Show us your Frac

[Chris]

That's a big one!

[osbourne one-nil]

You're very kind! 

I've just sold my 8" Portaball and used that to fund this - I know it's not 200mm, but unobstructed aperture with very little cool-down time on a goto mount....should work for me on the three hours each year it's not raining here. 

It weighs surprisingly little, so the mount's going to be fine. It is long, so windy weather might be an issue, but I'll just whip it off on nights like that. 

[Chris]

There is a lot to be said for fast cooldown in the UK aka clouddodgeland.

Which Vixen model is it if you don't mind me asking? I'm trying to work out if it's an Atlux or not?

[DaveS]

Ooh, is that the Neo-Achromat, quasi Petzval design?

I've often considered that for NB imaging though I think it would have too much CA for LRGB work.

[osbourne one-nil]

Sorry, it's the NA140SS - yeah, the neo-achromat one. Bought purely for low power pretty things. These are now made with Japanese optics which might be an improvement on the previously sourced Chinese glass, although by no means definitely. 

[Rainmaker]

New arrival this week:

Takahashi FC100 DL  #50/100,  100mm F9.0 Fluorite Steinheil Apochromat, still waiting for the Tubeholder 

It will be fitted with the Baader ClickLock and Zeiss T2 Diagonal with TV Binovue or for mono viewing, the Baader BBHS 2" Silver diagonal

Can't wait to get first light

 

[Fozzie]

Ouch... just banged my jaw on the floor.

Could that be "the perfect" 100m scope?! Lovely stuff..

Edited February 20, 2016 by Fozzie

[mikeDnight]

7 hours ago, Rainmaker said:

New arrival this week:

Takahashi FC100 DL  #50/100,  100mm F9.0 Fluorite Steinheil Apochromat, still waiting for the Tubeholder 

It will be fitted with the Baader ClickLock and Zeiss T2 Diagonal with TV Binovue or for mono viewing, the Baader BBHS 2" Silver diagonal

Can't wait to get first light

 

 That's just so beautiful to look at, who cares about the tube holder! Don't forget to drink plenty, because with all the drooling you'll be doing until your clamp arrives, you could badly dehydrate.

Just dream about what you've got to look forward to. 

I'd also be curious about what you think of your silver diagonal.

Mike 

[Cleetus]

The newly arrived member of the Cleetus family. FC100 DF F7.4 with micro focuser and quick release finder bracket. Now awaiting arrival of new mount. Guard dog on duty! With thanks to MikeDnight for his advice.

 

[Ewan]

Thought I would join in the fun :-)

My Technosky 152mm bought originally for Quark Solar use but i will be trying out some other targets as well.

This scope is the same as the Altair, Lyra & TS model so should be readily available. I have been told these scopes have the same cell as the 152mm Lunt costing many thousands more (the filter being where all the £'s go i guess) so i am hoping first light should be something worth waiting for.

First time I have mounted this on the AZEQ6, the mount seems to handle it pretty well, made sure it was well locked down though.

Made my 80mm look like a finder scope, now to work out the best way to fit the guider i have then im in business.

[mikeDnight]

11 hours ago, Cleetus said:

The newly arrived member of the Cleetus family. FC100 DF F7.4 with micro focuser and quick release finder bracket. Now awaiting arrival of new mount. Guard dog on duty! With thanks to MikeDnight for his advice.

 

Every time I see someone elses FC my heart rate increases. Is that sad or what? 

New mount? Curiouser and curiouser! 

That's one of those guard dogs that's got springs in its feet isn't it? Very tricky to escape from! 

Mike 

[osbourne one-nil]

I'm jealous of your Tak even though I have the same thing. Weird feeling!

[Stub Mandrel]

As an antidote to all the huge Fracs:

Began life as a '50mm 300mm astronomical telescope', will be my main finder in future, and maybe a guide scope.

This is only stage 1 - I've made the guide rings, swapped 330mm air-spaced two element lens for a 50mm 180mm fully coated achromat, added a cheap 20mm 9.25" ep., replaced the ep screw and shortened the tube.

I still need to replace the sticker, shorten the focus tube internally, do some cosmetic tweaks, make cross-hairs and give it a respray :-)

[osbourne one-nil]

This is going to be good. A T-Rex mount on an EQ6 tripod. 

 

 

[John]

What a great setup

I've seen a few T-Rex mounts but I've never had the pleasure of using one. A real "Rolls Royce" alt-azimuth !

 

[osbourne one-nil]

Thanks - difficult to gauge the scale in the photo but both the mount and the scope are big - just looks proportionately right. It's very, very smooth and absolutely rock solid, which isn't bad with a scope over 1m long on it. There is a tiny bit of play in the altitude axis but I've improved that a lot in just 20 mins so some more fine tuning should see that go - it's infinitely adjustable. 

The mount and tripod won't be a problem carrying about the scope itself isn't heavy, but I wouldn't fancy lifting the whole thing in one go for more than a few metres. 

[GavStar]

Some lovely tak fc100s here - my favourite scope

 

[barkis]

On 28/05/2015 at 21:02, moriniboy said:

Love this thread, my contribution

And very attractive looking it is too moriniboy.
My wife would allow me to keep that Setup in the Living Room .

[barkis]

Just noticed how old this thread is .

[Stu]

On 25 February 2016 at 17:09, osbourne one-nil said:

This is going to be good. A T-Rex mount on an EQ6 tripod. 

 

 

Looks great! Where did you source the T-Rex?

[Paul73]

34 minutes ago, Stu said:

Looks great! Where did you source the T-Rex?

From memory. I believe that Telscope House list them. Hope that you are feeling rich!!!

Paul

[Stu]

1 hour ago, Paul73 said:

From memory. I believe that Telscope House list them. Hope that you are feeling rich!!!

Paul

Hmmm, couldn't see them there, but APM have them listed.......perhaps when my numbers come up! Nice to have encoders and push to though.

[nightfisher]

17 minutes ago, Stu said:

Hmmm, couldn't see them there, but APM have them listed.......perhaps when my numbers come up! Nice to have encoders and push to though.

Cant help thinking the T rex type of Gibralter AZ mount would be so easy to make if i still worked in the engineering shop

[JemC]

And back to reality  here is mine

 

[DRT]

I collected this beauty from RVO about an hour ago...

 

And here is the Skylight Carton 60mm F16.7 all pimped-up and ready to go with its new finder, crafted by Richard Day a couple of weeks ago