MacGyvering my SW AZ5

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pakarinen United States of America
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MacGyvering my SW AZ5

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Post by pakarinen »


So far, I really like the look and feel of my Skywatcher AZ5, but I've lamented the lack of encoders for push-to. I don't want to disassemble the mount (yet) to see what it might take to get a set of encoders on it, so I've been scanning around or just aiming at bright targets. LP here makes hopping less than ideal.

After I had gotten my Twilight 1 and before getting encoders for it, I bought a flexible plastic dinner plate from Target for about a buck, drilled a center hole in it and put it on the center bolt of the TW for an EP tray. Then I bought a Wixey for altitude and glued an az circle onto a thin wooden disk cut to fit over the center hub of the TW. It was never as accurate as using my encoders, but it was ok.

In a flash of brilliance or clownishness today, I taped the old wooden disk / az circle onto the former EP tray, and slipped it over the 3/8 bolt on my tripod. Bolted the AZ5 on, and I now have an az circle on the AZ5, which can be used with Sky Safari coords. The Wixey is magnetic, so it grabs onto a steel plate on the dovetail rail.

The az circle is somewhat too big for the AZ5 as are the holes I drilled in the plate and the disk, but I'm out zero additional dollars so far. Test of concept with my 80mm maybe tonight if the weather cooperates. If I'm satisfied with it, I can get a smaller circle and glue it directly on a new plate to make things look prettier.
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I drink tea, I read books, I look at stars when I'm not cursing clouds. It's what I do.
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AT50, AT72EDII, ST80, ST102; Scopetech Zero, AZ-GTi, AZ Pronto; Innorel RT90C, Oberwerk 5000; Orion Giantview 15x70s, Vortex 8x42s, Navy surplus 7x50s, Nikon 10x50s
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