Show us your Frac

[Fozzie]

13 hours ago, DRT said:

I have moved my larger fracs into a new home...

Crikey when did that 152mm turn up.. must have missed that.. what's it like please?

[DRT]

3 minutes ago, Fozzie said:

Crikey when did that 152mm turn up.. must have missed that.. what's it like please?

Hi Steve, I bought the 152 from RVO about a month ago to use with my Quark - it's a lovely beast and sits very nicely on my Ercole giro mount

I haven't had the chance to use it at night yet but it certainly performs very well for solar. Special-K also has one and tells me the colour correction is very good for a large achro. If I get the chance I will point it at the Moon this weekend to test that out and report back.

[Stu]

1 hour ago, Joves said:

You'd be more than welcome to Stu, I know you'd look after it

Truth be told, I've not even had a chance to look through the thing since buying it :s

 

 

 

Aaron, there must be a law about owning a scope like that an not looking through it? Scope abandonment or something like that? ??

[CHASLX200]

Did a local deal on a 120 ED Skywatcher.

 

http://i64.tinypic.com/jrd2wy.jpg[/IMG]

[Commanderfish]

Explore Scientific ED 127 Apo triplet with ES ED 80 Apo triplet acting as uber finder scope!

[glennbech]

 I am refurbishing a Weltblick 60/910mm Circle K (Kenko) refractor from the mid-late 60's. These were produced in Japan and sold by department stores under a wide range of local brand names at the time. The only way to identify the maker and time of production is to look for identification symbols and "passed" stickers.

The kit was dirty but very complete, dust caps on finder, scope, eyepieces. I have fixed a slack problem on the RA Axis, and taken the  EQ mount apart to its last part, polished, cleaned and re-greased. The mount is now butter smooth to operate. In the picture, you see vixen handles. The original ones are "springs", and cause a lot of unwanted motion in actual use.  

This could have been a "love story", but the objective lens has major issues. The only cause I can imagine, is that it has been disassembled and re-assembled wrong in its history. If someone has experience in interpreting crazy star test patterns, don't be shy (PM me if you like).  

I was very eager to get this fixed up, So I have actually bought a twin scope for parts. I got it for a bargain of 25 euros, from a German seller. The twin is another brand but 60/910, same age and manufacturer. I will either place the new OTA on this mount, or swap lens cells based on what tube looks best. 

I think that scope looks smashing

 

 

Edited April 3, 2016 by glennbech

[garryblueboy]

Went to Kelling on Sunday to look for a new mount went by the Altair Astro stall and got so tempted by this beauty so mount will have to wait a few months .

 

[DRT]

Very nice, Gary

I seem to recognise that Baader finder

[garryblueboy]

Hi Derek yes I think you do works well between the C11 and now this 

[John]

Very nice looking scope and mount setup Gary

 

[garryblueboy]

Thanks John I'm very pleased with it just need those clouds to go

[bomberbaz]

At long last my Frac and mount are finished and good to go, I had to have the black central post on the tripod custom made as it was way too short, (Thanks again Peter) cracking mount though. 

Going to give it a whirl on the Moon tomorrow evening, looking forward to it. 

[Brian Nordstrom]

My biggest , and smallet .

And most in between , Refractorholic I think ...>?

Brian.

[mikeDnight]

On 21/04/2016 at 11:46, Brian Nordstrom said:

My biggest , and smallet .

And most in between , Refractorholic I think ...>?

Brian.

Hi Brian,

Being a refractorholic  is the norm round here and you're to be commended for it. What is mildly worrying though is your shameless glove fetish. ?

Mike

 

[Brian Nordstrom]

On ‎23‎/‎04‎/‎2016 at 15:11, mikeDnight said:

Hi Brian,

Being a refractorholic  is the norm round here and you're to be commended for it. What is mildly worrying though is your shameless glove fetish. ?

Mike

 

OOPS !!! , busted ! .

 

But no these are our ( wife and I ) bike gloves , here in OZ your hands tend to sweat a bit and need a hanging in the fresh ait after a long ride  .

Brian.

[t0nedude]

After an astronomy hiatus of 10-15 years - the great unpacking recently - on the mounts/tripods later - just checking OTA's:

Takahashi FC-60: (This will be mounted on a Bogen Manfrotto Tripod - grab and go) Bought new April '99 (True Technology). Mint.

Optics never cleaned (not necessary).

Vixen FL102s: (This will be mounted on a Vixen GP mount/tripod) - bought new Sept '95. (Broadhurst Clarkson & Fuller). Great condition.

Optics never cleaned (not necessary).

Takahashi FS-128: (This will be mounted on a Takahashi EM-2 mount/tripod) - bought new March '99 (True Technology). Mint.

Optics never cleaned (not necessary).

Edited April 26, 2016 by t0nedude

[mikeDnight]

Happy day  at Huddersfield Asto Society. The photo was taken around 5.30am on June 8th 2004 awaiting the transit of Venus. my wife took the photo while my youngest son Daniel stuffs his face with an Apple and floppy bear sits guarding my FS 128 and Daniels 102mm StarTravel.

Mike

[iPeace]

+1 for floppy bear!

[mikeDnight]

3 hours ago, iPeace said:

+1 for floppy bear!

Floppy bear goes everywhere with us and is the best anniversary  present I ever bought for my wife. You dont need to spend a fortune to please em! She got a cuddly £10 teddy and I got a cuddly £3,850.00 Tak Fluorite. Seems fair to me! 

Mike 

[iPeace]

3 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

Floppy bear goes everywhere with us and is the best anniversary  present I ever bought for my wife. You dont need to spend a fortune to please em! She got a cuddly £10 teddy and I got a cuddly £3,850.00 Tak Fluorite. Seems fair to me! 

Mike 

No self-respecting, serious astronomer can be without a floppy bear. As it is, I'm slumming it without the Tak...

[Stu]

14 hours ago, t0nedude said:

After an astronomy hiatus of 10-15 years - the great unpacking recently - on the mounts/tripods later - just checking OTA's:

Takahashi FC-60: (This will be mounted on a Bogen Manfrotto Tripod - grab and go) Bought new April '99 (True Technology). Mint.

Optics never cleaned (not necessary).

Vixen FL102s: (This will be mounted on a Vixen GP mount/tripod) - bought new Sept '95. (Broadhurst Clarkson & Fuller). Great condition.

Optics never cleaned (not necessary).

Takahashi FS-128: (This will be mounted on a Takahashi EM-2 mount/tripod) - bought new March '99 (True Technology). Mint.

Optics never cleaned (not necessary).

Lovely scopes Tony, really gorgeous.....shame about the socks ????

[John]

Oh, goodness, this thread is going to damage my bank balance one day

Superb scopes folks

 

[DirkSteele]

Loving the Tak FC-60.  Never seen one in the wild.  Not very common as I understand.

[DirkSteele]

But continuing the Takahashi theme that seems to have dominated this thread over the last few pages....  I posted photos of all but one of my refractors many pages ago, now here is the FS-60Q, a 60mm f/10 quadruplet.

 

Edited April 26, 2016 by DirkSteele

[t0nedude]

4 hours ago, Stu said:

Lovely scopes Tony, really gorgeous.....shame about the socks ????

They were a present!  Well that's my excuse...