Dovetail bar in the shape of a finder shoe to attach a guide scope and other accessories?

[SiD the Turtle]

Hi all,

I have a William Optics ZS73, which has their lovely carry handle which fits finder shoe type items.

I have my Skywatcher EvoGuide ED50 attached to it, but this is the model before they started bundling it with a mini-dovetail, so it's attached via a finder shoe which introduces flexure and looks a bit janky. I also have a power box and Raspberry Pi I'd like to somehow bolt to the OTA to reduce cabling issues.

So what's the name for a mini dovetail that would fit in such a finder shoe gap/do they exist at all?

I'm thinking of getting a long dovetail to attach to it so I can bolt the powerbox and Raspberry Pi to the front of the OTA, so it's out of the way and to help with balancing.

 

[Louis D]

In gun circles, Picatinny rails are used to securely attach accessories to the barrel via clamps, sort of the reverse of astronomy where the clamp is on the OTA and the rail is on the accessory.

I have a Losmandy finder bracket that follows the Picatinny model, but with a slightly narrower rail.  It's been discontinued, but it's similar to this current one:

There won't be any flex with a setup like this.

[johninderby]

You mean something like this?

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p4818_TS-Optics-camera-holder-for-finder-shoe--with-1-4--screw.html