dovetail for long refractor

[nightfisher]

Is a long dovetail better (more stable) for long refractors, rather than a short one?

[Bender]

I used a long one with my Tal 100 as I needed to move my scope around on my alt as mount when changing from heavy to light eps but I guess you just trade the additional flex of a long dovetail with better weight distribution of further spaced tube rings.

[nightfisher]

My 105 f15 moves a fair bit and i have it on a long dove tail, i might try it on a short one, see if its flex that makes it worse

[Ajohn]

There is now I think one 190mm william optics Vixen sytle dovetail plates on ebay at the moment. I just bought one. The base to take the rings is 6mm thick and it's 30mm thick over the dovetail which is hollow with 2 reinforcements extrude into it. The mounting plate is 90mm wide. Seems ot be cheap compared to some. Not sure on that point.

There is also some longer ones as well I think.

John

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