New Alt/Az mount.

[heliumstar]

Unfortunately no luck last night again. Next try on Friday

[HollyHound]

2 hours ago, heliumstar said:

Unfortunately no luck last night again. Next try on Friday

That’s a shame ☹️

I setup two for testing last night, the ScopeTech Zero with StellaMira refractor and my new Mak 150 setup on the AZ Mount Pro. Left them a couple of hours (for the Mak to cool), unfortunately the sky never really cleared properly, just a few small patches of clear sky, but just enough to see a few groups of stars through. Unfortunately the moon, Jupiter and Saturn remained behind low cloud 😬

However, I did manage to spend 30mins using the ScopeTech, darting back and forth from gap to gap, and it proved its worth, as I was able to quickly move, get a star in the finder and then switch to the 24mm Panoptic in the StellaMira for some really very good views. 

I do like that one can move smoothly and freely, then switch to slow motion, without having to lock/unlock or adjust clutches, this makes it a great grab and go combination. It was the first time I’ve really been able to pan the scope around slowly without just using slow motion controls 👍

I noted that the azimuth slow motion was a little stiff, but note that @Stuhas made an adjustment to his which improves this, so will be doing the same 🤞

The mount is quite sensitive to balance in altitude, as most of these types seem to be, but this is quickly sorted by moving the scope in the saddle when going from heavy to light eyepieces, or indeed just keep the clutch moderately tight (not overtight!), as it can still be moved very smoothly like this.

In addition, I had made one small but very useful modification to the ScopeTech Zero... I’ve replaced the supplied screw saddle, with an ADM dual clamp saddle (as used for the SkyTee II), which attaches using 2xM6 bolts with a standard spacing of 35mm. This just feels better, makes balancing easier and won’t chew dovetails. Adds about 0.25 kg over the standard saddle, but I think it’s worth it. The mount could still be stored folded too. Should point out that the standard saddle is absolutely fine and strong, just personal preference.

Oh and as a bonus, I was able to star test the Mak 150, and its collimation is spot on 👍

Just need to figure out a replacement lighter weight tripod for the Uni 28, to make it truly grab and go 🤔

Edited July 7, 2020 by HollyHound

[JeremyS]

Sounding very promising @HollyHound. Glad no further problems after the first one you had. 

Re lighter weight tripod. If you want to stick with Berlebach (and who wouldn't? 🙂 ), maybe the Report 312 at half the weight?

 

 

[HollyHound]

1 hour ago, JeremyS said:

Sounding very promising @HollyHound. Glad no further problems after the first one you had. 

Re lighter weight tripod. If you want to stick with Berlebach (and who wouldn't? 🙂 ), maybe the Report 312 at half the weight?

Thanks. No further repeat of that issue, so I'm thinking it was a one off. @FLO will be looking at the faulty unit, when they receive it back.

I do like the look and feel of the Berlebach tripods, and was aware they had lighter variants but there did seem an awful lot of choice. The Report 312 does seem to be ideal though and as you say, it's half the weight. I have also got the SW 1.75" 3/8th tripod too, which currently has the AZ5 on it, but that may well be going. I also remembered I have the AZ3, but not sure that the head is removable or even usable. I'll review options and see what works out best, but I think the goal will likely be the Berlebach 😃

[John]

The AZ-3 mount and it's tripod hub are an integrated unit. You can change the tripod legs if you can find some which will fit but the hub really has to stay with the head which limits the options.

[HollyHound]

On 08/07/2020 at 09:59, John said:

The AZ-3 mount and it's tripod hub are an integrated unit. You can change the tripod legs if you can find some which will fit but the hub really has to stay with the head which limits the options.

Thanks John, it does sound like a lot of trouble and not sure what the gain would be. I’ll likely keep the AZ3 as a simple terrestrial tripod for the C5, and investigate other options for the ScopeTech/StellaMira combo 👍

Edited July 9, 2020 by HollyHound

[HollyHound]

On 08/07/2020 at 09:59, John said:

The AZ-3 mount and it's tripod hub are an integrated unit. You can change the tripod legs if you can find some which will fit but the hub really has to stay with the head which limits the options.

