Vixen Super Polaris on Berlebach tripod

[Stu]

I’ve been wanting to do this for a while, yet another little project that lockdown sorting has allowed me to do. Having cleared my garage out I have access to my tools and work bench so can achieve more of these things.

Nothing very tricky, just a wooden adaptor cut to roughly the right outer diameter and a central hole to take the SP centre shaft but I’m pleased with how it turned out. I had a large hole cutter of about the right size, and a smaller adjustable cutter that set to just larger than the SP base.

Painted black it looks ok and it does the job perfectly. Nice to have the mount on a lovely tripod.

[John]

Nice job Stu !

My Berlebach is an HEQ5 fitting so is fine for the Vixen GP but I wouldn't mind putting the T-Rex on it as an option which is EQ6 compatible. I'll have to look up the johninderby HEQ5 - EQ6 Berlebach conversion thread and see how he did it.

Which Uni tripod is that by the way ?

Did you need a longer fastening bolt ?

 

[JeremyS]

Looks terrific @Stu 🙂

[johninderby]

Can’t understand why Berlebach doesn’t offer a dual fit tripod top.

Fortunately it’s not a difficult job to make your own.

 

[John]

Thanks John - saves me searching for that thread !

 

[Stu]

37 minutes ago, John said:

Nice job Stu !

My Berlebach is an HEQ5 fitting so is fine for the Vixen GP but I wouldn't mind putting the T-Rex on it as an option which is EQ6 compatible. I'll have to look up the johninderby HEQ5 - EQ6 Berlebach conversion thread and see how he did it.

Which Uni tripod is that by the way ?

Did you need a longer fastening bolt ?

 

Mine was definitely the low budget, low skill version! Nothing sophisticated but does the job. Yes I did need a longer bolt, fortunately I had some threaded rod of the right size which I cut down, it is a smaller thread than the tripod head so just passes straight through.

[Stu]

Just remembered my deliberate mistake this evening. I wondered why my RA control wasn’t causing the mount to track in the right direction, but the DEC was!

Hmm, somehow I had managed to setup the mount very carefully and level, but facing South rather than North! 🤣🤣 DOH! Relatively easy to rotate it round though fortunately.