William Optics Zenithstar ZS71 - Balancing advice

[davedownsouth]

Hoping that someone with a William Optics Zenithstar ZS71 (http://www.firstlightoptics.com/william-optics/william-optics-zenithstar-zs71-ed-2013.html) can give me some help with getting it to balance when a camera has been attached (front end light at the moment).   At the moment I have got it is clamped onto my mount via the last 2mm of the dovetail and I am very nervous that it will slip off at some point.  I guess I need to add an extra Vixen-type foot onto the existing foot otherwise I will not have any clearance on the focuser (especially the focuser lock)?  Is anyone able to provide a link to what I need as I get lost looking at all of the different adapters / dovetails on FLO ,

Cheers,

Dave

[Matthew]

Hi Dave i recently sold my zs71 but what i did was to buy a long geoptik vixen dovetail ( with a slot milled on the underside ) so that could be bolted to the vixen foot on the scope.Ive not got a link but if my mind serves me correctly it was about 12" long.

In the beginning i used to rotate the focuser so the focuser lock was on top and i could slide the foot further into the mount clamp i hope this helps.

[Earl]

Having owned Matthews Scope after he did I put a 7 inch dovetail attached to the foot, this worked fine.

[davedownsouth]

Thanks for the info; so, is this all that I need then?: -

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dovetail-bars/adm-vixen-style-universal-dovetail-bars.html

[Earl]

Yes that shoudl work fine

[HughP]

With my William Optics GT71 I have made a 1 inch square x 65mm Aluminium spacer. This has put the tripod mounting hole back about 2 inches, not so important on the photo tripod but I hope will make the world of difference on my EQ mount. The dovetail has plenty of room to get your fingers on the focus lock as well.

HughP

[Uranium235]

Doesnt look quite right to me personally, as the stresses are distributed over a small area. Although the Star71 is light(ish), once you get your imaging gear on it can easily double the weight.

What the majority of people have done is get a longer dovetail, bolt it to the top of the tube rings, then mount it upside-down. That way you can slide it back and forth to get the balance right:

[HughP]

Rob, I see your point. Neat idea turning it upside down. Will have to get a different dove tail. Thanks HughP