Guide Scope mounting

[ribuck]

Hi All,

I've got a Skywatcher ST80 that i want to use for guiding and i'm looking at either buying a dual mounting bar or the skywatcher guidescope mount.

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/guide-cameras/skywatcher-guidescope-mount.html

does anyone use the skywatcher guide scope mount, as i'm wondering how it performs, e.g. any flex / movement issues ? I know the a dual mounting bar is probably more flexible, but i just want to look at all the options.

Rich.

[jezhughes]

i have the guidescope mount. very solid and adjustable, its solid as a rock once its on. i woudln't recommend attaching to a SW dovetail though, its such a pain to get on tight. i believe it'll go on an ADM but you best check, ive had to stick to the dovetail bar.

[ribuck]

What about imaging, have you noticed any issues with flex that have affected guiding ?

[The Sailor]

Have the ST80 on the guide mount, lovely bit of kit, will be buying another guide mount for the outside mount

Jim

[ollypenrice]

Personally I'd just bolt it down onto the top of the Ikharos rings. Just run a stiff alloy strip or dovetail between the rings and bolt the ST80 tube rings to that. I don't have any adustment on any of my guidescopes and have never found I needed it. This is the cheapest and stiffest solution so far as I can see.

SInce I need to swap kit around and sometimes drop the solarscope onto Tak instead of the guidescope I find these Baader mini saddle plate devices very handy. (The clamp with the red knob bolted onto the clamshell in the pic.) The solarscope is fitted here but the ST80 has a dovetail as well so the swap is quick. Also you can fine tune dec balance by moving the guidescope fore and aft which can be handy.

If you put the guide scope on top it is easier to balance and you remove an unnecessary moment working against the dec movement.

Olly

[ribuck]

Hi Olly,

I phoned Ian King asking his advice between 2 products to mount my guide scope, and he told me the exact same thing, not to waste my money and to just bolt it directly to the Ikharus Rings. I only had a long dovetail spare, so i just needed to drill a single hole into the dovetail and i was in business.

** side note - wives don't like drilling noise coming from spare bedrooms at 8pm whilst they are trying to watch their favorite TV program ;-)

So you were both on the exact train of thought, and it saved me £130

Whilst i don't quite have such a nice setup as yours it's done the trick, so hoping to test it out tonight, along with my new wireless setup. ( By wireless, i mean micro pc attached to the mount and accessed remotely.)

[ollypenrice]

Funnily enough a guest has just arrived with the SW guide scope adjuster. It is nice but it isn't necessary and raises the guidescope. I reckon yours is going to be stiffer. I rarely see adjustable guidescopes any more down here since sensitive CCD cams and F5 guidescopes have made them redundant. In over 2000 hours of imaging I've never needed them.

Looking at your guide scope in the picture I'm not sure you are going to get to focus. The chip needs to be about 24 cm from the rear end of the main blue tube on the guidescoope. I can't be more precise because I don't know just where the chip is on my guide camera but the 24cm will be something like right. I use a de-lensed Balrow, as do most ST80 users, as an extender to get to focus.

Olly

[ribuck]

Hi Olly,

I haven't tried my guide cam on the ST80 yet, but i have tons of barlows & a reducer knocking rounf somewhere, so i'm sure i'll have something that works.

[ribuck]

Hi Olly,

The other thing is that in that photo, focuser on the ST80 is racked all the way, so i've got a decent amount of travel available, and couple that with a 2x barlow i should hopefully be ok.