AZ-4 Altitude Scale

[John]

The altitude scale on my AZ-4 mount head is looking rather bedraggled and I'm tempted just to remove it as I don't use it. Has anyone had a similar issue and, if so, did you repair / replace the scale or ditch it ?

The azimuth one seems to be made much more sturdily and still looks pristine. Pity they could not make the alt one as good quality.

[nightfisher]

Cant help you John, i no longer have my AZ4

[Avocette]

An obvious replacement for the Alt setting circle would be a Wixey digital angle meter (as used by some of us Dob lovers). You set the zero reference of the Wixey on a level surface, fix the Wixey magnetically to the OTA, after which it indicates the absolute Alt value independently of the accuracy of the tripod levelling.

The latest Mk2 version offers backlighting of the LCD display. It would have been great if this were red, or white for use with a red acetate covering filter, but sadly for we astronomers, it's green light so not compatible with red light dark adaptation. Also I found the Mk2 a little slower in action than the original model, and is specified as half as accurate at +/- 0.2 degrees although that's a lot better than the AZ-4 existing one.

[Digger1895]

Does anybody use the setting circles? I use setting circles on my Heritage 130 and find them quite accurate are the ones on the AZ4 any good or are they too small?

[JG777]

Mine came apart from loading/unloading the mount into the car and I managed to find a matching flexible tape scale that had a sticky back. Thing is that came off as well but might have stayed on with a bit of extra glue. Pretty sure it was centimetres that matched the scale? If you check it and it matches centimetres I might even have some left and if I can find it can pop a strip out in the post.

[John]

Thanks John. I'll see if it matches cm.

I expect I'll just remove the thing. I don't use it for anything and it's going to annoy me by looking tatty !

I've never tried to use the setting circles on any of the mounts I've owned. My understanding is that they are generally too small and inadequate for serious use. I tend to prefer star hopping and the use of low powered, wide angle eyepieces to find things.