Nat Geo NT114CF Help

[CoachT]

I recently purchased a Nat Geo NT114CF telescope for my family.  We are all new to this and have really enjoyed using it.  One thing that has bothered us is the tripod won't let the telescope stay put when we try to tighten it at the correct vertical angle (sorry for lack of proper terminology).  Is there a way to fix the tripod?   The brand is Bresser, or does anyone suggest a tripod that is compatible with this particular telescope.  We love the views we get, but it is difficult when the telescope won't stay in place.

 

Thanks!

Edited December 23, 2020 by CoachT

[Ricochet]

The mount provided with that telescope looks very cheap and flimsy to say the least, I'm not surprised that you are having issues. The telescope appears to have a standard vixen dovetail so any mount with a vixen clamp (i.e most mounts) will work. However, your telescope has a fixed dovetail on the bottom while most alt/az mounts are designed for a dovetail on the side. You may find that dismantling the telescope to drill new holes in the side for a side mounting is required to get the eyepiece and finder into a useable position. One exception would be the Skywatcher Pronto mount, which is a similar "telescope on top" mount. 

You may find that you can tighten the altitude clutch on your mount so that the friction is low enough so that you can still move the telescope, but that the telescope does not move of its own accord. You may have to adjust this depending on the approximate angle that you are observing at due to the way the telescope weight shifts over the mount. Usually you wouldn't tighten an axis down to lock it in position, but perhaps with this particular mount you will have to.

[malc-c]

If the scope can't be locked into place and it was a recent purchase then contact the shop from where it was purchased and seek a replacement rather than throw more money trying to fix it.  And any drilling of holes will invalidate your warranty.

It's a cheap telescope... it seems to rely on how tight you turn a locking knob, which in itself could be an issue if that has been overtightened.  

 

[jonathan]

I discovered that a cheap mount can certainly cause annoyance for what otherwise would be a great experience, as for tightening I also found that if you over-tighten (because there just isn't enough friction due to cheap / poor design) then they tend to break.

Given the current shortage of telescope equipment at the moment and the general cheapness of the mount, I would say you have an opportunity to improve it for yourself.

If you're a cyclist then you may have heard of such a thing as 'carbon paste', it's a gritty paste that's designed to prevent carbon saddle stems from sticking in a carbon frame, while still allowing it to grip and not slip; this property is very useful for all manner of applications where you want something to be moveable but won't move as easily by itself.  Check your local bike shop or look online for it, you should only need a very small tub or tube of the stuff.  To apply, it needs to be between the two surfaces that would normally provide the friction, you may need to partially dismantle the mount in order to discover and expose these surfaces, apply a small amount of the past evenly, then reassemble.  It's worth a try, but be aware that if you do anything like this then it's likely to void the warranty.

I think that would be my approach for this scope - try to improve the friction on the mount any way you can without breaking it.  Spending money on a good quality mount would likely cost more than the whole telescope, and while a budget EQ or AZ mount may certainly improve the situation, they would still be on the cheap side and susceptible to the same problems (difficulty in setup / weak components that are easily broken).