I few of you have asked about my setup, so I am posting 5 images and a description here. I have been using this same setup for about 2 years.

Image A shows the basic setup with my Tak130, looking towards the north. The equipment is listed above. The setup is identical for my Tak85, except I don't need the smaller counterweights.

A few notes on the setup:

- I set up and take down everything each night. My neighborhood covenants are not friendly towards permanent yard obstructions.

- From start of setup to start of imaging, including polar alignment, it takes me 20 minutes. The Polemaster has been a huge time saver in achieving accurate polar alignments quickly.

- All of the wires needed for the scope (USB and power) are routed through the mount. I have 5 USB wires (main camera, guide scope camera, Polemaster camera, mount, and focuser) and 4 power wires (mount, main camera, focuser, and dew heater). All of the wires stay attached to the mount after disassembly.

- Everything in the optical train is threaded.

- I use as much counterweight as I can, as far up the shaft as I can, to reduce the inertial moment arm. I don't really know if my guiding is better as a result.

- You can see a small gap in my counterweight spacing. All of the weights would be tight together if the system was perfectly balanced. You can see that I moved one counterweight to create a slight east-heavy arrangement. I try to do whatever I can (within reason) to improve my guiding. although I don't think that doing this helps my guiding significantly with this robust mount.

- Because of the typical 90+% Texas humidity, I use dew heater bands on the refractor (2 on the shield) and on the guidescope. I haven't had any dew issues with this setup. I had a few problems when I tried other configurations, such as using just a single refractor dew band, or putting the dew bands on the refractor itself instead of on the dew shield. I previously needed a camera dew band (around the filter wheel) with my older ZWO ASI 1600MM camera, but with the new 1600 Pro version (with improved heat management) I have not needed a dew band.

- You can see power (yellow) and Cat5 (white) wires heading off on the ground to the left. I originally planned on running them underground, but the temporary setup has worked just fine. The CAT5 allows me to monitor my computer screen from my house (80 ft run). HDMI cables did not work well for that length. I haven't yet implemented any remote operating capability.

- My "cart" is just an old modified shelving unit. The key is to buy big rubber (tube) wheels to allow it to roll well back and forth easily to the garage. The top shelf is really there to protect the monitor, keyboard and mouse from dew. While imaging, I put an old plastic grill cover over the entire cart to help keep everything from getting wet with dew.

- Because of the weight of the Tak130, it is important to have a strong and comfortable handle on it. Mine cost about $5 with materials from Lowes. I used a short length of aluminum channel between the tube rings, connected with robust screws. Around the channel I have slipped a length of PVC pipe, which makes it much easier for my hands to grip firmly.

- I use wind shields on the frequent occasions when the winds are higher than 6 mph and not shielded by the house. I describe these homemade shields in this previous Astrobin post.

Image B shows the same setup, looking to the south. The unobstructed view to the south allows me to capture objects close to the horizon. I try to keep at least 20 degrees about the horizon, but I have posted some Astrobin images that were taken less than 10 degrees above the horizon. Obviously the image start to get blurry at that point.

Image C shows a close up of the camera end of the optical train. I use short extensions to connect to the camera for its USB and power wires, in order to reduce the potential of damaging the camera connections from repeated connecting and disconnecting.

Image D is a view from the opposite side of the optical train, showing the focuser and the Polemaster.

Image E shows the mount by itself, with all of the wires. It is hard to tell, but the wires which attach to the cart are wrapped around the legs, and the wires which attach to the telescope are hanging down from underneath the dovetail mounting plate on top of the mount.

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments, or recommendations for improvements to my setup.

My 2020 setup for my Celestron EdgeHD 11 is here.