BRisley
sage
   
Reged: 09/04/06
Posts: 345
Loc: SW Florida
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Here is a shot of all my scopes. In the front is the Dob that I am in the process of finishing. I picked up the 8" OTA for free (along with an Edscorp 25mm ortho, an RKE 8mm, a brand new Celestron 25mm SMA and a 20mm LER plossl). I threw the mount together from scraps and an 18" tabletop from Lowe's. Have a 2" focuser coming, added a finder I had laying around. A friend in the club says he has some ebony star I can have so I will be fine tuning things shortly. Made the mount low so I could use it in a chair and it also is a great height for kids! Optics are great! In the middle is a pedestal mount I made for the C-8 fork I have the C-90 and 80mm Cometron mounted on. If I can find metal pipe the right size, I will replace the PVC I have on it to make it sturdier. Need a bigger garage!  The club kids me in that when I come to a public star party, no one else has to bring scopes! Brian
-------------------- 3 C-8's (2 OT 72/80 and SPC-8)
8" f5 Dob
Meade 4450 on EQ-2
Meade 4501 on EQ-2
Tasco 4.5" on EQ-2
Tasco Starguide 60GT
C-90/Cometron Sky Scanner 80 mounted tandem in a C-8 Fork
Cometron CO-62
Meade 11x80 Bino
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Timber
sage
Reged: 11/08/08
Posts: 394
Loc: SW foothills of Mt. St. Helens
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I should have posted this here rather than a new thread. I have to thank George and Dave and John for their efforts in this.
After several long trips and a couple of trades I have been blessed with a NEW, UNUSED, Byers Series II mount. The mount was built in 1999 and has never had anything mounted on it, absolutely pristine, it is just GORGEOUS, a true work of art, thank you Ed Byers.
The pics show it alongside my AP-1200 for comparison.
When my obs ever gets finished the AP-1200 will have a TOA-130 and a FSQ-106 on it and the Byers will have a C-14 currently being modified with a Carbon Fiber tube, spectacular. I won't care if it rains, I will just sit and look at the artwork
Richard
-------------------- My four beautiful Saluki's; Barron, Sophie, Majnun and Kassandra, and I live on a small, rural, remote farm.
No close neighbors,
No streetlights,
No private security lights,
No power poles,
No traffic,
No TV,
No HOA
No Mosquitoes
Rather Wonderful
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Timber
sage
Reged: 11/08/08
Posts: 394
Loc: SW foothills of Mt. St. Helens
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Another view
-------------------- My four beautiful Saluki's; Barron, Sophie, Majnun and Kassandra, and I live on a small, rural, remote farm.
No close neighbors,
No streetlights,
No private security lights,
No power poles,
No traffic,
No TV,
No HOA
No Mosquitoes
Rather Wonderful
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Timber
sage
Reged: 11/08/08
Posts: 394
Loc: SW foothills of Mt. St. Helens
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and another
-------------------- My four beautiful Saluki's; Barron, Sophie, Majnun and Kassandra, and I live on a small, rural, remote farm.
No close neighbors,
No streetlights,
No private security lights,
No power poles,
No traffic,
No TV,
No HOA
No Mosquitoes
Rather Wonderful
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David Pavlich
Postmaster
   
Reged: 05/18/05
Posts: 8668
Loc: Mandeville, LA USA 30.22 X 90....
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Richard...from one mount geek to another, that is a gorgeous piece of hardware! 
David
-------------------- Proud Member; PAS NOLA,
"If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be called research..."
A. Einstein
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Timber
sage
Reged: 11/08/08
Posts: 394
Loc: SW foothills of Mt. St. Helens
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Hi David,
Thanks, I moved both mounts into my Family Room and I'm looking at them, the AP is nice but the Byers is just a gorgeous piece of art.
Richard
-------------------- My four beautiful Saluki's; Barron, Sophie, Majnun and Kassandra, and I live on a small, rural, remote farm.
No close neighbors,
No streetlights,
No private security lights,
No power poles,
No traffic,
No TV,
No HOA
No Mosquitoes
Rather Wonderful
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snommisbor
member
Reged: 06/15/09
Posts: 37
Loc: Cedar Park, TX
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Here is my CGEM with my new ADM hardware. Definitely a worthwhile upgrade.

