not well suited for example to the Catseye cheshire, which works fantastically well with the radioactive or triangle Catseye primary mirror marker.
Luca
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Luca Marinelli:
Reg Pratt:
Ashraf AbuSara:
Thanks for the info. Has anyone tried the Ocal collimator on the Epsilon? It was made for Newtonians primarily. I just like the fact that it is a threaded device. Any issues using it?
I just used my OCAL to collimate a 130D and it does work. I'm making a new thread where I will show all the information I have as to not clutter this already long thread too much.
There is no reason why OCAL or other collimation tools would not work with the Epsilons as the collimation process is still about making the focuser tube, secondary mirror outline, and primary mirror reflection concentric. The only question is tolerance and this is where the Tak tools are especially designed for the Epsilon. In particular, the Tak cheshire allows a very tight tolerance for the alignment of the primary mirror. The shape and size of the primary mirror marker is not well suited for example to the Catseye cheshire, which works fantastically well with the radioactive or triangle Catseye primary mirror marker.
Luca=16px ***
It worked for me and with much better result than I was able to get with the Tak tool. Having a camera sensor centered in the focuser that doesn't move and can be zoomed in allows for much greater accuracy. I'm not saying the Tak tool isn't good I'm just pointing out that the OCAL does work well. I've come across others saying they use OCAL with their Epsilon as well but never saw any data to back it up so I posted some myself LINK.
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Reg Pratt:
It worked for me and with much better result than I was able to get with the Tak tool. Having a camera sensor centered in the focuser that doesn't move and can be zoomed in allows for much greater accuracy. I'm not saying the Tak tool isn't good I'm just pointing out that the OCAL does work well. I've come across others saying they use OCAL with their Epsilon as well but never saw any data to back it up so I posted some myself LINK.
I read your excellent post and tutorial. Thank you for taking the time to write up your procedure and results. You used the OCAL tool in a clever way by combining the Tak cheshire with the accurate measurement and visualization provided by the camera and virtual crosshair/circles. I am convinced that this is far better than using the OCAL tool natively without the Tak cheshire to match the focuser drawtube, secondary mirror, and primary mirror reflection outlines. You had your cake and ate it too --- well done!
Luca
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Thanks. To behonest what I did here isn't really different than the way you use the OCAL with a standard parabolic newt. The only difference is that I made a point to center the secondary spot on the on crosshair first. My My ONTC on the other hand doesn't have a secondary spot so that step is skipped and I used the edge of the reflection of the primary mirror on the secondary as my reference point. Also the primary circle on the ONTC mirror isn't placed correctly so instead of using that as my reference I use the body of the OCAL inside the focuser instead. I talk about that HERE. With the OCAL and a parabolic Newt you actually don't need a primary spot at all.
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Chris White- Overcast Observatory:
Last week, jeff told me that initial orders would be shipping in July.
I saw on Optec groups.io that Jeff said Hercules should be shipping early to mid-June.
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2.41
3.61
7.12
20.43
6.06
5.61
9.15
11.02
8.52
2.41
