EQ8 side-by-side rig

[pmrid]

I'm thinking about using my Casady Bar and setting up my 2 little Taks (an FSQ85 and an FS60C) in a side-by-side configuration on my EQ8. A quick look suggests it can be done but I thought I might canvass opinions before I do so. The dovetail clamp is held down by 3 screws and 2 locating pins. With that removed, the puck underneath is secured by 4 screws which I assume can be undone and the puck rotated 90 degrees. The dovetail can then be returned to it's normal position.

Has anyone done this or have any other suggestions?

Peter

[h0ughy]

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showpost.php?p=1038206&postcount=322 look here, same deal for the eq8

i bought another losmandy sbs and turned one of the clamps 90 degrees and used it as the base then added my cassidy sbs bar on top so that i didn't have to rotate the scopes and put the mount out. it left a slot spare for a guide scope using a male to male bar

[pmrid]

Well, so far no good. I want to do this, if at all, with the bits I have. I hoped to be able to attach a Losmandy saddle to a short bar - sideways; and then put the Casady bar crossways into that. Unfortunately the Losmandy saddle has unthreaded holes 50mm apart and the Other (ADM) bars I can use have neither holes of that spacing nor threaded holes of any sort. So I'm back to square one.
Peter

[Peter Ward]

Why dont you use the new Losmandy DSBS?? The parallel saddles can hold either vixen or losmandy style plates.

[pmrid]

G'day Peter. The trick in this project is not in the SBS or getting my Tak clamshells attached. The Casady bar works fine for that. It is in getting an EQ8 head at 90 degrees to its normal position. The EQ8 has an auto-align routine built in that finds your CWD position and uses that as it's point of reference. Sort of like Paramounts do. So just spinning the Dec axis 90 degrees won't work.
Peter

[h0ughy]

A nd for that exact reason that is why I bought a losmandy DBS bar and removed one of the clamps and rotated it 90deg on one position on the DBS bar. I then put that on the mount and then attached the cassidy bar without rotating the ra axis. It stayed at 0 You can see that in those linked pics of mine. The same problem exists for the Titan in the observatory as my eq8 in the field. Fiddly but you get that.

[pmrid]

'Thanks Dave, I had a look at those linked images of yours but frankly, there were so many scopes hanging off that thing it was difficult to see what was holding them all up! :rofl::rofl:


EDIT: A few hours later - I grabbed an old Farpoint Astro Losmandy style bar - a short one of about 6 inches - and drilled and tapped a couple of 6x10 holes in it. I have been able to screw a Losmandy saddle to it securely so the problem is solved without having to disturb my credit card's post-christmas slumber. Phew! :clap::clap:

Peter

Peter

[losmandy]

Hello
This is a reply to the counterweight down on the Titan.
Any of our mounts using the Gemini GoTo:
The Gemini does not know what south is until you turn it on.
You can rotate the DEC axis to have the optical axis of the scope pointing south and the counterweight down, then turn on the Gemini.
There is no need to drill and rotate the saddles on the DSBS.
I hope this is helpful.
Scott Losmandy

[h0ughy]

well that's not the experience i got, but hey who am i to argue? great product which is why i bought the titan, also have a g11. but i found in the dome the dome software was reading the position of the shaft and if i turned it 90 degrees to put on the sbs bar it had a hissy fit with the dome software. so this was my hardware fix. as for the EQ8 it locates its centre and the encoders read the position.