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Counterweight bar for my alt-az


John

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I wonder if anyone has any ideas how to sort this ?.

I have a nice Giro-style alt-az mount made by Ambermille Engineering. It's a great mount and able to hold heavy scopes but, with OTA's of 8kg or more, it benefits from having some counter weighting on the opposite side of the "T".

I have 2 5kg Skywatcher counterweights but my challenge is to devise a counterweight bar to fit onto one "arm" of the mount, which currently has a vixen / skywatcher type dovetail clamp on it. I've posted a pic of the arm below.

What I need, I think, is a 6" - 8" counterweight bar fixed firmly (welded ?) to a short dovetail bar. I can then remove it easily when I'm using a lighter scope or a scope on both sides.

I'm happy to fund having one made up but I'm not sure where I could get such a thing put together ?. Any ideas ?.

Thanks :)

Here is the arm I'd like to fit the counterweight bar to, I've added my crude idea of a possible design for the c/w bar:

post-12764-133877540444_thumb.jpg

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Buy a dovetail and suitable bar, drill the dovetail, tap the hole and cut the same thread on the end of the bar? I'd have thought that should be sufficient for the job.

James

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Thanks for the suggestions James and Brian :p

Brian's is one of those that makes you slap your head and wonder why you did not think of it youself :). "Simples" as Alexander Orlov is so fond of saying :(

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Not that I think it's not worth trying, because I do, but the possible problem that struck me with Brian's idea is that you might not be able to easily or conveniently get sufficient weight to balance the scope on the other side.

I'd certainly try it first, and if it doesn't work then you needed a dovetail for plan A anyhow...

James

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I have done exactly the same thing you're looking to do, John.

I used to use it on my W.O. EZ Touch. Made the panning in azimuth, smoother and took away overbalancing worries when hefty scopes were on it. I've now altered it slightly and use it on my helix grab n go, to good effect.

I made mine with a spare Tal counterweight bar and cut a 3" long piece off of a solid(15mm thk) alluminium dovetail, originally bought from Telescope Service. The c/w bar is threaded M16, so I drilled and tapped the dovetail piece.

Andy.

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I might be getting an alt-az mount soon, so I'd also be interested in your solution, John.

If you don't need it to be adjustable, I suppose the simplest would be to bolt a counterweight to a dovetail with a long M6 bolt, a locking nut and a large washer.

Andrew

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I might be getting an alt-az mount soon, so I'd also be interested in your solution, John.

If you don't need it to be adjustable, I suppose the simplest would be to bolt a counterweight to a dovetail with a long M6 bolt, a locking nut and a large washer.

Andrew

I've "cheated" and ordered the TS item Andrew :). It's not cheap but I'm so busy with domestic / work issues ATM I don't have the time to experiment and fabricate stuff. I wanted a solution in time for SGL6 as well :p

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I've "cheated" and ordered the TS item Andrew :(. It's not cheap but I'm so busy with domestic / work issues ATM I don't have the time to experiment and fabricate stuff. I wanted a solution in time for SGL6 as well :D

Quick update for those interested:

The TS counterweight bar (as linked to by Bender) arrived promptly and does exactly what it says "on the tin". With a 5kg weight, my alt-az is a lot smoother in motion :)

I can't say the TS item is worth what they charge for it though (in my opinion) but I guess I'm paying for the convenience of not having to make one up myself and wanting it quickly :)

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