A big ugly 6" Achromat

[DaveGibbons]

Hi all, Here's a bit of kit many would avoid the big shortish focal length f8 6" achromat. I recently bought a cpc1100 sct a wonderful scope but not exactly grab n go. Sold my PST and had a few hundred quid for a quick look scope (no 2hr cooldown). A 6 year old non collimatable Helios(aka Synta) with eq5 and dual drives popped up on e-bay not 20 miles from me. Rang the guy went to view picked it up for £120 cash! Yup £120

O.K you think gotta be a bit of a dog? Well the standard aluminium tripod is of course junk the Ra worm shaft end is a little bent and no crayford focusser with this one! First thing I did was junk the wobbly aluminium legs , spent £6 in B&Q for a bit of par pine and made a full fixed height tripod. It's rough and ready but holds the scope steady as a rock. Surprised to find the motors track spot on despite the end of the Ra worm shaft scribing a little circle. Took the scope out thinking optics are gonna be very average (no deep blue multi coatings on this one just a single anti reflection in those days) . There is a God! It's factory fixed collimation

is spot on . I had forgotten just how good Saturn looks through a big fractor, mesmerising. A little CA is evident but negligable and does not bother me at all. Best £126 I have ever spent in my life.

Set up as purchased

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Now with a proper tripod!

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and another

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I am just stacking some images of Saturn I took last night and will post in the Imaging section shortly.

Cheers

Dave

[beamish]

Nice going there Dave, bet that's a beauty to look through.

Karlo

[GazOC]

Very nice and a real bargain! :shock:

[PaulG]

Dave

That wouldn't be the one in Liverpool ?

I was half thinking about a bid then all of a sudden it disappeared.

Paul

[Paxo]

That's some piece of kit there Dave, and for £126. Your tripod looks just the job, well done.

Steve..

[DaveGibbons]

Paul, Yes it was the one in Liverpool and disappeared to my house!

Dave

[PaulG]

I thought it looked familiar, that is a real bargain Dave and a solid piece of kit. That will teach me for half thinking

Paul

[themos]

£120!!!! That's the deal of the decade!

[philsail1]

Impressive looking scope you have there Dave. Looks the goods in black. And you had a genuine bargain. Your tripod looks very substancial too.

Best wishes,

philsail1

[SteelRat]

What a yard cannon 8) Superb looking setup and a proper bargain at that price Dave. That tripod really does look the nads Got some good images from that setup already too. Well done matey.

Cheers

Matthew(SR)