Pretty clever idea, Thomas.
I always get nervous when I'm balancing the scope with one hand
while trying to start the threads on the thumbscrew with the other.
Bad enough with the TV-85, but with the NP-127, I try to get a helper.
Murphy's Law is always in the back of my mind.
Or as we used to say at work... "What could possibly go wrong?"
Another good reason to do this:
I took the dovetail plate off my NP-127 once, to mount it on the Gibraltar.
A week later I loaded up the 127 and my GM-8 and headed up to the dark skies of southern Utah.
I set up the GM-8 one afternoon and waited until it was starting to get dark, before pulling out the scope.
Just as I was about to hoist it up on the mount, I noticed the dovetail plate was nowhere to be seen.
I knew exactly where it was though... about 640 miles away. Argh!
The only way I could see to improve your "prototype" would be if one of those ratchet type lever nuts would fit on there.
Otherwise, you did a pretty good job fashioning that sliding lever unit.
My only other thought was to make an extension for the original knurled knob,
but that would require drilling a sizeable hole through the side of the Gibralter cradle.
That would be best avoided.
I've already got a saddle clamp here. I'll start looking for another dovetail plate or two.
Thanks for sharing the idea.
Linton
