Hi,
I was interested in the generic dual dovetail saddle available on Ali-express as a cheap upgrade for my Skywatcher AZ-EQ5. Just a few quick notes on an easy little DIY project for anyone else interested in saving a few dollars.
First up the quality of the saddle is excellent - well made, 150mm long and quite heavy. To fit it I elected to modify a dedicated AZ-EQ5 Prima Lucie adapter plate on the basis that it would be neater and less work than making one from scratch.
I used three existing centreline threaded holes on the plate. I had assumed that the plate was solid but turns out there are webs across the back and of course the new off centre holes i needed fell right along the webs. To provide something to drill into I cut to fit four 3mm thick aluminium pieces and epoxied them in place. I then drilled and tapped the holes which appears to have worked fine - the saddle connection to the modified adapter appears really solid with 5 x M6 bolts. Total work time probably 1.5-2 hours. This however was more work than expected and in retrospect it probably would have been easier (and definitely cheaper) to make the adapter from a small 8-10mm thick aluminium plate.
Depending on whether you mod the Prima Lucie adapter or make one from scratch, overall cost would be half to a third of the Prima Luce / ADM saddles.
