Takahashi Teegul Lapides modification for dual-scope set up
The Takahashi Teegul had been on my mind for quite some time as I prefer light weight Alt-Az mount with slow motion function. I was lucky to get a used Teegul Lapides mount from Astromart. I used with 80mm scope and manual slewing is smooth likes other typical Takahashi mount and performed well with 80mm scope.
After a month in use, I found Peter from Hong Kong (www.tan14.com) offers to modify for dual-scope set up. Since I have 2 refractors and intended to use for dual-telescope setup, I sent mount to Hong Kong for modification.
2 weeks later, mount was received in Singapore. It was nicely modified and workmanship is quite good.
The blue Teegul cover and black connecting block were removed to add shaft and bearing plate as well as base plate for saddle attachment (it has customized hole for my saddle which I informed him in prior). I installed saddle in each side to attach 2 scopes.
IMO, modification work was copied from Jim Brown articles in A-Mart (Reinforced Lapides Teegul Mount, 5/11/2005)
I attached 2 refractor, APM102 is around 7Kg and Pentax75 is around 3Kg. After proper balancing, it worked very smoothly although equipment load in each side was not the same. Only issue (for me) is original slow-motion knobs are a bit short to reach comfortably. So I purchased custom-made solid aluminium knobs to replace original light weight knob. It has bigger shaft as well as better grip to operate in ease.
