Show us your Frac

[parallaxerr]

1 minute ago, Chris Lock said:

Very nice big brother to mine  Lot's more room on the 6/8SE version by the looks of it, and the Moonlite sets the whole thing off a treat

I've set an Alt limit of 75 degrees on the handset so it hopefully won't suggest objects above this, I don't want to crash into the mount! 

 

Ah 75° is fine, the handset will make suggestions above this but give you a slew warning if you try to goto them. I'm restricted to 62° before that pesky compression ring screw on the moonlite contacts.

[Chris]

6 minutes ago, parallaxerr said:

Ah 75° is fine, the handset will make suggestions above this but give you a slew warning if you try to goto them. I'm restricted to 62° before that pesky compression ring screw on the moonlite contacts.

I might be joining you in the 60 degree zone, I've only guessed 75 by eye so it's subject to possible change.

[F15Rules]

On 11/09/2016 at 18:28, Dave1 said:

Topic (Towa 339) 80mm f15 telescope. 

Hi Dave

Lovely scope, and do you know, I think I owned that one once! The brass 1.25" adapter looks very familiar, mine certainly had one just like it. Can't recall who I sold it to, I wondered if it might have been Roy???

Thanks for posting.

Dave

[moriniboy]

Just taken this year's insurance photo and looking at my post last year 10/10/15 I have managed to reduce the number of fracs I own by one 

List as follows, left to right:

152mm Altair Astro Starwave

120mm Skywatcher Equinox

101mm TeleVue Renaissance SDF

102mm Ikharus (still my workhorse scope)

100mm TAL 100R stage 2 PST mod 

80mm Vixen FL80S Fluorite (now with Baader diamond steeltrack focuser)

80mm Skylight Kenko f12

70mm TeleVue Ranger

63mm Zeiss Telementor

The only change I'm currently contemplating is swapping the Ranger for a TV60

[Chris]

Take aim, fire! wonderful collection you still have there. I'm a bit surprised that the Ikharus is the workhorse scope when you have the equinox and others. I remember looking at the Starwave equivalent last year, researched them and heard the optics were somewhere between Achromatic and Semi Apo? Lovely fit and finish on the other hand.

[deejay]

Another Towa 339

I picked this up yesterday, I won it on the Bay for £53.00!!  It had a dodgy homemade finder scope on it, which I have replaced with the correct one from another Towa scope. It only had one slow motion cable and no lens cap, which again I had in the spares box. I am going to restore it fully and red carbon fibre wrap the tube etc.

I am quite pleased with it even though it was a 150 mile round trip to pick it up

[Chris]

Good purchase, isn't it a joy in alt/az mode, I really like mine this way

Edited October 3, 2016 by Chris Lock

[stevepeverall]

Quote

152mm Altair Astro Starwave

120mm Skywatcher Equinox

101mm TeleVue Renaissance SDF

102mm Ikharus (still my workhorse scope)

100mm TAL 100R stage 2 PST mod 

80mm Vixen FL80S Fluorite (now with Baader diamond steeltrack focuser)

80mm Skylight Kenko f12

70mm TeleVue Ranger

63mm Zeiss Telementor

Thanks for posting this. I was feeling guilty about owning three fracs until now.

The Ikharus 102 is a good looking scope. The 80mm version was my first scope.

[Roy Challen]

On 29/09/2016 at 15:12, F15Rules said:

Hi Dave

Lovely scope, and do you know, I think I owned that one once! The brass 1.25" adapter looks very familiar, mine certainly had one just like it. Can't recall who I sold it to, I wondered if it might have been Roy???

Thanks for posting.

Dave

Wasn't me Dave! I had your Prinz 660 off you last year- had it Skylighted

[Roy Challen]

On 02/10/2016 at 14:58, moriniboy said:

Just taken this year's insurance photo and looking at my post last year 10/10/15 I have managed to reduce the number of fracs I own by one 

List as follows, left to right:

152mm Altair Astro Starwave

120mm Skywatcher Equinox

101mm TeleVue Renaissance SDF

102mm Ikharus (still my workhorse scope)

100mm TAL 100R stage 2 PST mod 

80mm Vixen FL80S Fluorite (now with Baader diamond steeltrack focuser)

80mm Skylight Kenko f12

70mm TeleVue Ranger

63mm Zeiss Telementor

The only change I'm currently contemplating is swapping the Ranger for a TV60

That's a seriously nice collection you have. I particularly like the 5 on the right, and the 4 on the left!

[F15Rules]

17 minutes ago, Roy Challen said:

Wasn't me Dave! I had your Prinz 660 off you last year- had it Skylighted

Whoops, sorry Roy. That's what happens when you have bought and sold a few oldie scopes!

I've been very good this year though, only one small F5 frac purchased...

Dave

[RobertI]

On 2 October 2016 at 14:58, moriniboy said:

Just taken this year's insurance photo and looking at my post last year 10/10/15 I have managed to reduce the number of fracs I own by one 

List as follows, left to right:

152mm Altair Astro Starwave

120mm Skywatcher Equinox

101mm TeleVue Renaissance SDF

102mm Ikharus (still my workhorse scope)

100mm TAL 100R stage 2 PST mod 

80mm Vixen FL80S Fluorite (now with Baader diamond steeltrack focuser)

80mm Skylight Kenko f12

70mm TeleVue Ranger

63mm Zeiss Telementor

The only change I'm currently contemplating is swapping the Ranger for a TV60

Loveley collection, really interesting to see the relative sizes of the scopes.

