Show us your Frac

[John]

Superb Steve

These long refractors do make some demands on mounts but they also reward the effort and cost when you do get them properly sorted.

I've chickened out with my 5" and gone for one that is just F/9.25

A "poodle" as Neil English has reminded me, while yours is a true Bulldog

 

[Saganite]

 

3 hours ago, John said:

Superb Steve

These long refractors do make some demands on mounts but they also reward the effort and cost when you do get them properly sorted.

I've chickened out with my 5" and gone for one that is just F/9.25

A "poodle" as Neil English has reminded me, while yours is a true Bulldog

 

Thank you for your kind words John.

I recall that some months ago when I asked your opinion about this ,you suggested that if I could achieve 2 seconds that that would be  good for a scope of this size. Well  I can confirm that it is good very good  and I am more than happy. 

[surfindogg]

Ready for action - shame about the clouds!

k

[alacant]

Hi everyone. I was fed up of galaxies being a small spec in the frame so I set up this old 6" refractor to have a go at Stephan's Quintet. Still quite small but at least identificable as galaxies this time. Despite many dismissing it out of hand, I think it worked quite well on my dslr. Having said that, when it was first made -in the mid 90s I think- I doubt whether this would have been possible without a house remortgage! Cheers and clear skies. 

[Pig]

Very nice set up most beautiful.

[Woolnut]

Wow! Some pretty awesome set ups here...  

[F15Rules]

On 16/11/2016 at 14:43, Saganite said:

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.

 

On 16/11/2016 at 11:51, Saganite said:

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

Hi Steve,

She looks MAGNIFICENT!??

When I owned this scope I always knew that a heavy duty mount like this would be needed to get the best out of what is a superb 5" F15 objective..this D&G beauty is one of the 3 optically best scopes I have owned, along with the Vixen ED103s and a Ylena (Lomo) 6" Mak. And, on this mounting I think it could well be top of the pile. On a good night she just eats magnification and the contrast is superb.

Many congratulations on having the vision of how you could pair this wonderful scope up with a worthy mount!??

Dave

[Saganite]

Hi Dave,

Thank you for your kind comment , but like so many good things, " all done with a little help from my friends".

I am happy that you approve , and I promise that she is in very safe hands.

That evening when I stepped out of your house and saw Andromeda ( for Andromeda she was named and Andromeda she will remain )for the first time, all set up, still amuses me when I recall your reaction to my response. I had not seen such a big tube before and I was genuinely speechless.  I am sure you expected me to say " er thanks but no thanks", but no, I was instantly smitten.

[Neil27]

Set up ready for imaging and refining polar alignment - along with Alignmaster and EQMOD!

Clear skies,

[Astroframer]

16 hours ago, Neil27 said:

Set up ready for imaging and refining polar alignment - along with Alignmaster and EQMOD!

Clear skies,

A nice setup, I like the idea of using to refine polar alignment.

[Astroframer]

On 16/11/2016 at 21:25, surfindogg said:

Ready for action - shame about the clouds!

k

Very nice portable setup, The modular design of the Tak's make it very versitile setup, my little WOZS71 will have to do me for now.

[StarryEyed]

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

 

Collectively the light gathering power of a 300mm refractor.

[mikeDnight]

1 hour ago, StarryEyed said:

Collectively the light gathering power of a 300mm refractor.

All you need to do now is to find some genious who can devise a multi prism device that can funnel the images from each scope into one eyepiece, and your laughing. ?

 

[Roy Challen]

On 11/16/2016 at 11:51, Saganite said:

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

Haven't checked in on this thread for a while..... and look what I missed! It is indeed a beautiful instrument, and mounted the way it should be. The Tal looks like the finder for the D&G!

[Saganite]

Thanks Roy, I appreciate your comment. That also was Dave's ( F15 RULES) response when I sent him the first pictures. 

I am really looking forward to a good winter for observing. 

[jabeoo1]

I stopped on the way back for baked beans and bread to freeze but wish I had done it ages ago.....

and a comparison......

 

 

Thanks to all the SGL members with this scope who did reports and in depth discussions on the forum.   Also I appreciate the time taken with all those long PM's discussing this scope.  I look forward to contributing to the discussions now.    

Edited November 25, 2016 by jabeoo1

[John]

Very nice Tak !

If you want to try some white light solar with your Tak (to compliment the H-Alpha scope) the Lunt Herschel Wedge works really well with it - great surface details

I think I've already asked this question but where did you source the tube rings for it ?

 

 

 

[jabeoo1]

15 minutes ago, John said:

Very nice Tak !

If you want to try some white light solar with your Tak (to compliment the H-Alpha scope) the Lunt Herschel Wedge works really well with it - great surface details

I think I've already asked this question but where did you source the tube rings for it ?

I will have to save some pennies first before the white light stuff but I may well PM you with some questions about in the future 

I was very lucky as they came with the OTA (bought secondhand today).  I think they are from www.Opticstar.com 

However they are currently out of stock and not sure how frequent they come in.  They are really nice quality rings and I will be leaving them on without doubt.  Just waiting for a dovetail, diagonal, bracket & finder to turn up now.  I will try my best to do a 1st light report and not be wax lyrical  (May be difficult to be honest but you never know). 

Edited November 25, 2016 by jabeoo1

[John]

I've noticed the Opticstar ones but they are listed as "out of stock" currently. I'll mail them and see if they can get any more.

Cheers

 

[jabeoo1]

1 minute ago, John said:

I've noticed the Opticstar ones but they are listed as "out of stock" currently. I'll mail them and see if they can get any more.

Cheers

You won't be disappointed John,  they fit like a glove and are solid. 

[mikeDnight]

1 hour ago, jabeoo1 said:

I stopped on the way back for baked beans and bread to freeze but wish I had done it ages ago.....

and a comparison......

 

 

Thanks to all the SGL members with this scope who did reports and in depth discussions on the forum.   Also I appreciate the time taken with all those long PM's discussing this scope.  I look forward to contributing to the discussions now.    

I like the mount!

It's always nice to see the little ones playing nicely together! ?

Mike

 

[timwetherell]

On 11/16/2016 at 14:43, Saganite said:

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

Beautiful setup! That's the ideal mounting for a big refractor

[nightfisher]

Guys, please stop posting pics of beautiful fracs, its making me want to sell the mak and get a long white tube again  must not give in....must not give in...must not give in 

[Saganite]

10 minutes ago, nightfisher said:

Guys, please stop posting pics of beautiful fracs, its making me want to sell the mak and get a long white tube again  must not give in....must not give in...must not give in 

But you know you want to 

[DaveS]

15 minutes ago, nightfisher said:

Guys, please stop posting pics of beautiful fracs, its making me want to sell the mak and get a long white tube again  must not give in....must not give in...must not give in 

Resistance is futile