Easy AltAz Mount Modification

In April 2005, Sky and Telescope ran an article by Alan Adler called " A Simple Altazimuth Tripod Adapter" that described a simple solution for the balance problems associated with a scope on a traditional tripod head.

His solution was really simple and easy to make, and so I put one together for my Pronto.

It really works well, so I thought I would share the results with anyone who might be interested.

You can read about it here:

http://www.indytel.com/~rnabholz/stool/EasyAltAzMountModification.htm

Thanks

Attached Image:

Hi Rob:

Nice looking, what tripod is that?

One can do a similar thing with by using a three axis head and flipping the top axis about 90 degrees from its normal position. I call it the "Sidesaddle" mount

I have been using this scheme with a variety of scopes for several years, curently with my Pronto and my ED-80.

The problem I find with using photo tripods like this or in your scheme is that they put a lot of off center loading on the azimuth bearing so that it can be rough/sloppy at high magnifications. One also has to be careful because the scope weight is significantly off center so it there is a potential to flip.

My current favorite for an EZ ALT-AZ mount for a smaller scope is to take a small EQ mount and point the polar axis to the zenith. This makes for a solid ALT-AZ mount with the OTA balanced dob/fork style and has the added advantage that it has some very nice geared slo-mo controls for both axises.

I am currently using an old Meade mount from a 4500 Newt, its about the size of an EQ-2 but it has a full gear on the Dec axis instead of a tangent arm. I use this mount with my 100mmF6 Achromat (Burion) and my ED-80 and really enjoy it. I can adjust the tension so that I can just point the scope where I want it, then track it with the slo-mo knobs without having to tighten the locks.

It has the added advantage that it is cheap, I paid $20 for the whole thing including the scope, eyepieces etc.


Jon

Nice and simple, and it works well? Even with higher powers can you track ok?

Fabulous!! Ingenious!! I had made something with
weights to accomplish same thing with my Bogen
3046 + 3021 but this is much more clever!
All you need is a Rigel finder on that piece of
wood.... perfection.