The Borg 45EDII is undoubtedly a very small telescope, which is just how I seem to like my telescopes. Below shows a photo of it mounted on my Avalon M-Uno mount, without its optical train attached.
The above is after assembly as per Ted Ishikawa's (of Hutech Borg) recommended setup. Last night I tried focusing it but was unable to. I needed to use two M57 extender rings on the actual focuser barrel, to place the CCD camera further away. This added 30 to 31 mm extra distance.
The above is the complete setup, with both the Lakeside Motorised Focuser and the entire optical train. It is a pretty lightweight setup so I have ordered a small Losmandy-mounted 1 kg counterweight to attach below the objective of the telescope. This will give me more precise balance in Declination, just in case it is needed.
The focal reducer used in the 45EDII is identical to the one used in the 77EDII - the Borg 7870 focal reducer. A quick adjustment to the focal reducer to set it to the 330 mm focal length mark and it is suitable for use with the 45EDII. In contrast, the 77EDII needs to be set to the 500 mm focal length mark. These are essentially the native telescope's focal length. With the focal reducer, I have measured with a test exposure that the 45EDII is giving me a focal length of 241 mm, therefore at a focal ratio of f/5.355 and resolution of 3.89 arcseconds/pixel. The end result is a huge area of sky imaged - just what I wanted!
An added benefit of the 45EDII's small size is that it fits in the same case together with my 77EDII:
An added benefit of the 45EDII's small size is that it fits in the same case together with my 77EDII:
Now that my bag of Borg is ready, I just need some clear skies to test it out well. With the summer skies now up, it should prove fun to image dense areas of the Milky Way in ultra-wide-field.