C11 on a Skytee-II?

[vlebo]

Have you had a look at one of these http://www.altairastro.com/product.php?productid=16589&cat=279&page=1 I saw one at at Astrofest and it seemed very well engineered but nobody seems willing to state how much weight it can manage.

[Naemeth]

Have you had a look at one of these http://www.altairast...&cat=279&page=1 I saw one at at Astrofest and it seemed very well engineered but nobody seems willing to state how much weight it can manage.

I did see that, it looks a bit of an unknown though. It does worry me that the max payload is unknown...

[vlebo]

Try giving them a call. They must know how much there own product can carry ( surely !! ). Maybe they have not updated there website for a while but it was a nice piece of kit with very smooth movement in all axis and that was with a 120 refractor mounted onto it.

[planet15]

For me, there was not many, if not any better choice for the price. So far it works a treat.

[Moonshane]

if you add two decent clamps, a CW bar/weight and a tripod it's £540! I'd sooner have a used 12" dob.

[planet15]

When I mount 2x large scopes on the SkyTee2 at the same time, I feel I am getting good money's worth.

[Moonshane]

fair enough but I am a self-confessed doboholic.

[planet15]

When I sell the rest of my guitar collection (keeping 2 of them), thinking of going for a 16" dob. Saw at the back of the Astronomy Now mag this morning, Revelation 16" dob going for £1520 from Telescope House. Lowest I have seen for a 16" dob anywhere. Sorry for OT.

[Naemeth]

if you add two decent clamps, a CW bar/weight and a tripod it's £540! I'd sooner have a used 12" dob.

Is this for the Skytee II?

As I'm intending on getting the Ercole, it will comfortably fit an 8" dob OTA, a C11, and all manner of scopes that are smaller than this.

A 12" dob is unfortunately a bit bulky at the moment, but would certainly make a worthy upgrade if I decided on that route . It does remind me though Shane, I really do need to look through your 12" F/4 .

[John]

When I mount 2x large scopes on the SkyTee2 at the same time, I feel I am getting good money's worth.

I used to think when I got my Giro-style mount with 2 clamps that but in practice I rarely do it. Most of the time the other side of the mount has the counterweight on it.

If I was going to spend £500+ on an alt-az mount I'd have got a Bray Tablet when they were around - you could put a C14 on one of those with no counterweight !

One alt-az mount that seems to get a lot of praise and have a high capacity is the Universal Astronomics Unistar. The larger version of this can handle up to 40lbs with no counterweighting needed:

http://www.scsastro.co.uk/catalogue/universal-astronomics-unistar.htm

[Naemeth]

It was naiive for me to think the Ercole was the heaviest duty Alt-Az. I think I'll go with the Ercole, if I wanted the heaviest possible Alt-Az mount I could probably end up spending over £1,000... who knows.

Thanks for the help everyone .

[ollypenrice]

What goes through my mind here is focal length. Manual Alt-Az with Dobs is great. I have a big Dob and I'm a fan. I very rarely use it at high magnification, though. It defaults to about 80x. That's it's real working life. For some objects I bump it up to 200x but it starts to become hard work with lots of nudging.

So would I want a manual Alt Az at SCT focal lengths even if the mount in question could handle it? No, I don't think I would. The long FL SCT is a great high magnification instument and as such I'd prefer it on a driven mount. For visual I'd use an Alt Az computer controlled fork, though I wouldn't touch that (on a wedge) with a barge pole for imaging, as I may have over-stated on a number of occasions!

Alt Az computer driven fork SCT = great. For the planets and small PNs. At low power give me a plain old fast F ratio Dob.

Olly

[Naemeth]

Olly, perhaps a C8 / C9.25 would be easier to track in visual, at only 2m / 2.3m FL.

I'm getting an EQ-6 tripod as a replacement for my current HEQ-5 one. Perhaps I should just forget about the Alt-Az and go for an NEQ-6 instead.

[Moonshane]

Is this for the Skytee II?

As I'm intending on getting the Ercole, it will comfortably fit an 8" dob OTA, a C11, and all manner of scopes that are smaller than this.

A 12" dob is unfortunately a bit bulky at the moment, but would certainly make a worthy upgrade if I decided on that route . It does remind me though Shane, I really do need to look through your 12" F/4 .

y

you'd be welcome anytime to see/look through my 12" f4. it's not at all bulky. I just added the costs from the link so I think that's the altair one I think.

[ibraidwo]

It was only when I took the scope off the mount that I noticed that the threads on the dovetail clamp were starting to strip .

To John (and anyone else who has seen his problem) - where does the thread start to strip? I assume inside the aluminium block on the clamp itself rather than on the threaded bolt? Just want to make sure that I keep an eye on the right area...