[deejay]

On ‎03‎/‎10‎/‎2016 at 14:51, deejay said:

Another Towa 339

I picked this up yesterday, I won it on the Bay for £53.00!!  It had a dodgy homemade finder scope on it, which I have replaced with the correct one from another Towa scope. It only had one slow motion cable and no lens cap, which again I had in the spares box. I am going to restore it fully and red carbon fibre wrap the tube etc.

I am quite pleased with it even though it was a 150 mile round trip to pick it up

Here's the new version, been working on it for some days now, I have stained the wood to be closer to the original colour and done some vinyl fake carbon fibre wrapping of the tube and finder. The original finish is still safe underneath and the tray light works!!

I had to do it in this colour scheme as my wife insisted so that it matched the room décor.

[boyfromlincs]

My frac..wish the clouds would go..im that  desperate to use it im looking at steetlights,  telegraph poles and trees...

[John]

Lovely Tak

What tube rings are you using ?. I'm using the Tak clamshell with my 100DL but I might fancy a change to rings at some point.

 

[boyfromlincs]

It came with the tube rings john...they were included in the price...its the df  model that i chose as it  has 2 " focuser as standard as i like 2"eps...

Edited October 6, 2016 by boyfromlincs

[garryblueboy]

The latest Frac to the collection been out for two hours this morning and only words stunning views .

Double Stack on its way .

[DRT]

Very nice, Garry. I'll be interested to hear what you think of the double stack as I have been contemplating one myself.

[garryblueboy]

Hi Derek yes I'll let you know I was offered a secondhand LS50double stack  but by the time I purchased the adapter to mount it on the Lunt 50 I was only saving around £150 so may as well buy the exact fit one and get the warranty the view through the Lunt is much brighter than all the others I've owned I'm really impressed.

[Special K]

@moriniboy that's a huge collection!   That Equinox looks soooooooooo nice!  

[mikeDnight]

I hope these pics aren't repeats of previous posts, but I'm sure you'll forgive me if they are. I know that at least some haven't been seen before and should probably never be seen again. I found a black and white photo from about 1980-81showing my first refractor, a 60mm Astral, and a rather scrawny pup with uncontrollable hair stood alongside it. Many scopes have come and gone since that first scope, some of which have been included here and ending with my present telescope, which I feel happier with than any of those proceeding it. The first and last photos were taken from almost exactly the same spot. See if you can see a common theme! I'll give you a clue, it isnt progressive hair loss, nor is it the continuing poor dress sense.

Mike

 

[DaveS]

My new TS Photoline 130 f/7 triplet apo on the DDM60 rough balanced. Will try to fine balance this afternoon and get first light tonight.

Having a built-in USB hub makes cable routing much easier.

Edited October 26, 2016 by DaveS
Add photos, dur....

[Saganite]

Many of you will have seen this telescope , a 5" F15 D&G Optical, on this forum , very early in the thread. I have owned it for just over one year, and it is a long held wish, come true.

My EQ6 and tripod has been fine, but I knew from the start that I would have to mount it on a pier, to reduce the damping time from 4 seconds plus.

A tap on the OTA would cause the " tail to wag the dog " so to speak. I tried loading the tripod with weight,and anti vibration pads, all to no avail.At high magnification the movement of the image, even using the fine focus was just a complete irritation.

The pier is constructed with 6" dia steel tube with .25" wall, 15mm thick steel baseplate, and 12mm thick webs. On the top is  the "owls nest" thatI purchased some months ago on AB&S, which again is very thick steel construction. Bolted to a concrete block with 16mm resin anchored bolts, it has exceeded all my hopes and expectations. It is so heavy and solid that, as the picture shows, it handled the OTA just fine, before I bolted it down. My "grab N go" Tal RS gives some idea of scale.

I have had a single 4 hour session since reaching this stage, and the damping time is under 2 seconds ! A nudge on the tube produces no discernable vibration in the pier, and the " icing on the cake" is that I can now focus without any movement of the image. It has been properly polar aligned, so tracking is accurate for the first time ever, which is another bonus.The eyepiece is one metre from the ground when it is pointed to the zenith, so I can sit comfortably on my chair instead of crawling on the floor. The downside of course is that it is pretty high when observing at 30 deg above the horizon, but fortunately I do very little of that. The groundwork around the site is yet to be finished, and I will probably devize a two level system to  help with this.

I did not get an observatory through planning, but my winter clothing set up for observing is very good and I am quite happy with this minimal arrangement, besides I prefer to know that the OTA is locked in the garage when not in use, and set up time is now  just minutes. 

Note the hedge in first picture has been removed by my neighbour, in the week or so between shots, which rather blew my attempts at disguise right out of the water.

A thinly veiled acceptance of this " thing" in the garden, will have to do, but if anyone knows the secret of the Klingon Cloaking Device, please drop me a line, else I may be too busy trying to hide it, to observe with it.

Hope you like it.............I LOVE IT

Edited November 16, 2016 by Saganite

[Chris]

Well done Steve, it's magnificent!!

[Saganite]

Thanks Chris, I knew you would like it !

It certainly was worth the effort, as I can now get the best out of it. 

Apart from the groundwork , I need to connect it permanently to the power supply transformer.

Edited November 16, 2016 by Saganite