Johnsonian Type 5 PlatformPosted By John LeBeau |
I bought one used off astromart 1 1/2 years ago and I use it all the time. I don't do photography and my scope is an Orion XT8 (my first and only--so far). The Type 5 came with a top made by the previous owner and I always use it.
The toughest part is getting the drive wheels into the correct slot. It is easy to miss the slot or worse yet, get the two wheels into different slots. With the platform properly polar aligned, I use a compass and adjust for variation, I have had Saturn filling the viewfinder at 420X, the highest power I can attain. This was at a star party for my daughter's first grade class and with about 15 viewers, I had to adjust the scope once.
The best part about the Type 5 is that if I want to sell it again, latitude is not an issue, it can go anywhere.
The toughest part is getting the drive wheels into the correct slot. It is easy to miss the slot or worse yet, get the two wheels into different slots. With the platform properly polar aligned, I use a compass and adjust for variation, I have had Saturn filling the viewfinder at 420X, the highest power I can attain. This was at a star party for my daughter's first grade class and with about 15 viewers, I had to adjust the scope once.
The best part about the Type 5 is that if I want to sell it again, latitude is not an issue, it can go anywhere.
