My eventual solution for mounting DSLR AND ZWO MINI Guide scope to Skywatcher EQM35 pro mount

[DonnieMarco]

It has been torture trying to arrive at a solution where I can use my DSLR with both 16-35mm and 70-200mm with a ZWO mini guide scope and colour camera for guiding. I finally arrived at the solution below that balances perfectly. I think it will take some care to properly align the lens with guide cam but do the more experienced users think this could work?

 

just waiting on my ZWO ASIAIR Pro now to get it working. 

[MarkAR]

Looks like it will work. Guide cam doesn't need to be exactly aligned to lens, close is usually good enough especially if you can get the target in frame.

Wonder if you have enough room to mount the guide under the green bar with the lens bolted directly on top instead of having to use the ball mount.

[DonnieMarco]

I was thinking of bolting the camera straight to the vixen and reversing the guide scope go underneath but unfortunately that left me with a clearance issue on rotation of the EQ mount, a  gear box coming into contact with the camera on the guide scope

[wimvb]

Nice setup, but as @MarkAR noted, the ball head may be a potential cause of flexure. There's only one way to find out: test it. If your imaging scale is high/coarse enough, this may not be an issue. 

[michael8554]

The ZWO USB cable looks to be pulling on the camera, I'd rotate the camera so that the connection is underneath, and attach a smooth cable loop to the mount.

Have a read about Differential Flexture:

http://astronomy.mdodd.com/flexure.html

Michael

[equinelover137]

What clamps did you use to connect it to your dovetail? I’m new to all of this so this helps me a lot!! Thank you! 

[900SL]

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Edited November 15, 2021 by 900SL