For Sale:8" 6" OTAs, LXD75 hypertuned mount, some more bits.

I've recently moved house and as a result I'm pruning back my astronomy kit to make some room.
So, I have the following for sale, based in Limerick:

• 8" Newtonian OTA: 0.979 Strehl 200mm aperture; 1150mm focal length mirror by Orion Optics. The tube is fully flocked internally - there's no stray light! The OTA has a 3-vane curved spider to minimise diffraction spikes. It comes with an upgraded 2" dual-speed Crayford focuser with extension tube and 1.25" adapter all with brass compression fittings, Skywatcher findershoe, and tube rings with Vixen-compatible dovetail mounting. Fantastic visual performer and is set up for use with a DSLR. Looking for €300 for this OTA
• Meade 6" F5 OTA, again fully flocked internally, 2" R&P focuser with 1.25" adapter, 6x30 finderscope, with tube rings and vixen dovetail mounting. Looking for €120
• Meade LXD75 mount, hypertuned with belts and pulleys instead of the sometimes-problematic gears. Comes with the upgraded #497 handcontroller with current firmware. Comes with one standard Meade counterweight and a counterweight extension bar. Also included will be the RS232 to RJ11 cable needed for the computer connection. I've used this mount extensively with the above OTAs. Looking for €250 for this mount.
• Celestron Axiom LX 15mm focal length 1.25" 82 degree fov eyepiece, excellent condition, boxed with caps, €120
• Meade 34mm focal length 2" 68 degree fov eyepiece, excellent condition, boxed with caps, €100
• Meade 24mm focal length 1.25" 68 degree fov eyepiece, excellent condition, boxed with caps, €70
• Celestron Ultima 2x barlow, 1.25", excellent condition ,boxed with caps, €40
• Celestron X-Cel 18mm 1.25" 55 degree fov (long eye relief!) eyepiece, as-new condition, boxed with caps €35
• Meade 2" quartz enhanced diagonal, with 1.25" adapter, brass compression fittings all-round, with caps, excellent condition, €80
• Skywatcher 9x50 RACI finderscope, excellent condition, €50

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I haven't yet put them up on Adverts.ie, I'd like to give people here first crack at them!
Thanks for looking!

All eyepieces and diagonal provisionally sold to Kevin.

OTAs, RACI finderscope and LXD-75 mount remaining.

Make an offer if you want

For performance, you'll find it hard to get a better 200mm scope than mine on offer here with such a quality mirror and the curved spider, with the completely flocked tube and the two-speed Crayford.

Or make me an offer for the 6" and mount, as a nice christmas present for someone that wants something fairly simple and computer controlled..

lol 300€ is a bargain for that tube, I have one myself and have taken great images with it.
Hope you find a good home for it Cathal.

Hi Cathal, John here, have you still got the 8" ota for sale? Any model number? Very interested.

The 8" OTA was originally an Orion GX-200. The mirror was reworked to .979 Strehl, I think it worked out at just under 1/8 wave. I'm trying to locate the test report that was done on the mirror before I got my hands on it.

I've done some work on the mirror cell to allow more airfow through the cell. I used to have a small CPU fan mounted, but I removed it, and I haven't needed to replace it. I removed the mirror clips and used a 3-dot pattern of silicone to mount it to the cell, and this has worked great.

The previous owner had mounted a Telrad, and those drill holes are present but covered over. When I got the 3-vane spider and the 2-speed 2" crawford, I had to drill a new hole to get the best secondary location. The advantage of this is that a DSLR should reach focus, and I use a short self-centering extension tube (included) to make visual work comfortably.

In short, the OTA is not spectacularly "pretty" but by god is it is effective.

I have a few pics that I'll add later this evening of that OTA.

Oh yes, all three bits (2x ota and mount) still for sale.

Cool, looking to replace my 120xlt which is awful for astrophotography. When are you around, I'm in Cork?