Any advice on a how to mount a Tal100?

[domfog]

whoops posted by accident ..

I would like advice as to how to or is it advisable to, mount this beautiful scope on my manfrotto photogarphy tripod?

The tripod is heavy and substantial this link show the exact product at Jessops I bought it from an independent retailer

of course! (http://www.jessops.co.uk/Store/s27090/0/Tripods/Manfrotto/190CL-Tripod-%2b-390RC-Head/details.aspx?&IsSearch=y&pageindex=1&CatId=342&comp=n)

Cheers

Dominic

[geppetto]

Dominic

Are you up to doing a bit of woodwork?

Look at this link, I built one of these a while back for

a home made 80mm refractor and it was very stable

for very little money (alter measurements to suit your scope)

http://www.upstateastro.org/stars/redeem1.html

[domfog]

Well with woodworking skills like yours it must be a cinch.

I obviously am taking up the pinocchio reference.

thanks but I don't think I will be building my own yet I just have got the skills

Cheers Dom

[russ]

Does it have tube rings Dom?

You could buy a Skywatcher small or medium dovetail bar which come with a couple of whitworth threads in the middle, so should fit the tripod. Not sure what the weight capacity of the tripod is but it will need to be 3.5-4Kgs. And even then things could get wobbly due to the size of the Tal.

What you could really do with is someone selling a cheap Skywatcher AZ3 or EQ2 mount. The EQ2 without a drive fetches almost nothing.

Russ

[GazOC]

I'm not sure about mounting a long fl refractor on a camera tripod no matter how sturdy it is.

[Ambermile]

It would be sort of OK if you did it upside down - but that also means more weight ...

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

The big problem that I've found when doing this is how far you are away from the locking knobs. Walk away from the 'scope and one end will crash down, unless you have lowered it already. Most photo tripods can't take the weight except straight down as the brakes won't hold. Mine's a big thing (Manfrotto 161) and the problem is with the brakes.

As Arthur said, if you can do it upside down, you're laughing - something like this http://www.warehouseexpress.com/pdf/nill/tripodhead_instructions.pdf would raise the pivot above the centre of gravity and the 'scope would fall level if you let go.

Captain Chaos

[russ]

Dom, you may want to consider this EQ2 on Ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/EQ-2-Equatorial-Mount-with-RA-drive_W0QQitemZ200005796877QQihZ010QQcategoryZ3636QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Still a few days to go but it may not go for much. An EQ3 would be perfect for that scope but they fetch £50-70 no problem. This EQ2 may only go for £30 with the drive.

Russ