Thought I’d give this a go, and was able to easily remove the AZ3 head completely from the tripod, and then using the M10 to 3/8” adaptor I have, was actually able to easily fit the ScopeTech Zero onto the AZ3 tripod, using the large washer and an M10 threaded knob 😮

I’ve given this a quick terrestrial check with the StellaMira and it works surprisingly well. There is an increase in recovery time when doing the usual tap test... it takes about 2 to 3 seconds, but focusing and moving is quite usable.

I’ll try some more testing when there is a clear night, it may turn out to be an option 🤔

I believe there are two brands of AZ3, mine is the Celestron, but also there’s one from Skywatcher. They appear to have some subtle differences, so might explain how this head detaches easily. The spreader system on this Celestron is less substantial too.

Apologies, I forgot to photograph with the refractor onboard, but at least they show how the mount does work ok the AZ3 tripod.

[John]

Nice work Gary !

The Celestron version of the AZ-3 is called the "Heavy Duty Alt-Azimuth Mount", a title which caused me to smirk a bit I have to say

Good to see that it's tripod can be put to good use.

 

[HollyHound]

7 minutes ago, John said:

Nice work Gary !

The Celestron version of the AZ-3 is called the "Heavy Duty Alt-Azimuth Mount", a title which caused me to smirk a bit I have to say

Good to see that it's tripod can be put to good use.

Thanks.

Yes, I am also mildly amused by that... those metal spreaders are not much thicker than paper and wobble dramatically, at least they stop the legs from splaying but that's about it 😂

I'm going to give it a fair go... I still do like the solidity (and look) of the whole mount/refractor combo on the Uni 28, but it's overkill for this mount, so a lighter wooden tripod might be the future solution... the Report 312 has been suggested by @JeremyS 🤔

[johninderby]

Well it is heavier duty than the tripod supplied with this scope. 😁😁😁😁

[heliumstar]

Got a chance to finally observe with it last night. Very happy how it behaves. Mind you I was using it without slo-mo controls and I had no issues observing Jupiter and Saturn moving the mount as the planets moved through. Used it with Gitzo tripod (systematic 4 with 4 legs). It shakes a little bit more than Ayo II but pretty much the same as Vamo at 130x magnification.

Now, the thing is that Vamo is smoother and easier to move but this is down to Zero intended to be used with slo-mo. Both Vamo and Zero are easy to balance and once that's done there is no movement when changing eyepieces up to 150g. For now I'll keep both but if I were to choose one it would be Zero because of slo-mo. If you don't need slo-mo then Vamo is better indeed. Zero is smaller and easier to disassemble so better for traveling. At the end of the day both are pretty much the best you can get in this size and capacity.

Testing was done with 3kg of scope at 130x.

I also took a closer look at Zero and there are many holes to mount something on it. There might be encoders in the works for this?

 

[HollyHound]

On 11/07/2020 at 16:13, heliumstar said:

I also took a closer look at Zero and there are many holes to mount something on it. There might be encoders in the works for this?

Thanks for the report, glad to see it behaves as well as my findings. The slow motion controls are very useful indeed. It’s now the mount for my StellaMira, just need to get a lighter weight (but still sturdy) tripod, than the Uni 28.

Yes, there are a number of tapped holes around the mount, which do seem they could be ready for encoders at some point 🤔

[Surreydocker]

Can anyone tell me the depth of the 3/8 threaded hole in the base of the SW AZ5 please ?

[HollyHound]

31 minutes ago, Surreydocker said:

Can anyone tell me the depth of the 3/8 threaded hole in the base of the SW AZ5 please ?

Unfortunately, I've just sold mine, so all I can confirm if that it is at least 7mm, as that's the length of protruding thread on the Avant/AZ5 extension column (which I still have).

[Surreydocker]

9 minutes ago, HollyHound said:

Unfortunately, I've just sold mine, so all I can confirm if that it is at least 7mm, as that's the length of protruding thread on the Avant/AZ5 extension column (which I still have).

Thanks very much for the swift response