TL Systems Equatorial Platform II

AcroFlyer

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Sep 8, 2002, 7:00:29 PM9/8/02

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Has anyone in this group built the TL Systems Equatorial Platform II ?

I wrote to the designer and he (understandably) is fairly tight lipped about
it because of fear of someone copying and selling his idea. I owned an
aviation software company and I understand this. Hopefully, he got at least
a copyright on it to avoid such a problem.

Can anyone give me some input on building and using the platform. $189
isn't very much in the grand scheme of things, but I want to minimize my $$
losses in case it is :

1) Hard to get working correctly
2) Works as advertised
3) Lasts

Any input appreciated.

Thank you in advance,

Chris

Rod Mollise

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Sep 8, 2002, 7:24:44 PM9/8/02

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HI Chris:

Pat Rochford and I built one, the equatorial version, in 1999. To see Pat's
Skywatch review of the result, go here:

<http://skywatch.brainiac.com/swmar99.PDF>

I was with him all through the process of building and testing this thing and
stand by his review 100%.

Keep in mind, this was 4 years ago, but AFAIK, the TL platform is still
basically the same today as it was then then.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me direct.

Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of _Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_
Like SCTs and MCTs?
Check-out sct-user, the mailing list for CAT fanciers!
Goto <http://members.aol.com/RMOLLISE/index.html>

AcroFlyer

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Sep 8, 2002, 8:17:24 PM9/8/02

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Rod,

Exactly what I wanted to know. When the guy wouldn't share any info on the
product, lot's of "whistles and bells" went off. As I mentioned in my first
post, I owned a software company and had no problem sharing info on our
product line (duh ! how can you sell something without telling folks about
it ! <LOL!>).

I really appreciate your input on this "turkey" and am glad I didn't spend
anything on it. There is another company out there and I will look at them
too. Albeit, with a added sense of skeptisism.

Thanks again,

Chris

Tom Polakis

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Sep 9, 2002, 1:56:57 AM9/9/02

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Rod usually covers this subject well, but let me add the following story.

I bought the kit from TL Systems that was supposed to work with a 20-inch, and
after some frustration with even getting it to drive an 8-inch RFT, brought it
to a local telescope maker. He told me to throw the thing in the dumpster so
somebody else didn't have to suffer with it.

I was even dumb enough to by the declination kit to make it a two-axis setup. I
never opened the box, and only asked TL Systems to refund my money for only the
dec. kit. He told me, "no, all sales are final."

What amazes me is that they are somehow still in business today. Typically, the
bad ones get weeded out after a few years. Now it's inevitable that somebody is
going to come into this thread claiming that, thanks to TL, they have tracking
for their 20-inch scope for a couple hundred bucks. I'll remain skeptical, as I
have yet to see one working TL Systems platform in countless star parties around
Arizona.

Tom

AcroFlyer wrote:

--
Tom Polakis
Tempe, AZ
Arizona Sky Pages
http://www.psiaz.com/polakis/

Ken Coates

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Sep 13, 2002, 2:19:56 PM9/13/02

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Someone in our astronomy club built one. It had too much vibration at
the eyepiece to be useful. He has an Orion XT-8 (8" dob) which weighs
about 50 lbs. He gave up on it, but didn't try to get his money back.

Ken