Best way to mount a Williams Optics 66mm.

[Guest]

I have a WO 66mm. I am interested to know how other owners have sucessfully mounted their's.I have tried it on an AZ 4 mount,but could not get it balanced right without interferring with the mount and focusser. I am going to get the longest dovetail bar and try it again on the AZ4.I have a Horizon photographis tripod,but the head is not the good.It may be that a better rated head could be bought for that tripod.Any advice would be welcome.

Martin.

[Stu]

I used to use mine on a mini giro, and also on a decent photo head. I think I had a Manfrotto 701hdv which worked quite well.

Photo heads are always challenging to balance when looking up towards the zenith, actually they are impossible to balance fully.

An extending centre section will help reduce interference when using a photo tripod.

I'll try to dig out a thread which I posted on my 66 quite a while back

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[rowan46]

I use a technosky elle for my 80mm triplet so a williams 66 should be fine

http://shop.tecnosky.it/Articolo.asp?SessionID=C9151C82-0E2A-4823-85A8-19FB074C85F4&GetInfo=TKelleb&AddScore=TKelleb&Score=1

[MushroomBill]

Bolted the scope's foot to a long vixen bar.  Then added a couple of small weights from Astroboot to the front of the bar.

[Stu]

This is my previous setup on a photo tripod

http://stargazerslounge.com/index.php?/topic/161700-WO66-Grab-and-Go-Setup

The mini Giro is a fair bit lighter than the Technosky. Seems a shame to add all that weight to a lovely lightweight setup but a longer dovetail will allow better balance

Stu

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[rowan46]

This is my previous setup on a photo tripod

http://stargazerslounge.com/index.php?/topic/161700-WO66-Grab-and-Go-Setup

The mini Giro is a fair bit lighter than the Technosky. Seems a shame to add all that weight to a lovely lightweight setup but a longer dovetail will allow better balance

Stu

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Actually the technosky is lighter by a massive 40grams  the teleskope service numbers are wrong it weighs 960grams and no counterweights needed. to be fair I like the mini giro  and it appears to have come down in price since I bought my technosky  it used to be 199 euros

[Stu]

Actually the technosky is lighter by a massive 40grams the teleskope service numbers are wrong it weighs 960grams and no counterweights needed. to be fair I like the mini giro and it appears to have come down in price since I bought my technosky it used to be 199 euros

Without wanting to have a 'tit for tat' exchange here, I'm slightly confused. I bought one from TS and sent it back because it weighed around 1.8kg, way more than what was quoted. Is yours a lighter version?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[rowan46]

Without wanting to have a 'tit for tat' exchange here, I'm slightly confused. I bought one from TS and sent it back because it weighed around 1.8kg, way more than what was quoted. Is yours a lighter version?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Maybe, mine is the original,  I believe the newer version has a beefed up  azimuth arm and roller bearings on the azimuth bit I would be surprised if that doubled the weight however. The italian site technosky who commision the mount   claim that its under a kilogram. Having said all this had the minigiro not been 30 euros more expensive  and had it been the same price which it now is. I would probably have bought the minigiro, giro mounts have an excellent reputation.

[SkySurfer]

I have a WO 66mm. I am interested to know how other owners have sucessfully mounted their's.I have tried it on an AZ 4 mount,but could not get it balanced right without interferring with the mount and focusser. I am going to get the longest dovetail bar and try it again on the AZ4.I have a Horizon photographis tripod,but the head is not the good.It may be that a better rated head could be bought for that tripod.Any advice would be welcome.

Martin.

I thought you had sold that scope.....

SS

[Stu]

Maybe, mine is the original, I believe the newer version has a beefed up azimuth arm and roller bearings on the azimuth bit I would be surprised if that doubled the weight however. The italian site technosky who commision the mount claim that its under a kilogram. Having said all this had the minigiro not been 30 euros more expensive and had it been the same price which it now is. I would probably have bought the minigiro, giro mounts have an excellent reputation.

Interesting. I definitely weighed the new one I received at 1.8kg. Was quite surprised.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Herbig]

The WOZ 66 is a great little scope, I've had 3 in the past. Mounted on a 12" Vixen type dovetail bar on an HEQ5 for AP.

[RobertI]

Hi Martin,

I have had the exact some problem - when the focusser is wound out to focus, then the balance point is very close to the focusser. I believe MushroomBill's suggestion of attaching a long dovetail to the foot will work, you may not even need a counterweight depending on the weight of the eyepiece you are using.

If you want something more substantial you could try rings - I have some Borg rings which i got for attaching mine solidly to my C8 for guiding:

For info I recently described a modification which I did to my Horizon tripod to get round the balance problem when looking towards the zenith. I have used this a number of times now and it really works and would be perfect for the WO66 as it is even lighter than the Megrez72. Would look something like this (although would require the long dovetail mod described in order to balance):

Hope that helps.

Rob

[Guest]

Thanks for all your suggestions.I am going to look for a mini giro mount.Attach it to my large video camera tripod.

[SkySurfer]

Hi Martin,

I have had the exact some problem - when the focusser is wound out to focus, then the balance point is very close to the focusser. I believe MushroomBill's suggestion of attaching a long dovetail to the foot will work, you may not even need a counterweight depending on the weight of the eyepiece you are using.

If you want something more substantial you could try rings - I have some Borg rings which i got for attaching mine solidly to my C8 for guiding:

IMG_1253.JPG

For info I recently described a modification which I did to my Horizon tripod to get round the balance problem when looking towards the zenith. I have used this a number of times now and it really works and would be perfect for the WO66 as it is even lighter than the Megrez72. Would look something like this (although would require the long dovetail mod described in order to balance):

IMG_1266.JPG

Hope that helps.

Rob

Can I please ask where you got those Borg rings from for the zenithstar 66??

Cheers

SS

[RobertI]

Can I please ask where you got those Borg rings from for the zenithstar 66??

Cheers

SS

I got them from FLO:

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/tube-rings/borg-tube-bands-for-borg-80mm-tube.html

Pretty expensive for what they are but do the job very well and essential if you ever want to piggyback it to another scope as a guider or similar. The rings are very slightly too big and you will need to put some extra felt or similar around the inside of the tube to provide a snug fit.

HTH

Rob