[mental4astro (Alexander)]

I've been talking with a fellow IIS'er about doing this CPC single arm conversion, and it's made me reflect on a couple of aspects that need to be carefully considered and care taken.

The first is care needs to be taken when drilling into the mount's coupling plate to not let the shavings get into the bearing. One way to reduce this happening is to orientate the mounting plate down below the bearing so the filings don't fall onto the bearing. Another thing to do is put some paper/tissue behind the plate and around the bearing. Once the holes have been drilled, take care when removing this paper/tissue so you don't shake the shavings onto the bearing. The bearing is greasy, so if you drop shavings, they will stick and can mess things up too. Once you've done the holes CAREFULLY clean away any shaving before removing the paper and after removing the paper. DON'T use compressed air!!!!

One thing I REALLY LIKE about the dovetail clamp I used is the slots that it comes with align really well with where the holes need to be drilled. This means that only one pair of holes needs to be drilled, those into the mounting plate. To try to drill holes also into a dovetail plate and expect two sets of holes to line up cleanly really is just about impossible, and it will be necessary to stuff around filing one hole or two holes larger in order to allow the bolts to pass through. Unless you are getting a plate from Losmandy themselves that has these purpose made holes already put into the dovetail clamp, you will be creating a world of pain for yourself if you drill the two sets of holes into the clamp yourself. The tolerances are very small, and as the space to work is very tight, this world of pain will be torture. If you think measuring and drilling out recessed holes is a walk in the park and that everything will line up perfectly, then you either have the necessary machining skills and tools, or you have no blooming idea what you are getting yourself into.

You might not like the look of this red clamp, it may not carry the brand label you want, but the thing works a treat and its design will save you from so much anguish.