AstroTrac and Polar Scope

[GeordieStew]

Had some moderate success last night with AstroTrac 320-AG, D7000, 35mm + 70-300mm.

BUT...the AT Polar Scope is a blumming nightmare. It has grub screws on the mounting arm, for alignment purposes, I guess? But that, combined with weak magnetisation means it's difficult to keep the Polar Scope "flush" with the arm. Lots of wobble, a dropped Polar Scope etc ensued.

How are people securing their Polar Scope to avoid accidents? I know some people remove the Polar Scope when Polar Alignment is complete, but it's even flimsy during the alignment phase.

Any hints or tips would be wonderful.

Cross posting on AstroTrac Yahoo Group too

[Coco]

Had some moderate success last night with AstroTrac 320-AG, D7000, 35mm + 70-300mm.

BUT...the AT Polar Scope is a blumming nightmare. It has grub screws on the mounting arm, for alignment purposes, I guess? But that, combined with weak magnetisation means it's difficult to keep the Polar Scope "flush" with the arm. Lots of wobble, a dropped Polar Scope etc ensued.

How are people securing their Polar Scope to avoid accidents? I know some people remove the Polar Scope when Polar Alignment is complete, but it's even flimsy during the alignment phase.

Any hints or tips would be wonderful.

Cross posting on AstroTrac Yahoo Group too

If the arm had magnets any more powerful it would make rotation of the polar scope when aligning to difficult

I used to put a few postman's red elastic bands around the end in a chain back to the arm, if it fell out it would bungy on its fall. Every astrotrac owners has a learning curve with scope and arm

I like it, its very simple efficient design..

[GeordieStew]

A clip would have been nice...or something. They're clearly very good engineers, and magnets just don't cut the mustard for me...

Apart from that, I'm really impressed Had no trailing in the arc (just some vertical trailing from poor Polar Alignment, I guess).

I'm a novice and a bit of a clutz!

[JonH]

I kept knocking my polar scope off when I first got my Astrotrac so now I keep it in my pocket when not checking alignment. It's a real pain in the backside and my only complaint with the mount.

Mine doesn't wobble though. Maybe you've got a bad 'un and should send it back...

[GeordieStew]

It only wobbles because I have one grub screw out a little, the other two are flush with the arm. This makes it difficult to secure the scope against the arm.

I don't have it here with me or I'd do a demonstration! (probably best it's at home).