Hi all,
For sale I've got my beloved grab n go Altaz mount.
The mount itself was made out of aluminium by a talented American amateur.
It is mounted on a Nexstar 5 tripod.
Here is what the builder said when I bought it from him:
"I built the mount. There are sealed bearings on the altitude axis and bronze bushings on the azimuth axis. I used it with a C8 and a 17 lb Russian Mak - it works great. I designed the mount as a hybrid of a UA Macrostar and a Discmount D4. It has the simple design of the Macrostar and the large friction bearings of the D4. The advantage of the large friction bearings is that they move smoothly yet the scope stays in place when you don't want it moving. I made a few of these for myself and sold a few with the extra materials I had on hand. There's a 3/8"-16 threaded hole on the bottom for mounting on a standard tripod."
Now, what I think: well, it has served me very well!
Excellent for what's it's meant to be: grab n go! The tension can be adjusted on both axis and it's great when scopes of different weight are placed on the mount! In addition, when changing eyepieces, the scope doesn't move from where it's pointing!
The movements are also very smooth when the tension is properly adjusted.
I have mounted a range of scopes on this mount! From a tiny 70ED refractor to my 180 Mak!
with this setting, I have observed with the 7" mak at high power and I have reached the limit of this mount *on this tripod*. And by high power, here is what I mean: I have observed Jupiter at 225X with a nagler 12mm: very easy to keep in the FOV. Vibrations are pretty important at this power, but I reckon it has a lot to do with the extended tripod! I have also observed Jupiter with the TMB 9mm at 300X (with a 58° fov): it's pushing it. I didn't get much enjoyment of the exercise due to all the vibrations and the necessity to readjust the scope very often.
However, I believe this is a demonstration of what the mount is capable of!
You'll get plenty of enjoyment observing at lower powers! 200X is comfortable, above that it gets a bit more challenging but doable.
It has a ADM Vixen type saddle that I have found excellent! It won't mark your dovetail and will provide a secure fit.
The saddle can also be replaced later if you plan on mounting a Losmandy one instead.
There's a level as you can see from the pics to help you level the whole setting.
If it isn't levelled well, it isn't a problem though: you can simply adjust the tension knob to prevent the setup from moving: very useful!
The tripod comes with the Nexstar's original equatorial plate, should you want to use the tripod on a nexstar 5 ou 4, or should you want to resell the tripod.
Asking:
$320 + $15 for postage.
Payment by paypal or direct deposit.
I'll ship in Registered Post Australia wide.
PM please
Cheers and thanks for looking,
Sylvain
