Skytee Mount

[bomberbaz]

Hello all.

I "may" be considering buying a new mount, still testing out existing option but may opt for the skytee. 

What I do know about this mount is it can hold up to 3 OTA's although it comes ready for 2 as standard.  2 is all I need though.

Various sites quote various weight carrying capacity but FLO recommend 20KG total. More than I would need by some margin.

It will fit on my existing steel tripod and reports I have read is that it  is rock solid on this.

The clamps are vixen style and are reportedly a bit of a weak link. Likelihood is it will only ever have one heavy-ish OTA (5-6kg or less) and one light one (2kg or less) so would likely immeditely upgrade at least one of the clamps. I also realise I will need a counter weight to accommodate odd sized ota's.

What I want to know is are the two sides of the mount permanently locked to move together of can they be unlocked and are the tracking controls able to be usable with the cable style ones.

I also welcome anyone else's thoughts and feedback on this mount.

TIA 

Steve

 

 

[johninderby]

The TS-AZ5 is the same as the Skytee but has the saddle mounting holes at both ends not just one end like the Skytee. Quality control also seems to be better and properly set up. Mine had no backlash at all and needed no adjustment. 

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p4539_TS-Optics-AZ5-Alt-azimuthal-Mount-with-fine-adjustment-in-both-axes.html

While the Skytee is officially rated at 13kg per side real world use has shown 10kg is more realistic. You can adjust the ends seperately. The upper mount is only suitable for small scopes. The rating of 20kg total is only when saddles are fitted at each end.

The stock Skytee saddles are not good and need replacing. The TS-AZ5 doesn’t come with any saddles. You can get the ADM saddles or the TS saddles.

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p7887_TS-Optics-Optics-XL-Premium-Dovetail-Clamp-adaption-for-big-telescopes-and-cameras.html

 I used a similar saddle to the TS one and tapped the centre hole in the saddles to M12 and used an M16 to M12 adapter so I could fit the counterweight bar without removing the saddle.

 

Edited June 17, 2020 by johninderby

[Captain Scarlet]

I started off in astro a few years ago by getting a reasonably heavy-duty goto mount, the az-eq6, thinking go-to was obviously where it's at. I used (use) it mostly in alt-az mode. Then, after a year, a 2nd hand SkyTee2 came up, with the ADM saddles, and I thought "it'd be good to have something a little more portable and at least trying out fully-manual".

As it's turned out, I use it all the time. Far more than I expected I would. it's really good.

[John]

It's not perfect by any means but I'm a heavy user of the Skytee II and have been for a number of years now. The stock dovetail clamps should certainly be upgraded ASAP as mentioned above. The 2 sides of the mount can point independently from each other. The slow motion knobs can be replaced with the same sort of flexible cables that Skywatcher and Vixen mounts use. I rarely have 2 scopes on mine.

I would agree with @johninderby that 10Kg is a more realistic load limit. This scope is 9.5kg but quite long:

I think I was pushing the Skytee II a bit too far here though !

 

[jock1958]

Bought my Skytee II second hand a few years ago and it is rock solid with my Tak FC100DL & Tal 100RS.

As others have said it does require some fettling and the engineering is somewhat agricultural but once you have ironed out the little niiggles it is an extremely versatile and capable mount.  

For me I replaced the sticky Synta grease, adjusted the backlash of the slo mo controls and now is a pleasure to use and dare I say it....at the expense of my Giro Ercole!  
 

Edited June 17, 2020 by jock1958

[bomberbaz]

Thannks for the replies. You see I am thinking of strapping my white light and HA scope onto it, should be fun combinaton. Or maybe a night time combination of a frac and mak for hopping between open cluster, globs and doubles. 

Like I say, nothing definate yet, just testing the waters as it were.

Steve.

[chiltonstar]

8 minutes ago, bomberbaz said:

Thannks for the replies. You see I am thinking of strapping my white light and HA scope onto it, should be fun combinaton. Or maybe a night time combination of a frac and mak for hopping between open cluster, globs and doubles. 

Like I say, nothing definate yet, just testing the waters as it were.

