Posts Made By: Danny Halstead

Floyd,
I have kinda sorta followed you through the process of you and this telescope. It would appear that all your efforts have come to a very satisfactory conclusion.
Congratulations!
Dan

Gann,
That is absolutely my dream setup. You even have the Coronado HA filter on top. WOW!!!! I wish that I had your set-up and that you had one better but unfortunately at this moment I am hard pressed to come up with "Something Better"
Congratulations,
Dan

Allen,
You should contact the people who make the Eyelight Eye Piece Case.They could use your expertise. It is similar to yours but without your solution. I bought one minus their case because it did not have enough clearance for the larger 2 inch EP's. There is a review of this case on Cloudy Nights. Just the acrylic base with holes drilled cost me $175.00. I put it in a deeper Docksil case that I had which solved the problem of not being able to close the door but then I had the problem you had with smaller EP's not being in contact with the foam in the lid and moving around. I solved this by putting thick foam over the smaller EP's so there is pressure on them when the lid is shut. Your solution is much more elegant and looks a thousand times better. The only difference I can see with yours and mine is that mine has red and green LED lights that you can turn on at night so you can see your EP's with loosing night vision. This is something I am sure you could also easily do. Here is the link to the company who makes the Eyelight case: http://www.the-right-stuff.net/wst_page4.html Thanks for the post and photo's. I am sure that you will enjoy your case even more seeing what something very similar cost.
Dan

Markus,
I think this constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. I mean I would probably consider giving you lifetime indentured servitude just to own the guide scope on that monster. We can all dream but there you sit with a Cheshire cat smile as well you should. So where do you go from here?-smile!
BTW that is an interesting design for a Observatory. I have not seen anything like it before. Who manufactures it? Seriously thanks for the photo.
R/S,
Dan

Steve,
I have a Silver older CNC type of TMB 115 scope and I love it.BTW these scopes can only be made by special order now. I do not think it would be the scope for you in this particular configuration due to weight considerations. This scope weighs 17 pounds in it's travel mode and close to 22 pounds when fully geared up with finder, diagonal EP's e.t.c. Especially if you were looking at a piggy back setup. I love the fantastic workmanship of these scopes and can see why they were so expensive to produce. The new light weight scopes are said to have the same great optics with out the weight issues. Thomas Back, Markus Ludes and or Vic at Stellarvue can each sell you TMB optics in various tube configurations. I would say that this scope is about the largest and still call it carry on for airline transport.
Best wishes,
Dan

Daniel,
Just thought to pass along a little tip that I learned from Barry Simon some time ago. When ever I am browsing for a refractor the first thing I do is pop in my Takahashi Collimator (A good quality Cheshire eyepiece will work well also) and check the collimation. Although not quit as good as a star test this little procedure will generally tell you a lot about optical alignment and or collimation. Now I realize that this is not something that you can do when buying mail order it is something that you can do as soon as you receive the optic. Many high quality APO's have adjustable lens cells so often the fix is relatively simple should you wish to do it your self. If the lens cell is fixed then you need to send the scope back to the manufacturer for repair. There can also be miss aligned focuser issues which can also be determined using several methods. I use a laser myself and measure where it hits the objective. There is allot of information on the how to's of all this on the internet as I have not the time to give you a course on this via this medium. A care full search of some of the forums right here will show you numerous examples of collimation problems and the fix for them. As has already been suggested start out with a good star test and report back. Also consider buying a good quality Cheshire like the one Tektronix makes. The Takahashi is very expensive and really just makes the process a little more convenient. Some people like the Ronchi device for diag. problems as well but that is for another day.
Good luck,
Dan

Just another image with a different perspective.
Dan

Steve,
It might be easier for someone to help you on this if they knew more about you viewing preferences. Beyond that the build quality of the APM Achro's is said to be outstanding with the optics superior to the Chinese I know little else about it. I will say that if I were in your position and wanted two scopes for maximum viewing flexibility I would probably not want two refractors with the similar or same F ratio as is not the Takahashi you have also close to F/8 which is what the Achro is? Also a greater range in aperture might be beneficial and financially possible in some other telescope design. Hopefully some one with the type of scope you are talking about will read your request and chip in.
Dan

Thank you all for your kind and generous thoughts.
Dan

Jake,
You have just reason to be proud of your set-up. It is very attractive and I wish you many a fine night viewing through it. Be sure and post us some images when you get around to it.
Dan