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No Tape Rigel Quickfinder

Posted by Matthew Cecere   12/07/2006 12:00AM

I just read the review about the Stellarvue and William Optics unit finders. When the Rigel Quickfinder (an absolutely fantastic product) was mentioned, a comment was made about how awful it would be to use that tape to stick it to your nice shiny telescope. I felt the same way. I could not imagine sticking anything on my telescope with tape either. The other thing that bothered me about the Quickfinder's mount was the way it clips off the base with that little plastic tab. I thought it might crack in cold weather. Then I had an idea.

Since it came with two bases I decided to modify one of them. Using a drill and a hacksaw blade, I cut a slit through each side of the base. I then ran a velcro strap, that I found at a hardware store, through the slits. So now my Quickfinder comes on and off as easy as a little pull on some velcro and I didn't have to stick anything to my telescope. You can do the same thing too. Just find a velcro strap that will fit around your telescope (or make one) and cut the slits in the base wide enough to fit it through and you're in business. The other thing I did to help it grip a little better was I cut two half inch wide pieces of bicycle inner tube and slid them over the base on the sides where the strap comes out. This also helps hide the not so clean cuts I made in the base. So if using tape to hold on a Rigel Quickfinder on your telescope was the reason you didn't want to use it, here is way around it.