Rant: no standards for screws

[Datalord]

Ok, this is less of a question than it is a pure rant. I've bought various telescopes and gear and stuff and it ALWAYS is a hassle to figure out how to get it all connected.

Latest example: I buy a guide scope (https://www.widescreen-centre.co.uk/astronomy/guidescopes/william-optics-50mm-guidescope) to use with my WO star 71. I even ask the shop before if it will mount on my scope and they say yes. Lo and behold, I unpack and try to set up for tonight and the mounting screw on the guide scope is simply too small for the rings on the scope. These are even the same make!

Illustration:

I also had this happen with Celestron and some gadgets for that one. It's infuriating to have to fiddle around with this when it should be so simple to agree on one or two sizes of screws for all these things.

/rant

How do you handle all this nonsense? schedule a trip to B&Q every time you receive gear?

[D4N]

I have boxes full of various screws, washers, nuts and bolts so I can generally find something that will fit.

It is annoying all the non-standard threads they use, it would be a lot simpler if things were a bit more standardised but then why would they want to standardise things when they can just sell us adaptors?

[Ricochet]

59 minutes ago, Datalord said:

Ok, this is less of a question than it is a pure rant. I've bought various telescopes and gear and stuff and it ALWAYS is a hassle to figure out how to get it all connected.

Latest example: I buy a guide scope (https://www.widescreen-centre.co.uk/astronomy/guidescopes/william-optics-50mm-guidescope) to use with my WO star 71. I even ask the shop before if it will mount on my scope and they say yes. Lo and behold, I unpack and try to set up for tonight and the mounting screw on the guide scope is simply too small for the rings on the scope. These are even the same make!

Illustration:

I also had this happen with Celestron and some gadgets for that one. It's infuriating to have to fiddle around with this when it should be so simple to agree on one or two sizes of screws for all these things.

/rant

How do you handle all this nonsense? schedule a trip to B&Q every time you receive gear?

I think you're supposed to unscrew the two silver hex bolts shown in the photo below and fit the guider shoe in their place rather than fixing it to the rings. 

[Datalord]

It's a very good suggestion, but that also doesn't fit.

[steppenwolf]

That's nuts that it doesn't fit but it IS designed to fit directly to the focuser, not to the top of the tube ring. What happens if you use the silver Allen key bolts from the focuser in the finder-scope shoe?

[Ricochet]

2 hours ago, Datalord said:

It's a very good suggestion, but that also doesn't fit.

Do the screws fit the threads in the holes? Maybe you're only supposed to use one screw? It might even be the black screw that is supposed to be the fixing point. Is there anything in the manual about fitting finders? 

[Alien 13]

I know on the related ZS71 the fitting would be by one screw only.

Alan