Moving dovetail to the top of a C14?

[bluesilver]

Hi,  this is a bit of an odd question,  it is in regards to the Celestron C14,  

With the standard dovetail bar,  dose it matter if it is installed on the top and not the bottom?

The end result will be that the scope will be upside down or mounted 180 degrees.

Only asking as i have stripped on of the screw threads,  I haven't been keen enough to fully disassemble the scope to see if it is fully stripped or how long these threads are.

I am not imaging with it apart from doing some planetary imaging,  it is mainly a visual scope.

It is the black tubed version,  the XTL version.

Any advice on this would be appreciated,

Thanks.

 

 

 

[Robindonne]

The only thing that can happen is that the images are upside down. But can easily be adjusted with software. But serious, you can think of going one size up in screw thread (and make a new thread) or just mount the dovetail, like you asked, on top.

[ollypenrice]

Surely it cannot matter a jot? The OTA is circular in section, the accessories on the rear of the scope can be rotated to any angle... There might be an issue with locating the finder if there are no drillings but it won't be anything you can't solve. My 14 inch SCT is Meade so I don't know about the Celestron drillings.

Olly

[bluesilver]

Thanks for the replies and advice, appreciated.

I did think about drilling a larger hole and putting a tap through it.

But doing so there is a good chance of getting metal filings falling inside the tube, plus just real sure how thick the metal is where these threaded holes are.

Not real confident yet enough to fully disassemble the scope to remove all the mirrors to prevent any damage,  unless i can find a youtube video of a c14 being disassembled.

The idea of just putting the dovetail on top and mounting the scope upside down could be the better option.

 

 

[Starwatcher2001]

Will the focus knob be on the left, rather than the right?  Might be annoying if you're right-handed.

[PeterCPC]

You could try using a thread repair kit - may be worth a go.

[bluesilver]

Thanks for the replies and advice, sorry also for the long delay in replying,  been off researching this a bit.

The scope is a new XTL C14,  so it is the latest version of the C14 non Edge version.

All this happened as i was replacing the original orange dovetail bar with a heavy duty Farpoint dovetail bar.

I had a few issues with the radius blocks and while sorting that out i put the orange bar back on.

I had a few issues getting the orange bar back on and this is where the screw stripped.

It is only the one screw and it is at the front of the tube, not at the back.

At the moment how it sits, i have the heavy duty bar back on and used a fair amount of light thread lock on it.

 

I was looking at drilling the hole out and going for the next size screw,  put just by visually looking in the tube front the front, I can't see any screws inside the housing.

So i am not 100% sure how thick the plate is or if i decide to make the hole larger for the next size up if i should just drill all the way through so it comes into the tube itself.

If i do his i would remove the front glass and have the tube sitting up so al shaving fall straight out.