Bintel Skyview Deluxe mount experience

[MortonH]

I bought a well used Skyview deluxe last year. I quite like the design and the ability to have the arm at different angles. I'm using mine with a C5 so the arm is in the vertical position, which is good for my limited observing space.

One issue with this particular mount is that there is sometimes sideways play in the azimuth bearing. I don't mean rotational play around the azimuth direction but sideways tilt of the whole bearing. If you look at the base side on it lifts very slightly on one side, which means that the arm tilts slightly sideways. I can make it go away by tightening the azimuth lock and rotating 360º a couple of times but it's a bit annoying and will come back several times in a session.

Is this typical behaviour for one of these mounts as it gets older? I played with a brand new one at Bintel last weekend and was impressed with how solid and smooth it felt. I'm not about to spend $399 on a new one but if a typical used one is better than mine I might consider trying to find one.

Hoping that some owners will share their experiences.

[Ukastronomer (Jeremy)]

I think you have to make allowances on cheap mounts especially as they get older

[MortonH]

Originally Posted by Ukastronomer

I think you have to make allowances on cheap mounts especially as they get older

Agreed. So I'd like to find out from owners how these mounts perform over time.

[Outcast (Carlton)]

Hi Morton,

I had one for a couple of years that I bought from new; I had a 5.6kg Meade Triplet hanging off it & never experienced the azimuth sideways motion you have described..

AndyG owns it now, perhaps you might wish to contact him & see how it's fairing under his ownership...

Cheers

[MortonH]

Originally Posted by Outcast

Hi Morton,

I had one for a couple of years that I bought from new; I had a 5.6kg Meade Triplet hanging off it & never experienced the azimuth sideways motion you have described..

AndyG owns it now, perhaps you might wish to contact him & see how it's fairing under his ownership...

Cheers

Thanks. I've sent him a PM. Hopefully he might reply in this thread.

[AndyG (Andy)]

Hello Morton,


As you can see, I have replied (silly me) by PM only. If the content of the PM is helpful, feel free to copy/paste it to this thread for others.

I cannot for the life of me find "sent PMs", so that wall of text is now with you only

To save others the suspense, I'm very happy with the mount, and it's doing a great job to this day, with only a little mechanical attention been paid to it.

[MortonH]

Thanks Andy.

For the benefit of others the gist of Andy's reply is that my mount's behaviour is not typical, although I have read on CN many reports of them needing adjustment by loosening the three screws on the top of the azimuth bearing, adjusting the plate and then tightening the screws again so that the gears mesh correctly. I've done this myself and it helps to eliminate the usual backlash but not my tilt problem, which probably needs the mount to be taken apart completely but I haven't been able to do that due to a lack of DIY skiils.

I may try to acquire another one in better condition and sell the current one to a tinkerer.