I have recently built a 127mm refractor for some wide-field imaging. It sits happily on my LXD75 (Meade) mount but I want to also mount a small MakCas (90mm) as a guide cam and am looking for some DIY ideas for a mounting system (either side-by-side or piggy-back). The Mak weights in at less than 2Kg with a Meade DSI so weight is not really an issue. The trick will be to devise a system of aiming the guidescope independently of the imaging scope. And as I see it, the problem will be the same whether the mount is side-by-side or whatever. I have seen glimpses of some little designs using threaded rods that will move the guide scope in two planes. That seems like a good idea. Does anyone have one of these and have any opinions about this as a design. Better still, can anyone drop some photos of such an arrangement?
Peter If you have a side by side set up, your guide scope can remain totally fixed and dose not need to be adjusted in any way, it dose not have to point at the star you have in the main scope.
Side by side is the way to go, I have a triple side by side arrangement and it works a treat.
Hi Leon,
when I see a rig like that, I get weak in the knees (and have a deep and painful wrenching feeling in the hip pocket as well).
Thanks for that!!!
Peter
H0ughy, thanks for the link to the thread where you displayed your nice new mount system. Where I am struggling is this: I can see how a long plate with a dovetail on the bottom will accomodate two additional female dovetail (is that a correct description - probably not) mount points - one fixed and one not. That's fine and logical. But both my mount heads (an old EQ3 and a new LXD75) accept the dovetail bar in the polar axis but for this side-by-side system to work, it seems to me the whole head would need to be rotated 90 degrees. Is that normal? Is that what is actually intended. It just seems to me to introiduce all sorts of other issues with setting circles and whatnot.
Peter
I have seen glimpses of some little designs using threaded rods that will move the guide scope in two planes. That seems like a good idea. Does anyone have one of these and have any opinions about this as a design. Better still, can anyone drop some photos of such an arrangement?
peter[/QUOTE]
Hi Peter. I've just started using an Orion Guidestar finder on an ED 80 guidescope with a guiding camera attached. Scope stays still, camera moves. Costs about $340 through Sirius Optics, or Bintel. Solves the problem nicely.
