mount advice

[craigguk]

i recently found up 2 optical tubes that i had totally forgot i had and was wondering what mount i should be getting for these the tubes are a skywatcher 130 explorer and a celestron powerseeker 114. i currently have an celestron lcm 114 goto and pretty sure the tubes would be too heavy on that mount i have a budget around £500-600 but dont really want to spend too much.

[Geoff Lister]

Provided that you mount the alternative OTAs with them balanced in the dovetail clamp, they should not place undue strain on the lcm 114 mount.

I balance my OTAs, with a typical eyepiece in place, by sitting the dovetail bar at 90 degrees across a broom handle/piece of plastic pipe, and slide the OTA back and forth until it rests level on the handle/pipe. I mark the contact point with tippex, and when dry, a layer of varnish. This ensures minimum strain on the altitude motor-gearbox assembly. The photo, below, shows my 127mm Mak with the balance points for (a) a normal eyepiece, (b) binoviewer with 2 eyepieces, and (c) with my D3200 DSLR.

Geoff

[craigguk]

On 30/12/2020 at 14:33, Geoff Lister said:

Provided that you mount the alternative OTAs with them balanced in the dovetail clamp, they should not place undue strain on the lcm 114 mount.

I balance my OTAs, with a typical eyepiece in place, by sitting the dovetail bar at 90 degrees across a broom handle/piece of plastic pipe, and slide the OTA back and forth until it rests level on the handle/pipe. I mark the contact point with tippex, and when dry, a layer of varnish. This ensures minimum strain on the altitude motor-gearbox assembly. The photo, below, shows my 127mm Mak with the balance points for (a) a normal eyepiece, (b) binoviewer with 2 eyepieces, and (c) with my D3200 DSLR.

Geoff

would just like to thank you after a final clearing of the sky i was able to try one of my optical tubes the heaviest one correctly balanced and it works a treat i really appreciate your help