Side-grade

[Greenman]

My pawnshop special 80AT worked OK for a while, but now I get consistent ‘motor failures ‘ roughly at the same positions. I was toying with the idea of cleaning the sensor, etc. But then I found Orion 76mm ring mounts and realised I could butcher the forks on the Meade and mount the OTA on my SE 6 mount using some components from my 130 EQ.

That would let me mount the Meade OTA on either a Go To or an an EQ with a motor drive. This sounds like a neat side-grade, other than needing a finder for the Meade OTA can anyone see any pratfalls in this plan?

[Lady Fraktor]

I assume by 80AT you mean a ETX80AT?
If you can de-fork it a set of rings and a dovetail will let you attach it to many different mounts.
Quite a few people use the Celestron SLT mount for the purpose of placing different small/ medium size telescopes on them.
The SLT I currently use was purchased specifically for holding my Stellarvue 80mm refractor.

[Greenman]

Hi Lady Frankfort,

Yes, an ETX 80 AT BB. It is my first major mod, I just prefer the Celestron mount to the EXT, and in my hands the alignment is superior. Plus I don’t need to repair the EXT mount. The Stellarvue looks to be a nice scope.

[Greenman]

The question I should is about deforking this looks a fairly brutal process involving saws taken to the fork connectors on the side of the scope. Is there a more conservative method?

[Lady Fraktor]

Check this site: http://www.weasner.com/etx/menu.html

Loads of really good information but a bit difficult to find things at times.
Someone will have does the de-forking so it should be posted.

[Greenman]

Nice one if anyone else is considering this see the bottom of this page on weasner:

http://www.weasner.com/etx/90ec_comments.html