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Skytee 2 With ADM Dovetail Saddle Mod

johninderby

By johninderby
in Discussions - Mounts

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johninderby

johninderby

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Skytee 2 Alt-Az mount with ADM dovetail saddle mod

While I've been really pleased with my new SkyWatcher Skytee 2 Alt-Az mount I wasn't so pleased with the dovetail saddles. Yes they're not bad really but they are definitely a poor second best compared to an ADM dovetail saddle. The ADM has tapered ends so that a dovetail bar just slides in place so easily and also it is clamped in two places. As I already had a spare ADM saddle I decided to see if it could be fitted to the Skytee 2 mount.

Unfortunately none of the bolt holes lined up so I would have to drill two holes in the ADM saddle. I removed the standard dovetail saddle by removing the two bolts. The disk underneath is held by three small bolts near the rim. On the reverse side of the disk the centre is marked with a small pit. This made it easy to drill a perfectly centred 6.5mm hole right through the disk. Then I bolted the disk to the bottom of the ADM saddle using this hole. This is only used to hold the ADM saddle in place temporarily while the two new mounting holes are accurately established.

Next I rotated the disk so that the two small mounting holes were just outside of the existing line of holes in the ADM saddle. Then using a small drill I marked the location of the two new mounting holes, removed the disk and drilled the two new holes in the bottom of the saddle with a 6.5mm bit. The last job was to turn the ADM saddle over and countersink the new holes. I used the existing mounting bolts from the standard saddle.

Test fitted the OTA to the mount and what a difference it makes. It's just so much easier to use, not to mention more solid. I'll definitely be changing the other saddle as well. I hope my description of the mod doesn't make it seem like a difficult job. It really was only a simple 10 minute job.

John

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andrew956

andrew956

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Hi John

Good modification i was thinking of the William optics losmandy style plates. The raised axis is a bit of a problem for me even though it holds both scopes with no problems i find i have to tighten the axis to the limit i was toying with the idea of locking the axis permanently don`t know what your thoughts are on this.

Andy

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johninderby

johninderby

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Hi Andy

The WO Losmandy style plate should work, although I think that you'd still have to drill a couple of new mounting holes. The Skytee has a non standard 40mm hole spacing.

Th ADM stuff though is really solid. I don't think that FLO stocks the Vixen style saddle on it's own, but you could order directly from ADM. I might even be worth asking Adam at ADM if he could do the saddles with the correct spacing. I've dealt with him before and he is incredibly helpful.

http://www.admaccessories.com/

I suppose you could replace the little axis knob with a bolt to really tighten it up, just so long as you don't strip the thread that is.

John

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andrew956

andrew956

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Cheers for the info John... About the axis you are right there would be a chance of stripping the threads I may talk to John at OO and see if he can do the job as they have all the right tools there to do it.

Andy

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andrew956

andrew956

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Hi John

Took the mount to OO this morning to have the axis locked off they said they can do it and also re grease with a silicon based grease instead of the sticky synta stuff. But i will not have the mount back till next weekend as they have to strip it down to do the job and also make sure that both tubes will be parallel to each other on completion so i will update you when this is done.

Andy

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  • 1 month later...
johninderby

johninderby

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You have jumped the gun John :D

Anthony at ADM is currently preparing a batch of saddles with suitable hole spacings for the Skywatcher Skytee-2. The original Skywatcher saddle isn't particularly deep or robust, there is definitely room for improvement.

Steve

Put me down for one

I was going to order one soon anyway but now you've saved me the trouble.:p

BTW I've just finished a mod to a set of slo-mo cables to fit the Skytee 2 knobs and shorten one of them so there are now two equal length cables. Works really well. :(

John

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andrew956

andrew956

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Looks like i will have to order one aswell as i now have a 250mm going onto the Sky tee even though it handles both my scopes easily a bit more security is defo needed securing your scope to this mount.

Andy

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andrew956

andrew956

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Hi John

I have emailed FLO to see when they are getting the ADM saddles in but not had any response yet. I have taken advice to bin the aluminum thumb screws on the saddles provided with the sky tee and at the moment I am having 2 new thumb screws made out of stainless steel as a temporary fix until FLO gets the ADMs in stock as I dont fancy the idea of threads being stripped on the Ally ones and my scope going bump in the night.

Andy

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johninderby

johninderby

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WDS Ltd should also have thumbscrews that will fit.

I have found a use for one of the Skytee 2 saddles though. It makes a great mount for fitting a big finder or guide scope to your scope. It's plenty strong enough for that purpose.

John

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johninderby

johninderby

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The second ADM saddle arrived this morning from FLO, so I spent ten minutes adding the two new mounting holes and bolting it onto the mount. BTW the hole spacing on the Skytee is 35mm not the 40mm I mentioned in an earlier post.

Now there's no more concerns about the lightweight standard saddles. The build quality of the ADM saddles is just so much higher. The greater length of the saddles and the increased clamping force make for a more secure set-up as well as greater peace of mind.

John

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johninderby

johninderby

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I guess that FLO doesn't have a firm date yet.

I find the standard saddles do have their uses though. I used one for mounting my 90mm finder on my 14" dob and it works great with such a light load. I think I'm going to use the other for a sliding counterweight system on the dob. Just bolt a Skywatcher dovetail bar onto the tube and the Skywatcher saddle will hold the counterweights.

John

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russ

russ

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I guess that FLO doesn't have a firm date yet.

I find the standard saddles do have their uses though. I used one for mounting my 90mm finder on my 14" dob and it works great with such a light load. I think I'm going to use the other for a sliding counterweight system on the dob. Just bolt a Skywatcher dovetail bar onto the tube and the Skywatcher saddle will hold the counterweights.

John

Looks a great upgrade John. Superb job as always.

And great use of the existing saddles. :)

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John

John

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Appreciate that this is a delicate question but here goes...... :)

If someone was unaware of the potential issues with the standard dovetail clamps on the Skytee II, bought one and duly fastened their 15kg OTA to the mount, later to have it fall off due to a mechanical failure of the clamp ............ would Skywatcher be liable for the damage to their scope ?.

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