Telrad bad experience

I have only used my telrad for a dozen times. Last night the telrad would not stay positioned in the telrad base. It would move around even when tightened with the set screws. Taking the telrad out and examining the tabs which the screws exert pressure on they were damaged by the screws. This being plastic it surely was going to happen at some point but I did not expect it this soon. It looks like a bad engineering. Has anyone experienced this problem? So disgusted that I am thinking of going with an Orion EZ Finder and was also wondering what others think of this gadget.

Hi John,
I have had a few Telrads and have two now. Never had a problem and certainly never saw the feet get damaged. Sound like the Telrad screws were tightened with the feet not completely seated and this damaged the feet.

Hello:
Ihad a similar problem with my telrad. I solved it by putting a few bits of duct tape (is there any problem it can't solve?) on those little plastic tabs to thicken them up a bit, and now my telrad locks in fine. The metal screw kind of chews into the plastic/tape, so a more permanent fix would be to glue some metal shin stock there. I also have an Orion EZ finder, and the elevation adjustment is stuck. So, once again I've been using bits of duct tape to shim the bottom of the EZ finder to align it with the scope. Overall, I still prefer the telrad.

Cheers
Mike Connelley

Thanks for all the comments. Not did my telrad have a couple of chewed tabs on the underside from the base screws but putting it on a granite surface it was not square so this added to my problem of stability. I added the good ole duct tape on all four tabs and this has taken out all movement and firmed up the entire unit. Looking forward to the next observing session to see the results.

As a second thought I am going to replace the steel screws in the base with nylon screws. This should eliminate the "chewing" of the tabs by these screws.