FOR SALE
Vixen VC200L Carbon Fibre truss converted custom astrograph
The Vixen VC 200L is an outstanding 200mm aperture flat-field imaging telescope.
Its integrated corrector enables a full frame camera (35mm) to be covered with sharp stars.
This particular VC200L has undergone an award-winning conversion courtesy of Guy Fleming (Doomsayer) to a carbon fibre (CF) truss in the style of much more expensive larger cassegrain style telescopes. A detailed description of the conversion process is provided in Guy's IIS thread
here. The telescope offered here is the same featured in that thread - I purchased the telescope directly from Guy in 2013.
Custom built carbon fibre truss-converted Vixen VC200L telescope.
This is based on the front and rear optical assembly from a VC200L.
Solid 6060 aluminium components, black anodised, makes a very rigid,
flexure free stiff OTA with top and bottom Losmandy sized dovetail plates.
The original Vixen thick spider vanes have been thinned down by about 2-3mm.
Original 60mm diameter focuser with rack and pinion works very well, and includes a custom stepper focus motor and controller based on the myFocuserPro project
here.
Guy Fleming painstakingly designed this CF truss modification to be thermally stable and to carry a heavy load without flexure. Vixen VC200L optics will cover a full frame sensor with well defined stars and a flat field. This is a beefy OTA weighing in at around 11kg (I have had it mounted on a Skywatcher NEQ6). Secondary mirror has a centre spot marked for alignment.
Included in the sale are the following:
- myFocuserPro focus system (stepper, controller, usb cable and power supply)
- Takahashi collimation scope
- Kendrick secondary dew heater
- Vixen VC200L 0.71x reducer (reduces the scope to f6.4 with a reduced focal length of 1278mm, which is the setup I have used almost exclusively for my own imaging.
- Vixen 60mm to Direct Wide adapter (essential for imaging)
- Vixen Direct wide adapter to Canon EOS
- Precise Parts custom Direct wide adapter to M48 adapter (ultra low profile)
- M48 to T2 adapter
- Vixen VC extension tube
- Vixen 60mm to 1.25 inch visual back
- Vixen 60mm to 2 inch visual back
- Custom flocked shroud
The 1.25 barrrel unscrews to reveal a M31.5 which is the same as the telescope side of a Takahashi collimation scope, allowing a direct threaded connection without flexure.
This telescope has proved a superb performer for both DSLR and CCD imaging. Achieving correct collimation takes practice, however collimation holds well and focus is extremely stable due to the carbon fibre truss design. See below for a selection of images taken with this telescope. The full portfolio of images acquired with my VC200L can be found on my Astrobin page
here.
A regrettable sale, but as I have more telescopes than mounts or cameras i've decided to sell to make way for other non-astro projects.
A new VC200L (OTA only, without any accessories) is
currenly $2419 at MyAstroShop. The new replacement cost for the entire package offered here would be over $3800, and that is without factoring in the additional materials or labour for this first-class carbon fibre truss conversion.
PMs please. Thanks for looking! (mount and cameras shown in photos are not included in the sale)
$2300 Local pick up preferred.
I'll look to sell one of my other scopes instead. Stay tuned !
