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Can I remove the dovetail on my Skymax 127 Mak safely?


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Hi guys,

A couple of weeks ago I bought my first telescope, a Skywatcher Skymax-127 Mak with a EQ3-2 mount, and I've been thinking of adding two tube rings in order to be able to more easily balance and rotate the tube as especially the finder scope can get in some really odd positions sometimes. The main question I have is regarding the dovetail: is it safe to remove the screws holding the tail or are there washers or nuts on the inside of the tube? I've talked to my dealer and he wasn't sure but said that older designs had nuts on the opposite side and if I removed the screws the nuts would scramble around inside the tube.

While browsing the forum for answers I stumbled upon a thread where someone indeed had removed the dovetail and attached tube rings and apperently there was no issue with washers or nuts (post # 167: http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/181409-sw-127-mak-az-with-goto/page-9#entry2051847 and post # 169: ). But since the dealer says different I just want to make sure. Having bits of metal scramble around in the tube is not something I want.

So, in short: can I remove the dovetail on my Skymax 127 Mak safely?

Thanks for any advice!

/Anders

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These things seem to come in a number of configurations?

The screws may have internal nuts (which you can see by looking into the OTA!)? :o

Some (I seem to remember) use self-tapping screws which you can just unscrew...

To remove (any) internal nuts etc. from the OTA, you can certainly remove the whole

corrector cell by unscrewing it! A little tricky? Do MARK the relative (radial) position of

the correctorto retain the collimation etc. But you may NOT have to do all of this...  ;)

I suppose the best thing is to have a look into the specific scope you have at first.   :)

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Thanks for a quick reply! I should have mentioned in my original post that I did in fact look down the OTA before posting :) The thing is that I can see the top of the screws holding the tail and it doesn't appear to be any nuts (see attached photo). But since my dealer assumed there would be nuts present somewhere in the construction my only guess is that they are placed between the inner and out tube somehow. I made quick sketch in Photoshop to illustrate what I mean. It seems unlikely in my eyes but on the other hand I have really no idea how Sky-Watcher constructs these things :D

/Anders

post-40219-0-90735000-1417088666_thumb.j

post-40219-0-49169800-1417088667_thumb.j

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Certainly my Mk.I (Gold) MAK150 had nuts! )

From *recollection* my old-style (BLUE) MAK127 was attached via self-tapping screws only.

I went through pretty much the same thought process - Was there a "double tube"? etc. etc. 

Turned out there wasn't! And that is my genuine recollection... One cannot be 100% certain?

If I was putting a BET on things, I'd suggest you can safely assume these are self-tappers! :p

To be 100% sure: A powerful LED torch... A gentle turn of the screw... Keep an eye things. ;)

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The 127 Mak is a single-skin tube and the tube is threaded to accept the screws that hold on the dovetail.

I'd not be surprised if the larger OTAs had nuts on the inside.  There's probably far too much load for some skinny little threads in the tube to hold safely.

Sadly I don't have a picture of the inside of the OTA as it wasn't very interesting, but this is what it looks like when you take it all apart:

IMG_0068.jpg

James

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So it looks like I could unscrew the tail without risking stray nuts or washers? To be honest, if my dealer hadn't warned me about the possibility I would never have given it a second thought and just unscrewed it.

Thanks for all advice so far!

/Anders

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