[whzzz28 (Nathan)]

Originally Posted by traveller

Hi all,
I am interested in hearing from people's experience of piggybacking an Orion ST80 autoguider on their ED80. I am currently attempting to set this up as shown on this photo of the setup
Looking at his comments section, Ray mentioned that he used the Vixen Doveplate adapter from ADM to connect the ED80 with the ST80 guidescope.
The ED80 I have comes with standard Vixen dovetail, so it can be fitted straight on to the EQ6 mount. So I wont be needing the bottom adatpers.

Hi Bo,
I used to use an ED80 with ST80 piggyback. Ill list what i used.

• 1x Vixen bar to mount ED80 to HEQ5 (such as: http://www.bintel.com.au/Accessories...oductview.aspx ). You already have one of these.
• 1x 90mm set of rings to hold ED80 to vixen bar ( such as: http://astroshop.com.au/products/det...sp?id=MAS-023A ). Not sure if you have rings or not. If your ED80 doesn't have rings, suggest you get some.
• 1x Vixen bar to mount ST80 to ED80 (such as: http://www.bintel.com.au/Accessories...oductview.aspx ). You won't have this, you will need one.
• 1x 105mm set of rings for the ST80 guidescope ( such as: http://www.bintel.com.au/Accessories...oductview.aspx ). You can probably just used another set of the 90mm rings above, not sure if the ST80 is 90mm in diameter though.

And thats it. Bintel used to sell an ST80 guiding set, which included the ST80, rings and vixen bar. My ED80 though did not come with rings, but an L bar to mount it to the mount. It worked but i had no way of attaching a guidescope to the setup, so i had to get rings.
The Vixen doveplate adapters... i have no idea why he is using them. Maybe his vixen bar doesn't have screw holes? Not sure.
If you take a look at the vixen bar i linked above, and zoom in, you will see that some of the holes have screw threads. That is how i hold mine onto the scope. I did however have to drill a hole or two in my second vixen bar due to size contraints of my ED80 (it was a short tube) as i had limited space to mount it.
If you want i can try taking some photos when i get home to show the setup.


Rod:
I now use an ED127 with ED80 as my guidescope.
Not sure what version your ED80 is, but mine came with rings and a sort of "handle" (on top of the rings).
I mounted by ED80 directly to that by simply screwing the rings into it (there should be a long gap in the handle).
Just make sure you screw it up tight to help prevent flexure.