Thanks

[John]

To John (and anyone else who has seen his problem) - where does the thread start to strip? I assume inside the aluminium block on the clamp itself rather than on the threaded bolt? Just want to make sure that I keep an eye on the right area...

Thanks

Actually I seem to recall that it was the bolt that started to loose it's threads. It seemed to be machined from some sort of alloy rather than steel, as one might expect.

[Steve Ward]

Get a driven EQ for it , at 2800mm you will spend much more time trying to find stuff and trying to keep it on target than you will actually observing , you will very soon get frustrated with it.

[Stu_2011]

To John (and anyone else who has seen his problem) - where does the thread start to strip? I assume inside the aluminium block on the clamp itself rather than on the threaded bolt? Just want to make sure that I keep an eye on the right area...

Thanks

On mine it was the thread in the aluminium dovetail clamp and the thread in the the aluminium knurled clamping nut. Also, the steel stud itself seemed to be poor quality as the diameter was quite low (its an M6 stud) so the stud was loose in the threads. All in all generally not vey good full stop.

I ended taking them apart, putting heli coil inserts in both the block and the knurled clamping nut and I changed the stud for a good quality one. Both clamps are a million miles better now.

On mine I think it was the thread in the knurled aluminium clamping nut that failed first and that's why I repaired them with heli-coils.

The mount is good just let down by these clamps.

Thanks

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[Naemeth]

Done quite a bit of thinking:

It's going to be an AZ-4 instead of the Ercole. I will only realistically need it for two scopes (ED80 a Heritage 130P) before I get my hands on a HEQ-5 or NEQ-6. By taking out the requirement of having a large scope as well, I will not only save myself ~£300 (which can either be put towards the HEQ-5 / NEQ-6 or something else) but will mean I'll get the mount fairly quickly. The costs quickly spiralled (AZ-4 to Tele-Optic Giro Mini to Skytee II to Tele-Optic Ercole), this way is just easier, and if I don't like the AZ-4 I can always sell it on. Realistically, I don't think I'll be getting a C11 anytime soon, but I'm certain I won't be mounting it on my AZ-4.

Thanks for the help, you've all made me realise just what I was getting into .

[Stu_2011]

Actually I seem to recall that it was the bolt that started to loose it's threads. It seemed to be machined from some sort of alloy rather than steel, as one might expect.

The studs on mine were definitely steel but they were so poor quality and soft that they behaved more like an aluminium alloy. They also had a flash of zinc coating which made them look more like aluminium. Generally poor quality on the thread side throughout.

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[planet15]

I used to think when I got my Giro-style mount with 2 clamps that but in practice I rarely do it. Most of the time the other side of the mount has the counterweight on it.

If I was going to spend £500+ on an alt-az mount I'd have got a Bray Tablet when they were around - you could put a C14 on one of those with no counterweight !

One alt-az mount that seems to get a lot of praise and have a high capacity is the Universal Astronomics Unistar. The larger version of this can handle up to 40lbs with no counterweighting needed:

http://www.scsastro....ics-unistar.htm

According to FLO, it can have 2x 15kg scopes mounted together on each side,

Indeed, when I put a 10kg Refractor on one side, and lighter but long refractor with counter weights on the other, and it seem to be quite happy without showing any sign of abnormality.

I was going to try to put on the old Orion DX300 12" reflector 12kg OTA, and 10kg Refractor with 2kg CW together on the SkyTee2 placed on pier stand - if it is clear sky tonight, will give a try.

[ibraidwo]

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I ended taking them apart, putting heli coil inserts in both the block and the knurled clamping nut and I changed the stud for a good quality one. Both clamps are a million miles better now.

Thats a good solution Stu, definitely worth thinking about rather than spending £120 on 2 replacement ADM clamps...

I actually can't understand why these replacement clamps are quite so expensive - I think a local metal workshop would be able to make them cheaper, or make the existing ones more robust!

[Stu_2011]

Thats a good solution Stu, definitely worth thinking about rather than spending £120 on 2 replacement ADM clamps...

I actually can't understand why these replacement clamps are quite so expensive - I think a local metal workshop would be able to make them cheaper, or make the existing ones more robust!

The clamps are fundamentally ok, just let down by a small amount of poor and yet critical engineering.

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[RT65CB-SWL]

That's a big momma of a scope John. I hope a US satalite doesn't try to take that out! But that surely answers the question; that the C11 the OP queried might be just beyond the skytees limits.

They would take my setup instead...

...unless a certain middle eastern countty gets to it first!

[E621Keith]

Sometimes I use my 11kg C925 on a Skytee II with ADM clamp. I think it is at the limit of the mount. You may get away with a C11, but you will probably be better off getting an EQ6.