Dual mounting bar question.

[Doley68]

Hello all,

I am considering using a dual bar but have no experience of these so was wondering if a little advice might be forthcoming.

I am a visual observer of mainly planetary and lunar targets and have an excellent 180 mak.

But I also like open clusters and of course the mak has to narrow a field of view.

Could I put a little ST80 next to the mak on a dual bar for low power wide field observing?

My worry is that the two tubes are very different weights and this may be a problem.

I have a large capacity mount so the combined weight isn't an issue, just worried an unbalanced dual bar may not work.

Or am I barking up the wrong tree completely!

Chris.

[Bizibilder]

Just clamp the dual bar off-centre (ie so the "heavy" scope is nearer the centreline) so that balance is maintained.

[Luke]

I just about got away with an ST80 and a C11 on a dual mount bar. I think I hung something off the ST80 just to help balance, I can't remember if it was rings included with the ST80 - something like that.