Helios 6" f8 frac - completed!

[A McEwan]

Hi all,

It's taken a while and been a fair bit of hard work, but the stonking big refractor is now finished!

I have just within the last half hour reassembled the scope and taken these pics. I need to find some more flocking material as there are some bits that came off in the de-masking process (just little bits in the dewshield). I haven't looked at anything with it yet - and it's too wet and cloudy to take it outside or mount it up.

Here ya go! Thanks for the support in your messages, everyone!

Ant

[John]

Very nice Ant - proper colour scheme for a scope, IMHO

I notice yours is one of the early ones without the collimatable objective cell. My Konus was of that type - I think the centre of balance is not so close to the top end with those. Have you had any collimation issues with it or is it good in that department ?.

[A McEwan]

Thanks John - yes, I decided against dayglo orange in the end! I honestly don't know about the collimation as I've only observed the Sun and distant daylight objects with it. I couldn't detect any issues but it's hardly the best way to judge. Soon as I get it focused on a (non-local) star I'll be able to tell. Certainly the previous owners haven't mentioned any collimation issues!

Ant

[nightfisher]

Ant, a job very well done, it looks superb, if i ever get a big 6" f8 i think i will be getting the paint colour from you

[SpookyKatt]

AWESOME Antony, I must admit I always liked the fact that

the helios was black but I've got to say that looks great

All your hard work certainly has paid off and a 'Tip of the hat'

to you for making such a great job of it.

Hope you get a good look at the moon this week to see how

it performs.

Kathleen

[A McEwan]

We still have a Moon??? I thought it had been taken away from us it's so long since I've seen it!

I hope I do get a chance to try it out soon - I've still got a certain Fringe Killer filter and Semi-Apo one to compare it with! (don't let me forget...)

Fisher: Ford Ivory from Halfords!

Ant

[John]

You have probably seen this web page before Ant but I have found it very useful for refractor collimation:

Refractor Collimation

I use a simple cheshire collimator like the one pictured on the site.

If it is out, don't worry - my Konus was but, by re-settling the objective lens, re-seating the lens cell on the tube and making sure that the visual back was snugly seated on the drawtube at the other end, in the end my cheshire "dots" overlapped perfectly

[spaceboy]

Looking superb Ant! Although I like the ease and good looks of the carbon wrap revolution it's not a touch on the class act look of a proper paint job.

[A McEwan]

Thanks Spaceboy!

I've just had some views through it - only of terrestrial targets. Cows and buildings about 6-7 miles distant and some treee greenery about half a mile away. Snap to focus seems "ok" but the seeing is not great - it's been a very warm day and there's some air movement. Usable magnification limit is about 120x at the moment but then I am pointing very near the horizon too!

Thing is, I do miss the long drawtube of the original focuser! My Ortho's come to focus with no extension, but other eyepieces need an extension, and for my 9mm ES the extension is not even long enough! I wonder if there's a longer drawtube available for this focuser?

Views without any CA filter were pretty nice with only small amount of colour. With he Semi-Apo filter it's nearly all gone! Focusing on a nearby chimney with a straight dark edge against blue sky shows the merest thin fringe that is easy to ignore completely.

Nice so far - but it's not the same as looking at stars!

Ant

[twotter]

Mmmm, 6" refractor.....drooooooool

[astroeddie]

I've been offered one of these for £300 with a moonlite focuser. I was debating, but, after this I'm getting it.

AM, you need to change your signature to "PIMPED".

Looking awesome. Are you getting any type of fringe killer?

Eddie

[F15Rules]

Hi Ant,

I think that is the business...:hello2:!

Total respect to you and your hard work, you now have a seriously cool looking big frac!

Can't wait for first light report!

cheers

Dave

[A McEwan]

OMG - £300 with Moonlite fitted? Jump on that NOW (or tell me where it is - I'll keep the moonlite and sell you a tube with a nice GSO focuser for £295 )

Eddie, I'll probably be using a Baader Semi-Apo filter. It works well in daylight but I really need to test it in the dark to see how well it performs.

Funny thing - as dusk has increased and the seeing improved, the view WITHOUT the Semi-Apo filter has improved!

Thanks Dave - I'm seriously chuffed! :

Ant

[spaceboy]

Sorry to have to say.....Don't hold your breath on the SA filter having any kind of impact. I think the SA is best suited to slower scopes where the CA is reasonably well managed anyway and the SA cleans up the last little bit of the false colour. I had one for my EVO 120 F8.3 and once the scope is cooled the CA really isn't that bad until you view brighter objects. The hope was the SA would resolve this enough to warrant the hefty price tag of the filters but sadly I saw little if any improvement. The Baader fringe killer is regarded as the best anti violet filter but it imposes a yellow hue in its replacement.

[astroeddie]

Ant,

Getting mine in August upon my return from Tunisia (hols).

I had one of these , but changed everything in 2006. A lad travelled 100's of miles to buy my 10" Newt and HEQ5 mount.

He fell in love with the Refrac that was sat there.

I said, yep , take it and pay me when you get paid....... that was Sept 2006, never heard from him since.

If I ever bump into him around the circuit, .............*****. I KNOW YOU'RE OUT THERE !!!!!!!

I'll stop ranting before I'm banned.

Once the refrac is bought, I'll need at least an HEQ5 GoTo.

So wont be in action for a while.

Still keep looking at you're mods, looks a CLASS ACT.

Ed

NB ..... I bought an anti violet fringe killer from FLO when I had mine. The planets where awesome. Views beat my C11, IMHO. As stated before, slightly yellow,but no purple blooming on moon and brighter planets. Though Venus was a no go.

[A McEwan]

Spaceboy, my daylight tests (thorough) showed that the Semi-Apo worked very well indeed, as did my views last night. Ok, it's daylight tests not nighttime, but the tests were pretty harsh - tree branches against blue sky and TV aerials etc, with only a mere hint of false colour remaining. I remain optimistic at this point. The Fringe Killer did a similar job but with more greenish cast to the views, while the SA makes it look more pleasing. So far, of course.... and as I say, the real test is the night sky.

Ed - so basically someone stole your scope from under your nose? Couldn't you have charged him with theft or something? Presumably you knew who he was? Terrible...

Ant

[astroeddie]

He was from the SPA.

Lives in Wellingborough. Never answered emails etc. Just down to bad luck/judgement.

Sadly, I'll never let that type of thing happen again, trust I mean.

Anyway, thats in the past.

Cheers for answering my PM.

Eddie

[A McEwan]

Least Id've done is report him to the SPA authorities.

No probs re PM - good luck with the search!

Ant

[nightfisher]

Looks like my carbon clone might be getting the white treatment!

i deal with a local company that will clean up old paintwork then powder coat the tube and dew shield for about £20, though i might have to re flock the internals after job done...............very tempted

[Rossco72]

Looks good Ant, signature update required....

Cheers

[A McEwan]

Nice! I had some minor dust inside the tube (despite masking both ends) after the shotblasting but it was fairly easy to remove.