SkyTee set up

[Stu1smartcookie]

Hi All 

So I've asked a question about something similar before but I will have two largish scopes to put on this mount as from tomorrow . I intend to place a 200p on one side of the mount , and my starwave 102 on the top with the supplied cw underneath . I think it will work better than mounting the starwave on one side and the 200p on the other . 

Any thoughts on this ? 

Stu

[John]

With the Skytee II I feel that it is best to put the heavier scope on the side mounting point.

If those are the stock dovetail saddles keep an eye on them for thread wear to ensure that they hold your scopes safely.

 

 

[Dave scutt]

Hi stu.

I asked a similar question the other day about  mounting my scope on the side or top.

Best to stick the large scope on the side, John just beat me too it.

[johninderby]

The top mount is really just for lightweight scopes. Will perform better if scopes are mounted on the end points. Newer SkyTees apparently have both end caps drilled for fitting a saddle. With older Skytees you would need to drill and tap mounting holes on the blank end. The TS-AZ5 version of the Skytee has always had both end caps drilled and tapped.

The stock saddles are poor quality and can fail if too heavy an OTA such as a 200p are used.

 

 

Edited January 2, 2022 by johninderby

[Stu1smartcookie]

Thanks guys for the replies.  

John , I will transfer the top saddle to the side as my mount is one of the newer models , having said that , you've  got me a bit paranoid about the supplied saddles ! What makes them so inferior ? Also even putting the star wave on one side I guess the most weight will be on the other side where the 200p will be , would you still use the counterweight and bar which can remain under the top clamp to give the star wave side a bit more weight ? 

[UKDiver]

15 minutes ago, johninderby said:

The top mount is really just for lightweight scopes. Will perform better if scopes are mounted on the end points. Newer SkyTees apparently have both end caps drilled for fitting a saddle. With older Skytees you would need to drill and tap mounting holes on the blank end. The TS-AZ5 version of the Skytee has always had both end caps drilled and tapped.

The stock saddles are poor quality and can fail if too heavy an OTA such as a 200p are used.

Hi John, a couple of questions.

What is your definition of lightweight?

I'm using my FC100-DC in that position on the basis that is looks closer to centre of system. Why will the mount perform less well in this position?

[johninderby]

10 minutes ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

Thanks guys for the replies.  

John , I will transfer the top saddle to the side as my mount is one of the newer models , having said that , you've  got me a bit paranoid about the supplied saddles ! What makes them so inferior ? Also even putting the star wave on one side I guess the most weight will be on the other side where the 200p will be , would you still use the counterweight and bar which can remain under the top clamp to give the star wave side a bit more weight ? 

The stock saddles are weak and prone to the clamping bolt stripping the thread and suddenly letting go.

You might not need to use the counterweight unless the tripod is really unstable. 

[johninderby]

11 minutes ago, UKDiver said:

Hi John, a couple of questions.

What is your definition of lightweight?

I'm using my FC100-DC in that position on the basis that is looks closer to centre of system. Why will the mount perform less well in this position?

About 2 to 3 kg.  By using the end saddle you won’t need a counterweight. I tried both positions and simply found it easier to balance the scope using the end position. 

[Stu1smartcookie]

Thanks John.  I seem to remember you putting a link on suitable brackets on here before,  but I can't find it , where did you get your please

[Dave scutt]

I don't know what makes the saddles bad or I know is most people change them when I brought my skytee it had ADM saddles on it. 

[Stu1smartcookie]

Save I think that's a good solution

[johninderby]

Deleted

Edited January 2, 2022 by johninderby

[johninderby]

Aha….found them on Amazon. 👍🏻

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tamkyo-Universal-Dovetail-Astronomy-Telescope-Silver/dp/B08XMQV26Z/ref=sr_1_32?crid=2OUNNSMSBHYO3&keywords=universal+dovetail+clamp%2Cvixen&qid=1641156308&sprefix=universal+dovetail+clamp+vixen%2Caps%2C95&sr=8-32

[johninderby]

I tapped the centre hole in the saddle to M12 and then used an M16 to M12 adaptor so the counterweight bar could still be fitted if only using one scope.

 

Edited January 2, 2022 by johninderby

[Dave scutt]

5 minutes ago, johninderby said:

I tapped the centre hole in the saddle to M12 and then used an M16 to M12 adaptor so the counterweight bar caould still be fitted of only using one scope.

 

Hi johninderby. 

I have holes to put the top saddle on the side if I do that would it be safe to put the counter weight underneath the top saddle to keep the scope balanced. 

Dave 

[johninderby]

You could do that although the scope should balance fine without any counterweight. 

[badhex]

Hello Stu, 

One thing worth noting is that even if your version has both T ends tapped already, you might find that when you try to attach a saddle, the two sides are not aligned in the Alt axis. The long side of the T (i.e. the white puck) does not have an adjustment wingnut like the very top mount point so requires a little more work to adjust. To be clear, the long side doesn't really have a puck, it's more of an end cap. It has three grub screws around the outside of the cap and loosening these does give you a few degrees of rotation after which I could not rotate it any more. (I have read that you can fully unscrew this for maintenance but you may need a strap wrench to do it.) I've rather crudely annotated your picture for clarity. 

