TS AZ5 (SkyTee 2) - if you can’t beat them...

[jock1958]

1 hour ago, johninderby said:

Had a nice 80mm FPL53 triplet on it at the time and was busy doing doing something else when I noticed out of the corner of my eye the scope slowly leaning over and caught it with one hand just before it detached completely. Was on a concrete patio so if it had fallen.......🙀🙀🙀

When I stripped mine down for re-greasing I noticed some obvious flaws in the casting of Alt Axis Fitting which shouldn't have passed quality control checks but mines still in one piece and I haven't overloaded it!

[jock1958]

1 hour ago, johninderby said:

No not steel but some sort of white metal alloy. 

Yeh I agree I think it maybe some sort of cast aluminium alloy? 

[Stu]

6 minutes ago, jock1958 said:

When I stripped mine down for re-greasing I noticed some obvious flaws in the casting of Alt Axis Fitting which shouldn't have passed quality control checks but mines still in one piece and I haven't overloaded it!

They do deserve their agricultural label I think, but seem remarkably capable none the less. Mine wasn’t expensive and came with three good saddles, two Baader so am happy even if it needs some tweaking to get it performing well. I can’t afford an AZ100 currently so this is my poor man’s version for the moment.

[Peter-uk]

The metal looks like grey cast iron,it is not unusual to see inclusions after the casting has been machined.  The mount that is broken

could probably be braised to affect a repair. 

 

Pete

[johninderby]

It’s not cast iron but a soft non-magnetic alloy.

[jock1958]

52 minutes ago, Peter-uk said:

The metal looks like grey cast iron,it is not unusual to see inclusions after the casting has been machined.  The mount that is broken

could probably be braised to affect a repair. 

 

Pete

Hi Pete mines definitely not cast iron it’s non magnetic and would possibly show signs of corrosion / rust on the exposed surfaces, oh and maybe it would be a lot heavier 🤔

Edited April 28, 2021 by jock1958

[John]

36 minutes ago, jock1958 said:

When I stripped mine down for re-greasing I noticed some obvious flaws in the casting of Alt Axis Fitting which shouldn't have passed quality control checks but mines still in one piece and I haven't overloaded it!

I've just snapped a pic of the same part of my ST II. Not perfect but not as "holey" as yours:

[jock1958]

8 minutes ago, John said:

I've just snapped a pic of the same part of my ST II. Not perfect but not as "holey" as yours:

Yours looks mint in comparison to mine, I think the QA guy must have been wearing sunglasses 😎 when he checked mine.
You wait and see there will be a rush for ST 2 owners to strip theirs down for comparison checks 🤣

[johninderby]

I can see the new thread now.

“Show Is Your Skytee Internals”

😁😁😁

[Peter-uk]

If you drill or file an edge cast iron would make a fine black swarf that makes no end of mess. Aluminium would produce a chip

Here is a picture showing the grain structure of aluminium at the top, cast iron at the bottom

Pete

[jock1958]

1 hour ago, johninderby said:

BTW AeroShell 33 grease is what Rowan recommend. Expensive but great grease. Ypu have to shop around for the small tube as most trade suppliers want to sell you a pack for your Boeing aircraft. 😁

https://www.shell.com/business-customers/aviation/aeroshell/aeroshell-greases/grease-33.html

Yeh worked on 747’s for 16 years and we used green grease 33 on the flying controls, undercarriage, flaps and main exit / entry doors. Excellent at very low & high temperatures so should be ideal for the ST 2. 

[johninderby]

My supply of AeroShell 33 in a coffee jar. 🙂

[John]

I wonder who actually makes the Skytee II ?

When it was first launched it was thought to be a Skywatcher product but FLO corrected that and said that it had been imported to the UK by OVL but was not a Skywatcher model.

It has a similar look and feel to Synta products though

[johninderby]

Probably by one of Syntas subcontractors. 🤔

Stellarvue used to sell a version of it as well.

[JeremyS]

8 minutes ago, johninderby said:

My supply of AeroShell 33 in a coffee jar. 🙂

Great product from a great company. But I might be biased 😊

[Roy Challen]

13 hours ago, johninderby said:

It’s not cast iron but a soft non-magnetic alloy.

Yeah, this kind of alloy usually has high zinc content.

[Roy Challen]

13 hours ago, jock1958 said:

When I stripped mine down for re-greasing I noticed some obvious flaws in the casting of Alt Axis Fitting which shouldn't have passed quality control checks but mines still in one piece and I haven't overloaded it!

That's really not good. QA aside, there's something wrong with the whole manufacturing process if that is the final result.

Edited April 29, 2021 by Roy Challen

[Stu]

I tried the mount out for the first time this morning before work for a bit of early solar observing.

First impressions are positive. I like the fact that it is less sensitive to balance, and found the slow motion controls very useful. There is a fair amount of backlash in both axes which I’m hoping I can tweak out. The scopes can be moved a little in both direction, and more annoying is that when you change direction on the slo mo it takes a while to wind in the backlash and start moving.

Generally though I think I like it. It feels like a (very) poor man’s AZ100 🤣, rustic but does the job.

[Louis D]

14 hours ago, Roy Challen said:

Yeah, this kind of alloy usually has high zinc content.

Reminds me a lot of the metal used in die cast tractor toys.  I've read it's a zinc, aluminum, magnesium, copper alloy.  The Chinese may be having issues with zinc impurities causing zinc pest.

Makes me glad my DSV mounts are CNC machined from solid 6061 aluminum and use stainless steel fasteners throughout.  No castings or welds anywhere.

Edited April 29, 2021 by Louis D

[jock1958]

Hi @Stu I found the majority of backlash in mine was in the Alt axis and by incrementally decreasing the gap between the Alt Slo Mo worm gear shaft housing and Alt fitting the back lash gradually reduced, you will need to loosen the 2 Allen screws on the front and tighten the one on the top while you do this. 

Edited April 29, 2021 by jock1958

[Stu]

Thanks very much Jock, appreciated.

I’ll give that a go.

[Highburymark]

I’m another very happy Skytee owner. I rate it very highly. Quite often mount two scopes on it. The top clamp should happily take your Tak FC-100 Stu - it does mine. Then I mount heavier scopes on the side. 

[johninderby]

The Skytee (TS-AZ5) definitely is a best buy and so long as you don’t overload it will give great service. Primitive it may be but most importantly it works very well although sometimes needing a bit of fettling to get the best from it.

[Stu]

7 hours ago, Highburymark said:

I’m another very happy Skytee owner. I rate it very highly. Quite often mount two scopes on it. The top clamp should happily take your Tak FC-100 Stu - it does mine. Then I mount heavier scopes on the side. 

Thanks Mark, I didn’t realise you used one, looks great. 

Does yours have a clamp at both ends, or just one end and the top? The main reason I went for this one is that it has clamps at both ends, plus the top which I would likely use for a finder or Telrad. All the clamps are uprated so nothing to worry about there. Just the backlash to tweak and all will be ideal.

[jock1958]

9 hours ago, Stu said:

Thanks very much Jock, appreciated.

I’ll give that a go.

Forgot to mention you will need to loosen the 2 black grub screws off at the same time. Little adjustments at a time and see if that improves things. Also if the previous owner hasn’t done so already replace that horrible glue grease and you will be one happy ST 2 owner 😀