|
Roger - not sure about the GM8, but I loathe the lack of engineering design apparent in the way Scott decided to mount and secure the motors on the G11. Great units that they otherwise are - the motor attachment is under-engineered I reckon. They are held with two soft aluminium threaded rods either side of each motor which screw into a threaded base, clamping the motor in. There are no slots cut on the end of the rods that you could use a flat bladed screwdriver on, which means that unless you cut some yourself with a Dremel, you have to use pliers to grip the rod ends to undo them, and then do them back up again. You have to be careful cutting slots, because the end of these rods are again tapped to accept the screws which hold the little plastic covers on. There is very little clearance there - so it's one of those situations where you can only grip and turn, grip and turn, grip and turn a little at a time. Even if you replaced the aluminium rods with steel - I wouldn't expect the female thread they screw into to last long with repeated use. I dread the day that the threaded end of a rod snaps off... they're only soft.
Given that - the motors are definitely not designed to be removed often - silly given how much they protrude. Not a problem if you don't have to consider safe carriage to your observing site and leave it set up in an observatory. I certainly wouldn't want to rest a G11's weight on them inside a case, that's for sure. Most cases of the correct lateral dimensions aren't sufficiently deep enough to provide adequate padding on each side.
|