Skytee 2 Query...

[johninderby]

Yes M5 and M6

The top saddle mounting plate is similar.

I suppose drilling and taping the mounting holes on the end piece would be a simple job for a small engineering workshop.

John

[jam1e1]

cheers John - you could double up as a skytee 2 consultant

I bought a new puck from astroparts for £26 with jaw depth of ~13mm. For me the shallow depth on standard puck (circa 6mm) meant when loading up the 250pds in dark was v difficult and error prone- couple times have misaligned the dovetail into jaws so havent gripped properly and nearly had an accident. (one hand on scope, other doing up jaws). Just need to fit that.

Out of interest what depth is the ADM jaws, also having 2 knobs to do up does that make it more difficult if attaching heavy scope?

thx jamie

[johninderby]

The ADM saddle isn't much deeper than the standard saddle, but it's much longer and clamps so well that there's no problem.

I find opening the jaws far enough so that the dovetail can just be placed into the saddle without having to slide it into place makes it much easier. Doing up the two clamp screws is no problem and no more difficult than just the one once you get used to it.

John

[James4]

Just want to mention I have this mount and in its standard form it is designed to take a large scope (15Kg max) on the side saddle but is intended for a smaller scope, binos, or camera on the top saddle. I intended to have my C9.25 on the side plate - which works well - but I cannot balance my 152 Refractor on the top plate. Even with a CGEM counterweight it does not balance and the weight risks crashing into the mount. I wondered what Skywatcher had in mind with the top rail and counter shaft and I suppose it makes sense that with a camera or bino's on the top you can move them independent of the scope on the side. If you could mount a big scope on top you would risk crashing the scopes into each other.

I would love to mod mine like the one above with a side plate - the way it is now, Its good, but it can't do what I had in mind. In the local scope shop it was displayed with a 152 Refractor on top with no counterweight. But that can't be done in its standard form. Just so you know ...

[CeeDee]

Just to offer my two-penneth worth...I found that the ADM clamps are absolutely essential (having had a CG5-GT mount let go of my WO refractor over a concrete floor!!). I did not trust those small clamps provided with the Sktee-2 with my FLT 123. Having done that I managed to purchase a Celestron CG5-GT tripod as it has the more stable 2" diameter legs. This fits into a Manfrotto tripod bag perfectly making the set up a very good grab-n-go mount.

For ease of operation I found that adding a flexible drive which makes the altitude control much easier with a longer refractor.