Attaching Tak Clamshell to Vixen dovetail

[Star Struck]

I have recently obtained a Tak clamshell (probably the only Tak item I will ever be able to afford...) and I want to attach it to a Vixen dovetail for use on my mount.

The clamshell came with 2xM8 bolts, but none of the dovetails I own can take an M8 bolt.

So, my question is to those of you that have done this before is how did you do it?

I can see two possible options:

1. Drill out the dovetail to handle M8 bolts.

2. Use M6 bolts instead

 

Tony

[Cleetus]

Does the dovetail have slits?

[Star Struck]

They are ADM and they do have slits in them but they will only hold M6 bolts.

I managed to find the answer on other forums.

2 solutions:

1. Drill or preferably tap M8 holes in the dovetail 35mm apart.

2. Use a recent version of the original white Vixen dovetail which happens to have 2 M8 holes tapped in the middle of it 35mm apart. Bu luck, I still had one of these lying around not being used, so result.

Tony

 

[Cleetus]

Ok, glad you got it sorted. I had a similar problem last year and didn't want to drill  holes so a quick trip to B&Q for some machine screws and bolts solved the problem.

[dweller25]

On 09/03/2018 at 19:57, Star Struck said:

They are ADM and they do have slits in them but they will only hold M6 bolts.

I managed to find the answer on other forums.

2 solutions:

1. Drill or preferably tap M8 holes in the dovetail 35mm apart.

2. Use a recent version of the original white Vixen dovetail which happens to have 2 M8 holes tapped in the middle of it 35mm apart. Bu luck, I still had one of these lying around not being used, so result.

Tony

 

@Star Struck any chance you could post a photo of that Vixen dovetail please ?

[Star Struck]

The white Vixen dovetail can be seen in the attached photos. It is slightly wider that the Vixen dovetails supplied by ADM et al, which means it does not fit in the standard ADM or Altair saddles but does fit in the traditional Vixen saddle with the big set screw.

I believe it is still available if you search around.

Another alternative is to use the Tak Vixen dovetail (picture included) but that has the opposite problem. It is much narrower that the ADM dovetails and falls out of their saddles. However, it does fit in the traditional Vixen saddle with the big set screw.

Tony

 

 

[John]

I use an Altair 180mm dovetail bar bolted directly onto the Tak clamshell. I did put some thin tape between the suface of the DT bar and the clamshell to protect the finish of the clamshell. Seems to work well with all the mounts that I've tried it in.

 

[dweller25]

On 28/08/2019 at 10:58, Star Struck said:

The white Vixen dovetail can be seen in the attached photos. It is slightly wider that the Vixen dovetails supplied by ADM et al, which means it does not fit in the standard ADM or Altair saddles but does fit in the traditional Vixen saddle with the big set screw.

I believe it is still available if you search around.

Another alternative is to use the Tak Vixen dovetail (picture included) but that has the opposite problem. It is much narrower that the ADM dovetails and falls out of their saddles. However, it does fit in the traditional Vixen saddle with the big set screw.

Tony

 

 

Thank you 👍👍