Dovetail for Sky-Watcher Esprit 100 ED PRO

[teoria_del_big_bang]

The Losmandy 'D' Style Dovetail supplied with Sky-Watcher Esprit 100 ED PRO seems very short. I have not had chance to try the balance when the camera and Filter Wheel are fitted and the focuser extended but I suspect the supplied dovetail will be half way out of the HEQ5 clamp and so think I may need a longer dovetail.

What have other owners of these scopes done regarding this?

Steve

[alan potts]

8 minutes ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

The Losmandy 'D' Style Dovetail supplied with Sky-Watcher Esprit 100 ED PRO seems very short. I have not had chance to try the balance when the camera and Filter Wheel are fitted and the focuser extended but I suspect the supplied dovetail will be half way out of the HEQ5 clamp and so think I may need a longer dovetail.

What have other owners of these scopes done regarding this?

Steve

I don't have one but thought the same the other day when looking at the pictures, some cameras can weight a fair bit, I know some of my Eos bodies are over a kilo and some bigger CCD can weight about the same, people use these cameras on fine scopes like this, Losmandy dovetails are not cheap either.

Alan

[Dinglem]

34 minutes ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

The Losmandy 'D' Style Dovetail supplied with Sky-Watcher Esprit 100 ED PRO seems very short. I have not had chance to try the balance when the camera and Filter Wheel are fitted and the focuser extended but I suspect the supplied dovetail will be half way out of the HEQ5 clamp and so think I may need a longer dovetail.

What have other owners of these scopes done regarding this?

Steve

I recently got one of these they are just the right length to attach the tube rings which could be a problem if you are stuggling to get it all balanced. I aquired a 2nd hand Altair Astro dual Losmandy mounting bar which made setting up quite easy. I will warn you though that the Skywatcher Losmandy bar is slightly narrower and if I hadn't been next to my scope I could have had a very expensive accident, I'd mounted it and thought I'd tightened it up fully, but I was picking up my guidescope when I heard something creaking, on looking back at my mount I noticed the scope's dovetail bar was sliding down the clamp. Luckily I grabbed it in time, I now have to really lean on the locking screw to ensure it is safe, I think I'll purchase a new dovetail bar to replace the Skywatcher one.

[teoria_del_big_bang]

1 minute ago, Dinglem said:

I recently got one of these they are just the right length to attach the tube rings which could be a problem if you are stuggling to get it all balanced. I aquired a 2nd hand Altair Astro dual Losmandy mounting bar which made setting up quite easy. I will warn you though that the Skywatcher Losmandy bar is slightly narrower and if I hadn't been next to my scope I could have had a very expensive accident, I'd mounted it and thought I'd tightened it up fully, but I was picking up my guidescope when I heard something creaking, on looking back at my mount I noticed the scope's dovetail bar was sliding down the clamp. Luckily I grabbed it in time, I now have to really lean on the locking screw to ensure it is safe, I think I'll purchase a new dovetail bar to replace the Skywatcher one.

I did read a thread recently about this, I guess it must have been yours. So so glad you managed to catch it before it fell. I guess although being mad about it slipping you must have felt so lucky and so glad you caught it in time.

Thanks for the warning anyway it is well noted.

Steve

[johninderby]

FLO has a nice range of ADM and Primaluce  Losmandy dovetail bars. I recently bought one of the Altair Losmandy dovetails and that is nice and solid as well.

Edited September 23, 2019 by johninderby