I finally got around to fit my Coronado PST onto the LXD75 mount. This business of never having a mount too big for an OTA doesn't apply with the PST, it is way too small for the mount so I thought it would be best mounted on the ED80 clamp rings.
It was just a matter of cutting up a 1/4" thick aluminium plate around 9" long x 2" wide and drilling appropriate size holes in the right places. The PST has two 1/4" threads (camera mounting thread) spaced 3/4" apart on the underside. A couple of 1/4" screws x 3/4" long is all that is needed to hold the PST onto the plate. Most tube rings these days have the 1/4" stud to mount a camera and you only need another to mount the plate. A couple of 1/4" wingnuts or whatever to hold it all down finishes the job.
The whole set up balances nicely and using the Stellar seat makes viewing the Sun a pleasure. I have used the Meade LPI in the past to capture images of the Sun with limited success as it was manually guided however with this set up the LXD75's automatic tracking should improve things considerably.
Nice looking setup..... make sure the lens cap is on the ED80 well, I wouldn't want to be standing behind that if it came off now! Would burn a hole somewhere delicate I think!
I have a similar arrangement but its made of plywood and I wouldnt mind switching to aluminium
Hi, I make model steam engines so my scrap box contains a fair bit of metal off cuts and the like. There is an aluminium trade centre in Penrith not far from my work which sells various size bits of aluminium so I suppose most larger towns would have one or at least a scrap metal merchant. Cheers, Steve.
Yep that's how I piggyback my SLR and DSLR on my refractor rings. The single piggyback screw that fits through the rings just isn't secure enough to use. Whack an Al plate on there and Bob's your uncle. Works a treat.
Nice looking setup..... make sure the lens cap is on the ED80 well, I wouldn't want to be standing behind that if it came off now! Would burn a hole somewhere delicate I think!
You could boil the billy while you're viewing, that's called multi-skilling or tasking or something
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that's how I piggyback my SLR and DSLR on my refractor rings. The single piggyback screw that fits through the rings just isn't secure enough to use. Whack an Al plate on there and Bob's your uncle. Works a treat.
