First Light, New Skytee II Mount - A Whole New Level!

[John]

34 minutes ago, chiltonstar said:

So, tipped at 52 degrees, with a heavy scope on one side and an equally heavy counterweight on the other, both bearing down at an angle on the casting......probably not a good idea?

Chris

Probably not. I get a bit nervous with my TMB/LZOS 130 F/9 (9.5kg) on one side and 7kg of counterweights on the other so I check the movement and condition of the mount regularly. Neil English put quite a bit of weight on his Skytee II though - this is a 204mm F/5.9 weighing 14.7kg:

 

 

[jock1958]

48 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Skytee II failure after using a 17kg OTA. Happened a few months afterwards but must have overstressed the casting. Never seen another one fail like this though so put it down to being overloaded. FLO asked members for their opinions before quoting a max 10Kg load on one side.

I’m always mindful on what I hang off my Skytee 2 especially when you see pics of some questionable casting techniques ?

 

[Knighty2112]

Hadn’t that failed Skytee been in storage and possibly suffered damage to it whilst been stored? I’m sure I read that in the original thread, but stand to be corrected if wrong?

[John]

After seeing the pictures of the casting issues above (bottom 2 photos), a while back I partly dismantled my Skytee II and checked out some of the internal surfaces. They are much sounder on my unit than those pictured so I can only assume that there are inconsistencies in manufacturing.

I guess if the Skytee II was made to similar standards as say a Giro Ercole, Losmandy AZ8 or an AYO, it would cost considerably more than it currently does. False economy if your scope drops off one of course .....

 

[Paz]

On 15/10/2018 at 20:14, John said:

They are very good mounts - good report Doug !

You can put some load on them

 

 

Apologies for going slightly off topic but I was interested to know what is that scope?

[jock1958]

7 minutes ago, John said:

After seeing the pictures of the casting issues above (bottom 2 photos), a while back I partly dismantled my Skytee II and checked out some of the internal surfaces. They are much sounder on my unit than those pictured so I can only assume that there are inconsistencies in manufacturing.

I guess if the Skytee II was made to similar standards as say a Giro Ercole, Losmandy AZ8 or an AYO, it would cost considerably more than it currently does. False economy if your scope drops off one of course .....

 

My Tak 100 falls well within the maximum payload of the  Skytee 2 so hopefully it will stay intact. The thought of it dropping off the end is my worst nightmare!!

[John]

9 minutes ago, Paz said:

Apologies for going slightly off topic but I was interested to know what is that scope?

It's an Istar 150mm F/12 achromat that I owned for a while. More on it here:

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/213471-istar-6-inch-f12-equatorially-mounted-achromatic-refractor/

 

[Paz]

14 minutes ago, John said:

It's an Istar 150mm F/12 achromat that I owned for a while. More on it here:

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/213471-istar-6-inch-f12-equatorially-mounted-achromatic-refractor/

 

Wow that's a mega scope!