-------------------- CGEM 800
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astrobug BE
journeyman
Reged: 04/23/07
Posts: 9
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Here is my new toy, a Vixen SXD mount with a Orion Optics 150mm f5 PV1/8
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Antonio P.
journeyman
Reged: 10/23/09
Posts: 13
Loc: Cúllar Vega- Granada , Spain
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Here's my CG-4 mount ....
-------------------- My God, It's plenty of stars ... !
T150/750 mm f/5
CG4 mount with dual axial drive.
Plöss 25 mm,X-Cel 8mm, Barlow 2X Ultima. Neximage ...
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deSitter
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/09/04
Posts: 2926
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Quote:
and another
Man that thing belongs on a battleship.. what a monster!
Unlike the Paramount, that thing is really beautiful to look at as well.
-drl
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AJT12
member
Reged: 09/19/09
Posts: 28
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This is my primary setup.
-------------------- Orion 80mm/Orion Sirius
LX90-AFC 10"
LXD650/102ED
Toucam
SXV-M7C
Edited by AJT12 (11/01/09 10:36 AM)
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BarrySimon615
Pooh-Bah
   
Reged: 03/01/04
Posts: 1279
Loc: New Orleans, LA
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TSA 102 on a recently acquired (used) TAK EM10.
Barry Simon
Edited by BarrySimon615 (11/03/09 12:19 PM)
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BarrySimon615
Pooh-Bah
   
Reged: 03/01/04
Posts: 1279
Loc: New Orleans, LA
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Another mount I always liked for small scopes was what I will call the "Mayflower" alt-azimuth for lack of a better label. I used to see these in old catalogs with Mayflower 60 mm scopes as well as with other brand labeled scopes such as Bushnell and Selsi. What set them apart was the very long fork arms plus the fact that the altitude bearings connected to a tube cradle, not to the telescope tube itself. This allowed for better balancing of the telescope tube and overall better ergonomics and function. Here are some photos -
Barry Simon
Edited by BarrySimon615 (11/03/09 12:37 PM)
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BarrySimon615
Pooh-Bah
   
Reged: 03/01/04
Posts: 1279
Loc: New Orleans, LA
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Here is another photo of basically the same mount. This one however was blue and sold as part of the Bushnell Sky Chief Jr.
Barry Simon
Edited by BarrySimon615 (11/03/09 12:40 PM)
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BarrySimon615
Pooh-Bah
   
Reged: 03/01/04
Posts: 1279
Loc: New Orleans, LA
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I don't think any compendium of telescope mounts could be complete unless a photo or two of a Unitron equatorial mount was included. Here is a photo of my #142 mount. The scope on top is a modified Unitron tube cut down appropriately for an Edmund 3" f/11 objective in place of the original 3" f/16.
Barry Simon
Edited by BarrySimon615 (11/03/09 12:44 PM)
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BarrySimon615
Pooh-Bah
   
Reged: 03/01/04
Posts: 1279
Loc: New Orleans, LA
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Here is a scaled down version of the #142, it is the #128 mount supplied with the 60 mm tube assembly as the #128 equatorial system.
Barry Simon
Edited by BarrySimon615 (11/03/09 12:58 PM)
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BarrySimon615
Pooh-Bah
   
Reged: 03/01/04
Posts: 1279
Loc: New Orleans, LA
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Finally, here is a picture of the larger #152 mount, sold with the 4" equatorials. Upscaled version of the smaller #142 and the #128, but with additional features including tapered roller bearings of the polar axis and radial and thrust bearings as part of the driving worm. In addition the tripod mounted version of the 4" Unitron mount had a screw in "flashlight" that shined down on the accessory tray. The way this was done seemed pretty cool at the time before the advent of all the advanced electronics of today. Unitron telescopes and mounts have become highly collectable, yet they still are very functional. For anyone wanting to learn how to use setting circles the old fashioned way - no digital readout, no encoders, Unitron is a great way to go.
Barry Simon
Edited by BarrySimon615 (11/03/09 01:10 PM)
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Mike C
sage
Reged: 03/05/08
Posts: 363
Loc: Cornwall, UK
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I've been debating on CloudyNights about getting one of these for months, asking lots of questions and getting lots of advice. Thanks to everyone. Anyway, after a long but not unexpected wait, it arrived on Wednesday. I know you've seen plenty of them before, but here's my new G11 (and 18-year old C8). I can also use the G11 with the Meade 127mm ED.
I haven't tried it out yet, as the weather's been very showery for about 10 days; I've also yet to sort out a power supply.
Regards.
-------------------- Mike Crowle
http://www.pbase.com/mcrowle/astrophotography
Meade Series 5000 ED Apo 127mm
Celestron C8 SCT (1991 model)
Losmandy G-11; Vixen Super Polaris
Canon EOS 40D (unmodded); Philips SPC-900NC Webcam
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PJ Anway
Pooh-Bah
   
Reged: 06/04/03
Posts: 1140
Loc: Michigan's U.P.
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Here is my newly refurbished Takahashi EM-100 mount.
-------------------- PJ
_________________
Lookum Observatory
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Frank C
Vendor - star-watcher.org
Reged: 02/02/06
Posts: 20
Loc: Pennsylvania
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Here is mine! Loving it....
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