Steve.

The frac and Mak combination is a good one. I use the main side position for a 180 Mak (about 10kg or so) on a better saddle, and quite often the top position for an 80ED frac. The frac gives me a lower mag view of larger objects and acts as a second finder. Rock solid mount, but a little agricultural as someone has already said!

Chris

[bomberbaz]

Went to see a mate of mine today who has a skytee mounted on a berleback tripod utilising a extension pillar. He had drilled the empty end to take a 3rd saddle and cleaned the grease as mentioned above.

He had a telementor 60mm/F12 frac mounted on it. I was really impressed by both the mount and the OTA. 

Re the mount it was super smooth and really well balanced. He has done a good job in cleaning and re-greasing it.

@jock1958how do you adjust to compensate for the backlash, is it difficult?

cheers

steve

[Louis D]

I noticed everyone seems to use counterweights on the other side of the mount when no scope is mounted over there.  Is this done avoid the mount tipping over sideways or because it doesn't do well unbalanced?

[johninderby]

The better balanced the mount is the smoother it moves and if you put a heavy OTA on one side it does stop it from tipping a bit.

[John]

I don't find counterweights are needed with my 100mm - 120mm refractors. Above that (about 8kg) and they do help smooth the motions. The Giro Ercole (for example) needs counterbalancing a lot more than the Skytee II does.

 

 

[jock1958]

12 hours ago, bomberbaz said:

Went to see a mate of mine today who has a skytee mounted on a berleback tripod utilising a extension pillar. He had drilled the empty end to take a 3rd saddle and cleaned the grease as mentioned above.

He had a telementor 60mm/F12 frac mounted on it. I was really impressed by both the mount and the OTA. 

Re the mount it was super smooth and really well balanced. He has done a good job in cleaning and re-greasing it.

@jock1958how do you adjust to compensate for the backlash, is it difficult?

cheers

steve

Hi Steve, what I do is turn the two grub screws on the top plate anti clockwise with a small allen key,  then tighten the centre allen bolt, this effectively reduces the gap between the slo mo pinion shaft and internal gear. This should reduce your backlash but will also make the slo mo controls tighter in operation, it's then a case of fine tuning to suit your requirements. My Skytee still has an element of backlash but I can live with it and works well for me. 

Hope that helps.

Edited June 24, 2020 by jock1958

[bomberbaz]

3 minutes ago, jock1958 said:

Hi Steve, what I do is turn the two grub screws on the top plate anti clockwise with a small allen key,  then tighten the centre allen bolt, this effectively reduces the gap between the slo mo pinion shaft and internal gear. This should reduce your backlash but will also make the slo mo controls tighter in operation, it's then a case of fine tuning to suit your requirements. My Skytee still has an element of backlash but I can live with it and works well for me. 

Hope that helps.

 

Ah good stuff, nothing to complicated  then. Thanks

[jock1958]

29 minutes ago, bomberbaz said:

Ah good stuff, nothing to complicated  then. Thanks

Yeh its a doddle. Forgot to mention, in conjunction with what I said you will have to slacken off and tighten the two allen bolts on the front face of the slo mo fitting.

[HollyHound]

I love the SkyTee mount. I usually operate with an ST80 on the left (used for widefield and effectively a big optical finder) and either Mak 127 or (recently) StellaMira 80mm f/10 refractor on the right.

I’m using the top saddle to hold (perfectly) a TelRad finder, which can be adjusted using the SkyTee adjustments to align perfectly with the scopes.

I have (like most others) upgraded to ADM saddles on the right and left side. Worth noting that the SkyTee I got from @FLO recently, already had holes to mount the left side additional saddle. Note that it will need the M6 bolt ADM saddle only, whereas the main (right) saddle puck can take either M8 or M6 bolts (I have put M8 on for additional peace of mind).

I did have the SkyTee on a Skywatcher 1.75” steel tripod, but it now lives on a Berlebach Uni 28. Both work well, the Uni 28 is more stable, but the steel tripod is a lot lighter.

Cheers

Gary

Edited June 25, 2020 by HollyHound