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Quickie: Mounting Heritage 90 Mak OTA to tripod?

ghostdance

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ghostdance

ghostdance

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Morning all

Astroboot has a nice little SW Heritage Mak 90mm OTA (without stand) that I am thinking would make a great budget backpack-and-go with my Manfrotto tripod. The OTA has a dovetail mounting.

Is it possible to mount a standard tripod QR plate to the dovetail (don't know if the dovetail has steel lined socket for this) so I can use a photo tripod or is there a cheap adaptor to enable it to be? 

I don't want or need any EQ or whatnot as I'm thinking of purely visual Moon, larger planets, doubles etc and the essence is simplicity. 

I've googled various adaptors etc but can't see anything that would work.

Any ideas welcome!

Thanks :)

Steve

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ghostdance

ghostdance

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Thanks guys, but sadly it's academic...waited too long - someone beat us both, happy kat. Sigh :(

But that adapter looks perfect John, so thanks! At least I'll know for next time.

Good vid too kat, not seen that before :)

I'll be keeping AB close to see if another comes up (there's been two this year )

Cheers

Steve

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ghostdance

ghostdance

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Glad you got the mount, kat :) It's not on AB anymore so I reckon it must be you...What are you looking to mount - the same OTA ?

Yes, if they ever have another I'll try for that first, then see if an adapter is needed. Might be a case of who sees it first, lol...

Thanks for your help!

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happy-kat

happy-kat

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I have a ST80 and I also here will mount the Heritage 130p on it, a birthday present and will make it a go to mount after reading another thread on bits to get. So for less than the price of a nice EP I will have a goto tripod, very happy. I already have the SW adaptor which would have come in a full bundle so good to go.

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Alfian

Alfian

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Hi all, I have the 102 Mak and the small dovetail fitted is threaded to take a standard 1'4" photo adapter plate, so it mounts on a (sturdy) photo tripod very easily and does indeed make for a useful grab 'n go.

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ghostdance

ghostdance

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Thanks Alfian :)

It looks like a Mak-backpack-and-go is eminently doable then as you and kat have confirmed the same....now all I need is a cheapish 90 Mak on its own.

Looking forward to getting this together - should be fun.

Steve

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Alfian

Alfian

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Your welcome Steve. You will need a reasonably sturdy mount with the tripod. The 102 though small is surprisingly weighty, though the 90 would obviously be less so. That said mine will go on the pistol grip ball head,  just, but works well on a fairly standard ball head. Not the fine control of an EQ of course but as a very portable set up it works fine. 

If I can get my act together soon I'll post some pics.

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ghostdance

ghostdance

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Thanks Alfian :)

I'm hoping my Manfrotto Befree will be sturdy enough for a 90 but a sturdier tripod can easily be got if needed.

Does seem to me it would be a great little grab n go. And F14 (or whatever the 90 is equivalent to) would make a nice alternative to my F5 reflector.

Steve

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Alfian

Alfian

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As mentioned, here are a couple of pictures of the Mak 102 on the photo tripod. The RACI is useful given the narrow fov of the Mak even if it does look a bit incongruous. Works OK in vertical mode too. Excuse the fussy background!

post-23227-0-72693800-1431800643.jpg

post-23227-0-79499400-1431800704.jpg

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ghostdance

ghostdance

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Looks great Alfian :)

Nice setup!

I'll probably try my spare rdf at first, see how it goes...but I'll try my RACI also, although that will be HUGE on the 90 OTA.

I have a correct image diagonal too, bought by mistake ages ago, so I'm hoping that will be good enough (for now at least).

Steve

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Alfian

Alfian

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I found the stock RDF worked surprisingly well but as I had the RACI anyway I find it eases the neck contortions. On that particular tripod the legs can be placed at differing angles using the "click locks" at the top of the leg. It enables the "front" leg to be cocked forward a tad to make the whole plot more stable for zenith viewing, but again with the lighter 90 that's not going to be an issue I think. Enjoy your scope when it comes, cloud, rain, hail and tempest withstanding!

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Alfian

Alfian

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So many evenings here recently have promised much and delivered nothing but last night was better, though not steady, and I did get out for a while mainly setting up/playing with new toy. More later maybe!

Forgot to say welcome to Yorkshire, hope you enjoy your stay. Its not all flat caps and whippets tha' knows - well no, I can't really say that, we have a whippet and a greyhound! 

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JonC

JonC

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Just started looking at ways to get it running as a goto mount, preferably without a synscan handset. How much is the BT adapter? Or can it be done on the cheap with a cable? The main thing I am unsure about is can it be used as an EQ mount (with a wedge), it is mentioned in one of the manuals, but read that its missing from others.

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ghostdance

ghostdance

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The mount does look an attractive proposition - may pick one up after payday just to see (I'm not hugely interested in scope electronics but I like the idea of attaching a DSLR with tracking - just for some backyard 'snaps' rather than full-blown AP). Going by the video, alignment is easy too. I'd like to hear about your mount/bluetooth adventures when you get them, kat :)

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