|
I received both the Rail Mod kit and the belt kit last week. We are currently preparing to move house so the belt mod may have to wait a while.
I did install the rail kit this afternoon however. Relatively easy and simple process. There is no way of saving the original Skywatcher caps unfortunately however I was able to get them off without damaging the pain on the mount with a heat gun and some car panel removal tool (any thin plastic tool would work). Took me a little under 2 hours although I took my time and worked pretty slowly. I also went to the trouble of removing all the existing grease properly and re-greasing the relevant components. Could have easily got it done in an hour or so.
The replacement caps did not appear to come with enough mounting tape so I added more. I also took the trouble to trim the tape back nicely with a craft knife.
I am extremely happy with the final result. Altitude adjustment is a lot smoother and easier. The kit seems pricey (I paid just under $200 AUD) but in my opinion that is not too bad considering that i suspect that they are not mass produced and there is a relatively small market for them.
On a side note I did not get mine from Modern Astronomy and instead purchased form Dark Frame Optics. They had a wider range of plates to choose from (I went with plain black NEQ6 plates) and they were about $50 AUD cheaper.
|