I needed to do two things to get the two sides aligned on mine:

1. The short side of the T with the black puck has three hex bolts separated by 120 degrees securing it to the mount head. I had to remove the saddle, then unscrew these three bolts, then rotate the puck 120 degrees to line up roughly with the tapped holes in the long side end cap, and finally reattach it. 
2. This was still out by a couple of degrees, so I loosened the three small retaining grub screws on the outside of the end cap on the long side and this allowed the end cap to be rotated just enough for the tapped holes to line up with the short side puck.

I hope this makes sense! You may not even need this, presumably this should have been aligned at least roughly already in the factory but perhaps mine slipped through the QC, if there even is any 😂

Oh BTW, I used PrimaLuce Labs saddles which are hideously expensive but extremely well made with dual losmandy/vixen fit and two separate clamps. 

 

 

[Stu1smartcookie]

7 hours ago, badhex said:

Hello Stu, 

One thing worth noting is that even if your version has both T ends tapped already, you might find that when you try to attach a saddle, the two sides are not aligned in the Alt axis. The long side of the T (i.e. the white puck) does not have an adjustment wingnut like the very top mount point so requires a little more work to adjust. To be clear, the long side doesn't really have a puck, it's more of an end cap. It has three grub screws around the outside of the cap and loosening these does give you a few degrees of rotation after which I could not rotate it any more. (I have read that you can fully unscrew this for maintenance but you may need a strap wrench to do it.) I've rather crudely annotated your picture for clarity. 

I needed to do two things to get the two sides aligned on mine:

1. The short side of the T with the black puck has three hex bolts separated by 120 degrees securing it to the mount head. I had to remove the saddle, then unscrew these three bolts, then rotate the puck 120 degrees to line up roughly with the tapped holes in the long side end cap, and finally reattach it. 
2. This was still out by a couple of degrees, so I loosened the three small retaining grub screws on the outside of the end cap on the long side and this allowed the end cap to be rotated just enough for the tapped holes to line up with the short side puck.

I hope this makes sense! You may not even need this, presumably this should have been aligned at least roughly already in the factory but perhaps mine slipped through the QC, if there even is any 😂

Oh BTW, I used PrimaLuce Labs saddles which are hideously expensive but extremely well made with dual losmandy/vixen fit and two separate clamps. 

 

 

Thanks for the post , seems a bit of a faff to me lol , but it makes perfect sense . I see that FLO sell ADM clamps for the skytee .I am going to get one of those .

[badhex]

15 hours ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

Thanks for the post , seems a bit of a faff to me lol , but it makes perfect sense . I see that FLO sell ADM clamps for the skytee .I am going to get one of those .

Hopefully you won't need the instructions! I strongly suspect that the black puck on mine was just attached wrong at the factory, I did do some searching but couldn't find any posts on SGL with the same issue. 

Easiest way to tell without taking anything apart is just to look at the orientation of the tapped holes on each side. If they look the same orientation, you're probably alright. 

If someone else has the newer or TS version adn added a saddle to the side with the end cap, they might be able to chip in with whether they needed to do the second step I mentioned (with the grub screws) when aligning two scopes. I am yet to get two scopes set up under the night sky so have only adjusted it by eye for now, but I imagine I'll need to fine tune it. 

I should add that I discovered this solution for myself as I couldn't find specific instructions on SGL or CN - so someone else might have a better way to do it than me! 

Edited January 4, 2022 by badhex

[Franklin]

15 hours ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

I see that FLO sell ADM clamps for the skytee .I am going to get one of those .

ADM hardware is the best.

[johninderby]

The ADM saddles are OK quality but now outclassed by the other brands such as Primaluce etc. Things have moved on.

https://www.widescreen-centre.co.uk/primaluce-lab-plus-premium-big-dovetail-clamps.html

Rowan saddles are amazing quality and in a different league to ADM for engineering and fit and finish and materials used. The best I’ve ever used but would be overkill for a Skytee.

The ADM Slytee saddles are a vast improvement over the stock ones though so a good budget alternative.

Drool warning. 😁😁😁

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/rowan-astronomy-mounts/rowan-az100-dual-losmandy-vixen-style-saddle.html

Edited January 4, 2022 by johninderby

[badhex]

8 hours ago, johninderby said:

The ADM saddles are OK quality but now outclassed by the other brands such as Primaluce etc. Things have moved on.

https://www.widescreen-centre.co.uk/primaluce-lab-plus-premium-big-dovetail-clamps.html

Rowan saddles are amazing quality and in a different league to ADM for engineering and fit and finish and materials used. The best I’ve ever used but would be overkill for a Skytee.

The ADM Slytee saddles are a vast improvement over the stock ones though so a good budget alternative.

Drool warning. 😁😁😁

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/rowan-astronomy-mounts/rowan-az100-dual-losmandy-vixen-style-saddle.html

I have two of the PrimaLuce saddles you linked to on my Skytee - they are quality! Given that together they cost about as much as the Skytee I figured they'd be an investment! 

[badhex]

Side note, I only put two and two together a few months back: "prima luce" is "first light" in Italian 😬

[johninderby]

12 minutes ago, badhex said:

Side note, I only put two and two together a few months back: "prima luce" is "first light" in Italian 😬

si hai ragione. 👍🏻