Solarquest saddle plate upgrade.

[Nigella Bryant]

Hi all, just did a saddle plate upgrade on my Solarquest Mount today. I'd bought a double stack for my 60mm lunt and wasn't happy with the original saddle plate because it does make quite a bit of difference in weight. This is an easy after market fix from ADM and is the same as with the AZ Gti mount which the Solarquest Mount is based, details below. 

1. First I took off the plastic cover on the saddle plate to reveal the four screws that attach the original plate. 

2. Next unscrew and remove the original plate, the four original screws are reused to attach the part of the new back plate that the new saddle plate attaches to. 

3. Attach the new backplate using the original screws. 

4. Attach the new saddle plate to the back plate using the two supplied hex nuts. 

Simples.

 

 

[Stu]

It's a good upgrade, worth doing. Much more secure than the original.

[Davey-T]

Good mod' Nigella, never liked the original, ordering one now, thanks for the tip 

Dave

[johninderby]

When I had one just used a short Geoptik dovetail and an Altair Starwave mini saddle. Thought the ADM saddle was too short.

Edited February 25, 2020 by johninderby

[Nigella Bryant]

1 hour ago, Davey-T said:

Good mod' Nigella, never liked the original, ordering one now, thanks for the tip 

Dave

Great this post helped, you'll not be disappointed. Should I ask for commission,  lol.

Edited February 25, 2020 by Nigella Bryant

[Nigella Bryant]

1 hour ago, johninderby said:

When I had one just used a short Geoptik dovetail and an Altair Starwave mini saddle. Thought the ADM saddle was too short.

It was the dovetail plate and only one point of contact via the nob/bolt that didn't inspire confidence in me. Hence completely changing the saddle plate with the ADM.

[johninderby]

Replaced the knob with a bolt and tightened well down. Never going to shift and rock solid. Would rather have a longer saddle that holds the scope more securely. 

Edited February 25, 2020 by johninderby

[Stu]

I found the ADM saddle to be more than up to the job, so I'm sure you will be happy with it Nigella.

[GavStar]

Hmmm, I tried fitting this to my solarquest mount a few months ago. However I hit an issue which was that az gti adapter puts the scope at a different angle to the solar sensor so that the when the solar sensor had found the sun, the scope was pointing at entirely the wrong place. From your last photo it appears this may also be the case with your mount?
I even took the mount apart to try to adjust the angle of the solar sensor but no joy.

Did I make a school boy error? 😀 (quite possible!)

 

Edited February 25, 2020 by GavStar

[Nigella Bryant]

21 minutes ago, GavStar said:

Hmmm, I tried fitting this to my solarquest mount a few months ago. However I hit an issue which was that az gti adapter puts the scope at a different angle to the solar sensor so that the when the solar sensor had found the sun, the scope was pointing at entirely the wrong place. From your last photo it appears this may also be the case with your mount?
I even took the mount apart to try to adjust the angle of the solar sensor but no joy.

Did I make a school boy error? 😀 (quite possible!)

 

You'll have to realigh your mount by recentering via the dial and press to set the new alignment, we'll that's my take on it. Not tried it yet to see if that's what you have to do. It does say in the manual to do that if it's not centered. Watch this space, lol. 

[GavStar]

10 minutes ago, Nigella Bryant said:

You'll have to realigh your mount by recentering via the dial and press to set the new alignment, we'll that's my take on it. Not tried it yet to see if that's what you have to do. It does say in the manual to do that if it's not centered. Watch this space, lol. 

Isn’t that only for small adjustments? 

[Nigella Bryant]

1 hour ago, GavStar said:

Isn’t that only for small adjustments? 

The new saddle plate wasn't that much out of sync from the original position. So hopefully it'll only need a little adjustment Gav. Just using my eye the saddle plate looks central to the centre of the light diode. A little edit, I centred the new saddle plate with the diode with only the centre bolt first which took the saddle plate to one of the screws that attaches the back plate. If you then get a slightly longer bolt than the reused ones (I happened to have one) you can then tighten both the secondary bolt through the back plate and into the mount hub thus securing the second bolt hole on the saddle plate. I hope that makes sense Gav. 

Edited February 25, 2020 by Nigella Bryant
Pic added.

[GavStar]

1 hour ago, Nigella Bryant said:

The new saddle plate wasn't that much out of sync from the original position. So hopefully it'll only need a little adjustment Gav. Just using my eye the saddle plate looks central to the centre of the light diode. A little edit, I centred the new saddle plate with the diode with only the centre bolt first which took the saddle plate to one of the screws that attaches the back plate. If you then get a slightly longer bolt than the reused ones (I happened to have one) you can then tighten both the secondary bolt through the back plate and into the mount hub thus securing the second bolt hole on the saddle plate. I hope that makes sense Gav. 

So just to clarify, I think you now have attached the adapter with 3 small screws rather than 4 and you use the resulting spare hole to attach the adm dovetail clamp with a longer screw you had available. 
 

This allows you to get the adm clamp level with the sensor since in the original setup it was 45 degrees out?
 

Is that right?

[Nigella Bryant]

1 minute ago, GavStar said:

So just to clarify, I think you now have attached the adapter with 3 small screws rather than 4 and you use the resulting spare hole to attach the adm dovetail clamp with a longer screw you had available. 
 

This allows you to get the adm clamp level with the sensor since in the original setup it was 45 degrees out?
 

Is that right?

Hiya, yeah, that's it in a nut shell. Easy fix. You must however get the backplate holes vertical to begin with. Hope the revised post makes sense. 

[Nigella Bryant]

Two more pics added for clarity. Tried mount out and works flawlessly. Please note second bolt has been changed to go through to the back plate securing nut allowing alignment with the photo diode and accurate tracking and positioning. Hope this post is useful to those who wish to use the upgrade ADM saddle plate on the Skywatcher Solarquest Mount. 

Edited February 29, 2020 by Nigella Bryant

[Davey-T]

Thanks Nigella, mine arrived from FLO but haven't got around to fitting it yet, looking out the window there's no rush 😂

[Nigella Bryant]

15 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

Thanks Nigella, mine arrived from FLO but haven't got around to fitting it yet, looking out the window there's no rush 😂

Great Davey, something to do in the wet weather ready for those fleeting moments of clear sun light, lol. You won't be disappointed. 

[Davey-T]

7 minutes ago, Nigella Bryant said:

Great Davey, something to do in the wet weather ready for those fleeting moments of clear sun light, lol. You won't be disappointed. 

Fleeting moments is right, I've got a bottle of sun cream that has price 7/6d on it 😂

Dave

[Nigella Bryant]

Added some more pic, image of sun attached taken with the new dovetail added. Awful weather so image not great, just one frame.