Wrong Skymax OTA for the mount

[Lung]

A friend of mine died recently and left me his hardly used Skymax 127. His sister gave it to me yesterday and I've discovered the OTA is the wrong one for the mount. It came with the black Goto but with skyscan controller, but the OTA is the one you get if you buy it on its own. This means that if I fit the tube to the mount, the red dot finder is underneath the tube.

There is an L accessory bracket that I can put on the mount, and then attach the tube to so that the dovetail is at the very bottom of the tube but I don't know if moving the mount 90 degrees will have any impact on using SkyScan etc.

Is the L bracket sufficient to use the full setup properly, or do I need to do something else to get it working correctly?

[Cosmic Geoff]

I see your problem. 🙁 It would be better to attach the scope directly to the mount via the dovetail.  There are various workarounds that might be tried for the finder position problem: 

See if you can use it as-is.

Buy another finder bracket and Araldite it into the desired position.

See if a right-angle finder will work - you can arrange it to stick out sideways so you don't have to crane your neck when trying to aim upwards.

Remember that you have a GoTo mount, so with luck you will only need to use the finder a couple of times a night (for alignment). 

[inedible_hulk]

You could always upgrade your rdf to a QuickFinder. The baseplate comes with some very sticky strips to attach it to your scope. Top tip: Use blue tack until you’ve found your preferred location 😊

[Gfamily]

An alternative suggestion is to remove the dovetail and pair it with Tube Rings to hold the OTA.

[Zermelo]

Do you know which mount it is?

With some of the SW mounts, you can flash the controller with a different version of the software, to switch between left and right hand operation.

[Lung]

43 minutes ago, Zermelo said:

Do you know which mount it is?

With some of the SW mounts, you can flash the controller with a different version of the software, to switch between left and right hand operation.

It's the Synscan Star Discovery, with handset rather than WiFi.

[LondonNeil]

How complex or straightforward is it to remove the back and mirror?  Complex I guess.  If it weren't then you could drill the tube for the screws to (re) locate the finder.   Although if its just Red dot epoxy or double sided sticky pads would be good I'm sure. 

[LondonNeil]

Ahhj, go in the front,  it doesn't look hard in this video at least

 

 

Then

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/126158692568?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=ec_hrumotgq&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=ouq3u5EnS2m&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

A drill and 2 self tapping pan heads.

[Zermelo]

8 hours ago, Lung said:

It's the Synscan Star Discovery, with handset rather than WiFi.

Ah, you can't with that one.

I have the same mount and scope, and I ended up doing what was described above - fitting a RACI finder to the existing shoe and pointing the viewing end upwards.

[Lung]

Is the accessory L bracket that it came with not a viable solution then? Does moving the mount from the side to the bottom mess up the coordinate system or something?

[Cosmic Geoff]

1 hour ago, Lung said:

Is the accessory L bracket that it came with not a viable solution then? Does moving the mount from the side to the bottom mess up the coordinate system or something?

It seems an insecure means of mounting the OTA.   I have never heard of anyone mounting an OTA that way.

[Tiny Clanger]

I've used a skywatcher 'L' bracket to mount my similarly 'wrong way round' 127 mak on my AZ5, it works fine, but that's on a substantial lump of a mount and a decently heavy tripod.

The alternative with an AZ5 is to mount the mak effectively backwards, and with the AZ5 arm vertical, which limits the alt the 'scope can view, unless you remove the slo mo cable to let the diagonal pass it ...

I don't know if that specific mount (or tripod) that the OP has could cope physically with the OTA on the bracket, and if the slightly outward displaced weight would cause balance or motor problems, (best keep the OTA as close to the mount's clamp as possible to avoid stress ) but as far as aim is concerned surely it will make no difference ?

I've used a Rigel Quickfinder on my mak, the stick on bases work well.

[Tiny Clanger]

Not being sure what mount that is, I did a search and FLO came on top, there in the page for the current version is "Frequently bought with this product: Sky-Watcher L-Bracket Dovetail" which suggests you will be fine , as does the FLO ad for the bracket which states :

"The Sky-Watcher L-Bracket dovetail is a useful accessory for mounting telescopes, spotting-scopes and binoculars to mounts such as the Vixen Mini Porta and Porta II, Sky-Watcher AZ-4, Supatrak and AZ Synscan Goto and Celestron SLT and SE series mounts.

Capable of securely mounting up to a 100mm aperture (4 inch) telescope or 80mm (3.2 inch) binoculars."

Also this handbook (possibly for a different model ?) suggests some of these come (or came) with the bracket included

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1962294/Sky-Watcher-Star-Discovery-2i.html?page=8#manual

To fix a 127 mak securely and retain the ability to fine tune balance I'd not use the single camera type screw though, I use one of these https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dovetails-saddles-clamps/baader-vixen-style-dovetail-clamp.html

it has a threaded hole in the centre which matches the camera screw.