Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Ward
Sorry ...couldn't help but notice the four leveling bolts for the EQ head.
I'm not sure why the notion of leveling bolts has crept in for EQ mounts on piers...but to be blunt...they are rubbish.
They simply are not needed. By using them you have reduced the rigidity of the system down to the diameter of those skinny (compared to the pier) bolts.
If you toss the 4 leveling bolts and drop the EQ head down to be flush with the top of the pier your system's rigidity will likely go up by an order of magnitude.
By the way, even if it was up-side down, you can still polar align the mount...and sure, if it is less than level, there may be some polar axis/azimuth cross-talk...but the system will be seriously more *rigid*...which is what you want.
...Maybe give it a try?  |
Thanks for the observation from left field Peter. I must admit that the thought of mounting the EQ8 without the levelling bolts never occurred to me. The two plate system does make it easy to get access to the main mounting bolt under the equatorial head. Admittedly though this could be achieved by cutting an access hole in the side of the pier. Can't say that I've noticed any issues with rigidity to date though we may have to see how things go with the weight of the RC10 and the 2 metre focal length.