Tal 2M mount problem

[dark star]

Thanks for the advice. I will report back on progress in a week or two, I will avoid my usual habit of doing things in a rush and mucking them up!

David

[Peter Drew]

I can't help thinking that a 10k load might have been a bit much for the notoriously brittle aluminium castings of this mount. Any "fix" should bear this in mind, tapping small holes into this material might not provide an adequate hold.

[AndyH]

David - If you have problems sourcing small quantaties of material, I've always found these guys to be excellent....

aluminium sheet, round bar items in aluminium store on eBay!

Whilst they don't show T section in their list they can get anything.

Cheers,

Andy.

[dark star]

I think you are right.

I am trying to figure out some kind of clamp arrangement to fix the top plate and the metal part that holds the slow motion control securely together. So that the whole weight of the telescope is not exerting pressure on a small metal tab or set screws.

I will see if I can do this before I start any drilling.

David

[dark star]

Thanks a lot Andy.

I am curious if the Tal 2M mount has the same design of the Dec arm and slow motion control, with a tab attached to the top plate. Maybe the tab is bigger and more solid?

By putting such a heavy (and long!) telescope on the mount I have certainly discovered it's weak spot. I think it is fixable, with sufficient patience!

Fortunately I have two telescopes and two mounts, so I can use my smaller telescope and the smaller mount for the time being.

David

[AndyH]

Yeah, the 2M tab, is a little bit heaftier.

I reckon the mount has either had an almighty thump at some point in it's life and or, there's been a flaw in the casting of the 'tab'.

My 2M mount has been carrying about 18kg for a few years now, with no ill effects.

Andy.

[AndyH]

Hi David.

Did you manage to fix the mount?

Cheers,

Andy.

[dark star]

Hi Andy

it is more or less fixed, I will try to post some pictures at some point, it's a bit of a botched job, but works just about OK!

The mount is packed away at the moment as I went slightly mad and bought a AE Luton Type B EQ mount. I am still getting to grips with new mount at the moment. The mount head weighs around 30KG and the pedestal around 25KG! I really like it but it is certainly heavy!

Eventually I will start using the Tal mount again as a lighter weight mount for my Intes 150mm MK66 Mak which weighs 6.5KG.

My 250mm reflector weighs 10KG.

The problem is the tube rings I have do not fit the Mak and I have no way of connecting the Mak dovetail to the Tal mount.

For the time being I am just using the heavy mount and the reflector. It is a beast to set up, but is as solid as a rock once it is ready!

Regards

David