Skytee 2 interest

[Starslayer]

A big beginners question here. I see this mount around yet youtube has VERY little by way of information.  I like the idea of having a couple of scopes and maybe other bits all mounted together BUT.........  this is where the ignorance comes in.  Could I for example mount my 6" sct and startravel 120 on this together?  Would that be advisable and the really big one for me is .................. if you mount 2 scopes on something like this can they both be aligned together so that a chosen target may be viewed and tracked at the same time with / through BOTH scopes?  

[John]

I think the answer is "yes" to your questions

Lots of folks have the Skytee II on here. It's a little crude in some ways but a very capable mount for it's cost.

The relative alignment of the mounting points of the mount can be adjusted to quite a fine degree to line two scopes up on the same target.

I don't tend to double up on scopes, although the mount can do that. This is my 9.5kg 130mm F/9.2 triplet refractor on my Skytee II:

 

[Knighty2112]

Yes, with a few modifications like better saddles  etc, along with putting one of the saddles of the opposite side (don’t use top saddle ecept for very light scopes etc) of the mount, it can be done. Here I have my 10” Skywatcher Newt on the Skytee2 with my AA 80mm ED ‘frac and it works very well once aligned up. I’ve also had my C8 SCT on one side, and a Celestron Omni 120mm ‘frac on the other side too.

 

Edited August 22, 2021 by Knighty2112

[johninderby]

There  is adjustment in the alt axis to align two scopes when mounted either side but not in the az axis. But scopes  will be close enough to being aligned for visual use.

I also tend not to use two scopes at one time but the mount will easily handle two 10kg OTAs. when mounted either side. The upper saddle is only for lighter scopes. BTW experience has shown that although the mount is rated for 13kg each side it is better at max 10kg each side.

As mentioned the mount isn’t of the best build quality and fit and finish but most importantly it works realy, really well.

Stock saddles are poor quality and best to replace them with better ones.

Used to have a Skytee and really liked it although have now upgraded to an AZ100.

 

 

Edited August 22, 2021 by johninderby

[RT65CB-SWL]

Having read some 'negative' reviews on other astronomy forums about some of the castings being too rustic and threads being stripped by over enthusiastic tightening by the end user, these are what I use...

an AOKswiss AYO ll [left] and a Tele-Optic Giro GR-DX ll [right].

 

  

[skybadger]

I've done the mod to put a dovetail either side and put steppers on both axis driven by an onstep to track the stars and do goto, principally for solar and mobile observing, with a stellavue80 on one side and a vc110 o. The other. 

Works very nicely. 

[johninderby]

Or if you fancy some DIY there is the SynScan mod. 😁

Here’s one I did earlier. 🙂

[John]

3 hours ago, Philip R said:

Having read some 'negative' reviews on other astronomy forums about some of the castings being too rustic and threads being stripped by over enthusiastic tightening by the end user, these are what I use...

an AOKswiss AYO ll [left] and a Tele-Optic Giro GR-DX ll [right].

 

  

I have a Giro Ercole as well as the Skytee II. The ST II is a slightly stabler mount with a big scope on board but I like the simplicity of the Ercole sometimes as well:

 

 

The slow motion controls of the ST II do come in useful when observing at 200x plus, which my refractors seem to be quite able to do.

 

 

Edited August 22, 2021 by John

[Carbon Brush]

I bought a used Skytee some months back. Wanting something with decent carrying capacity.
It had much better feel after I dismantled it to remove the chip fat, and replaced it by proper grease.
Yes a bit agricultural. But a lot less money than others.
 

[jock1958]

9 hours ago, Carbon Brush said:

I bought a used Skytee some months back. Wanting something with decent carrying capacity.
It had much better feel after I dismantled it to remove the chip fat, and replaced it by proper grease.
Yes a bit agricultural. But a lot less money than others.
 

Love mine, bought it second hand a few years ago and like you removed that sticky glue and replaced it with standard wheel bearing grease, needless to say it a made massive difference. Although I only use my 4” F9 refractor on it I’ve no doubt you could comfortably double the load with spare capacity easily. 

[skybadger]

That chip fat is the right grease for the worm wheel ... But not necessarily the rest of it. 

I redistributed mine on the worm and left it at that. Works well.