Show us your Frac

[Mr Spock]

The 120 is ready and waiting. This is from earlier in the evening. Just had a quick peek - moon looks lovely 

[rkelley8493]

A better look at my Stellarvue SVA130T..

[Telescope40]

41 minutes ago, rkelley8493 said:

A better look at my Stellarvue SVA130T..

Hello @rkelley8493 - that scope looks superb. I’ve got a SV 102 ED which I am very happy with. 
 

John 

[Roy Challen]

My Skylight hasn't made an appearance in this thread for an age, and seeing as I picked up a nice mount for it this morning (thanks to @wormix), here it is. It's light enough to be grab-n-go, mainly for lunar observing. The tripod is a little on the short side, so I'll put some bricks under the feet until I get around to making some longer legs. The finder scope bracket needs improvement as it keeps falling off, not that it's needed for finding the moon. 

Edited May 1, 2021 by Roy Challen

[Nigella Bryant]

I hadn't posted my new 100mm Achromatic Calcium II K scope. Works really well with the Lunt b1800 CaK module. 

[Roy Challen]

25 minutes ago, Nigella Bryant said:

I hadn't posted my new 100mm Achromatic Calcium II K scope. Works really well with the Lunt b1800 CaK module. 

Looking forward to your images, Nigella.

[rkelley8493]

My smedium [small/medium] refractor...

[Nigella Bryant]

On 01/05/2021 at 17:20, Roy Challen said:

Looking forward to your images, Nigella.

Just a screenshot from today 2nd May Roy.  

[Roy Challen]

Sun was a bit quiet today, cloudy here too most of the day.

[IB20]

I am now a proud frac owner! 😃

[KP82]

6 minutes ago, IB20 said:

I am now a proud frac owner! 😃

Is that the fully japanese made Tak sponsored 80mm achro? I remember I've seen it on CN. How are the views?

[johninderby]

4 minutes ago, KP82 said:

Is that the fully japanese made Tak sponsored 80mm achro? I remember I've seen it on CN. How are the views?

OTA looks very much like the fully Japanese made ScopeTech which I think uses the same optics.

Edited May 10, 2021 by johninderby

[JeremyS]

20 minutes ago, IB20 said:

I am now a proud frac owner! 😃

And you’ve even got clear skies 👍🏻

[IB20]

17 minutes ago, KP82 said:

Is that the fully japanese made Tak sponsored 80mm achro? I remember I've seen it on CN. How are the views?

Yep! Delivered from FLO via DHL about 2 hours ago and an absolute cinch to set up. First impressions are nicely surprised by the sturdiness of the tripod and the beautiful simplicity of the Az-Alt mount. The OTA is really light and not unwieldy like I thought it might be; the whole set-up must weigh somewhere between 6-7kg, which I'm delighted about. Everything bar the spreader and accessory tray is metal, again a nice surprise considering I was looking at the Vixen A80mf before I clocked that FLO stocked the Starbase 80 set-up. I'll get a first light report up as soon as I can (fingers crossed tonight) but very happy so far. Looks the dogs' danglies too.

[KP82]

15 minutes ago, IB20 said:

Yep! Delivered from FLO via DHL about 2 hours ago and an absolute cinch to set up. First impressions are nicely surprised by the sturdiness of the tripod and the beautiful simplicity of the Az-Alt mount. The OTA is really light and not unwieldy like I thought it might be; the whole set-up must weigh somewhere between 6-7kg, which I'm delighted about. Everything bar the spreader and accessory tray is metal, again a nice surprise considering I was looking at the Vixen A80mf before I clocked that FLO stocked the Starbase 80 set-up. I'll get a first light report up as soon as I can (fingers crossed tonight) but very happy so far. Looks the dogs' danglies too.

Thanks for the detailed description. Looking forward to your first light report.

BTW is it possible to attach a saddle to that alt-az mount so that it can be used with other light-weight scopes?

[IB20]

9 minutes ago, KP82 said:

Thanks for the detailed description. Looking forward to your first light report.

BTW is it possible to attach a saddle to that alt-az mount so that it can be used with other light-weight scopes?

Complete mount novice but the tube rings screw into the base plate ~95mm apart. I can’t see why not if you could find an appropriate saddle though.

[HollyHound]

My grab and go Takahashi FC-76DCU, mounted on ScopeTech Zero mount and Berlebach Report tripod 😃

I’ve added the FeatherTouch Micro Pinion focuser, Takahashi Camera Angle Adjuster, 1.04x Field Flattener, T2 adaptor and Baader 1.25” prism with ClickLock.

Also replaced the Takahashi 6x30 finder with a Skywatcher right angle instead, although I still love the Tak finder and that lives on another refractor now.

Edit: I should add that the field flattener is not essential, but I use it mostly because it keeps my XW 14 and 20 FC under control, whilst allowing me the option of attaching my EOS SLR for the occasional lunar snap (I replace the T2 adaptor with the Tak EOS Wide adaptor and appropriate Multi CA adaptor) 👍

Edited May 17, 2021 by HollyHound

[garryblueboy]

These Two eagerly awaiting clear skies 

[JeremyS]

6 hours ago, HollyHound said:

My grab and go Takahashi FC-76DCU, mounted on ScopeTech Zero mount and Berlebach Report tripod 😃

I’ve added the FeatherTouch Micro Pinion focuser, Takahashi Camera Angle Adjuster, 1.04x Field Flattener, T2 adaptor and Baader 1.25” prism with ClickLock.

Also replaced the Takahashi 6x30 finder with a Skywatcher right angle instead, although I still love the Tak finder and that lives on another refractor now.

Edit: I should add that the field flattener is not essential, but I use it mostly because it keeps my XW 14 and 20 FC under control, whilst allowing me the option of attaching my EOS SLR for the occasional lunar snap (I replace the T2 adaptor with the Tak EOS Wide adaptor and appropriate Multi CA adaptor) 👍

 

I see you are gradually working your way through the Tak accessory list 🤣👍🏻

[HollyHound]

18 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

I see you are gradually working your way through the Tak accessory list 🤣👍🏻

Umm, working my way through... yes... slowly... no 🤣

[JeremyS]

1 minute ago, HollyHound said:

Umm, working my way through... yes... slowly... no 🤣

🤣

you must be getting quite a pile of those lovely blue Tak boxes 👍🏻

[HollyHound]

3 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

🤣

you must be getting quite a pile of those lovely blue Tak boxes 👍🏻

Oddly enough, apart from the field flattener, most of the accessory boxes have been just plain old cream cardboard... But they just get stored away in a larger box in a cupboard, so no matter 👍

One thing I do now have a surfeit off, are the extension/adaptor tubes that came with each scope... none of which I’m actually using, having switched to Baader/T2 stuff... they’ve started to gang up on the table in here 🤣

[HollyHound]

Dual mount setup from last night (for comparison on the moon)... FC-100DC and FOA-60(Q) on the AZ100 and Uni 28 😃

The dew shield from my old Mak102 fits perfectly on the FC100DC... not essential but useful 👍

Edited May 23, 2021 by HollyHound

[scotty38]

Lovely setup that is. I did similar too last night just to compare my Stellamira 80 f10 apo with my 152 f5.9 achro. I wanted to see if my inexperienced eyes could see a difference and yep, easy... It’s now confirmed Stellamira is lunar and planetary with my WO binoviewers and pretty much the full set of BST Starguiders. The 152 worked well on DSOs with a Nirvana 7mm 82 degree eyepiece so will get treated to the 16mm version too.  

Edited May 23, 2021 by scotty38

[rkelley8493]

My Lazy Rig. 

 

Edited May 31, 2021 by rkelley8493