Set-up process

[miguel87]

Have I been making a mistake all this time?

Speaking to a fellow astronomer today with a similar EQ newtonian.

Realised he leaves his tube rings on his OTA permanently and just removes the dovetail from the mount.

I always undo my tube rings and put the OTA in it's box on it's own.

Am I weird??

🤔

[Paul M]

I leave the rings and dovetail bar on the scope. Seems like less fiddle on setting up. There is a knack to getting my big old Newt aligned with the mount.

To be honest, if I was so inclined to develop a mounting system for big OTA's it wouldn't bare any resemblance to these here dovetail systems. I think it's a system being overstretched for the sake of universality...

[miguel87]

15 minutes ago, Paul M said:

I leave the rings and dovetail bar on the scope. Seems like less fiddle on setting up. There is a knack to getting my big old Newt aligned with the mount.

To be honest, if I was so inclined to develop a mounting system for big OTA's it wouldn't bare any resemblance to these here dovetail systems. I think it's a system being overstretched for the sake of universality...

Totally agree with that!

I feel a bit safer adjusting balance by sliding in slightly loose tube rings rather than moving the dovetail.

Oh well, works for me!

[John]

16 minutes ago, miguel87 said:

....Oh well, works for me!

That's all that matters.

[Erling G-P]

On 12/05/2020 at 19:58, Paul M said:

I leave the rings and dovetail bar on the scope. Seems like less fiddle on setting up.

 

I do the exact same with my 200 PDS on a HEQ5 w/ADM saddle.  By far the easiest.  I have rotated my OTA so that the focuser/camera/eyepiece 'points inwards', towards the mount, for balancing purposes.  If I opened the rings each time and removed the OTA, I would have to realign this again every time I set up.