How attach ST80 to AstroView mount?

I think it's time to take my ST80 off the photo tripod and get an eq
mount. Looking forward to better OTAs as well, I thought the Orion
AstroView (aka EQ-3?) would be reasonable.

But how does an ST80 attach to it, with rings or a 1/4"-20 adapter?

The Orion info lady says rings, #7370, $15.95.

Comments welcome on any of the above.

Thanks.

Josh

ps - their web site seems broken and recently mis-redesigned, I can't
even find the mount!

Orion calls it an astroview mount. This mount is very similar, if not
identical to the CG5. This mount has the female half of a mounting into
which a dovetail plate is easily attached. You will need to buy, (1) a
suitable dovetail plate and (2) tube rings to make the connection. Both the
dovetail plate and the rings can be purchased from Orion. The lady at Orion
gave you half the story, as you also need the dovetail plate. By the way,
if you can buy some 1/4" aluminum stock and you don't mind using a hacksaw,
you can make the plate yourself. If you should decide to take on the
challenge, you can buy all your needs he www.mcmaster.com

Al


"JXStern" wrote in message
...
I think it's time to take my ST80 off the photo tripod and get an eq
mount. Looking forward to better OTAs as well, I thought the Orion
AstroView (aka EQ-3?) would be reasonable.

But how does an ST80 attach to it, with rings or a 1/4"-20 adapter?

The Orion info lady says rings, #7370, $15.95.

Comments welcome on any of the above.

Thanks.

Josh

ps - their web site seems broken and recently mis-redesigned, I can't
even find the mount!

"JXStern" wrote in message
...
I think it's time to take my ST80 off the photo tripod and get an eq
mount. Looking forward to better OTAs as well, I thought the Orion
AstroView (aka EQ-3?) would be reasonable.

But how does an ST80 attach to it, with rings or a 1/4"-20 adapter?

I'd go with rings.

I recently acquired a Starmax 127 which comes on the Astroview mount (really
nice Messier/Planet/Moon scope by the way). Second thing I did was order a
set of rings. The main reason you want them, is so you can rotate the OTA to
get the finder in a usable place. The Starmax OTA comes with an inverse
dovetail bar mounted flush against the OTA. It has a number of 1/4-20 holes
in it so that you can pick one to properly balance the scope on a standard
photo tripod. At the ends of the dovetail bar, there are two holes drilled
for the thumbscrews that mate to the Astroview head. I'm not going to be
using the OTA on a tripod, and I don't like the finder to be under the scope
when looking west, so the bar is coming off, and rings are going on.

I also have an ST80 (Celestron FS80-WA). I'm not sure I'd go all the way to
the EQ3 for that scope. The EQ3 is a substantial piece of equipment (you may
not need a counter weight for the ST80. Since I happen to have rings for
mine, I can try it out and get back to you this evening). I'll bet the EQ2
would give you all the stability you could ask for. In fact, FS80-WA came on
an EQ-1 and there are no issues with the combination at all (plenty stable
_and_ light). As I recall, the Celestron G5 comes on an EQ2, and the C5 and
the ST80 are pretty close in weight, the C5 being a tad heavier.

Stephen Paul

Actually, you're right. The Astroview mounting holes will put the rings too
far apart for the ST80. For longer OTAs one can simply affix the tube rings
directly to the head. (I did this with a C5 recently, and I just confirmed
the problem for the ST80).

Thanks Al.

-Stephen

"Al" wrote in message
et...
Orion calls it an astroview mount. This mount is very similar, if not
identical to the CG5. This mount has the female half of a mounting into
which a dovetail plate is easily attached. You will need to buy, (1) a
suitable dovetail plate and (2) tube rings to make the connection. Both
the
dovetail plate and the rings can be purchased from Orion. The lady at
Orion
gave you half the story, as you also need the dovetail plate. By the way,
if you can buy some 1/4" aluminum stock and you don't mind using a
hacksaw,
you can make the plate yourself. If you should decide to take on the
challenge, you can buy all your needs he www.mcmaster.com

Al


"JXStern" wrote in message
...
I think it's time to take my ST80 off the photo tripod and get an eq
mount. Looking forward to better OTAs as well, I thought the Orion
AstroView (aka EQ-3?) would be reasonable.

But how does an ST80 attach to it, with rings or a 1/4"-20 adapter?

The Orion info lady says rings, #7370, $15.95.

Comments welcome on any of the above.

Thanks.

Josh

ps - their web site seems broken and recently mis-redesigned, I can't
even find the mount!

Thanks to both you and Al. I already did call Orion back and ask
about the dovetail, and a second info lady denied it. Maybe I'll call
back again and confirm on the ST80 length issue. I could do the
hacksaw thing, but I guess it needs a couple of holes drilled and
tapped, too.

On Sat, 13 Mar 2004 14:20:41 -0500, "Stephen Paul"
wrote:
I'd go with rings.

I recently acquired a Starmax 127 which comes on the Astroview mount (really
nice Messier/Planet/Moon scope by the way). Second thing I did was order a
set of rings. The main reason you want them, is so you can rotate the OTA to
get the finder in a usable place.

Aha.

I also have an ST80 (Celestron FS80-WA). I'm not sure I'd go all the way to
the EQ3 for that scope.

I appreciate the info. I'm looking forward to upgrading the OTA, but
not today. Let's see, compared to the EQ2, about a nine pound
difference, and $70. They seem to recommend the 1/4" adapter for it,
rather than rings. Decisions, decisions.

Josh

But how does an ST80 attach to it, with rings or a 1/4"-20 adapter?

Hi:

Rings are a much more stable solution than a 1/4 20 adapter.


Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of _Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_
Like SCTs and MCTs?
Check-out sct-user, the mailing list for CAT fanciers!
Goto http://members.aol.com/RMOLLISE/index.html

Thanks to both you and Al. I already did call Orion back and ask
about the dovetail, and a second info lady denied it.

The EQ-3/Astroview mount does not use a Dovetail, rather it uses tabs that are
part of the head, similar to the EQ-1 and EQ-2 mounts.

I have an EQ-3 and an Celestron 80mm F5 scope which is the same OTA as the
ST-80 except that it uses rings rather than a photo mount for attachment.

Some observations:

1. Rings are the best way to go, rings allow you to rotate the OTA so that the
finder and focuser nobs are in useable positions.

2. If you do a site search on the Orion Site for "rings" the appropriate rings
will pop up.

You seem to have found them.

3. You can either make an aluminum adapter that lets you use both tube rings
with the ST-80 or you can use just one. I have found that one tube ring is
sufficient to hold the ST-80 steady and solid. Try that first and then if you
want to make your adapter.

4. The EQ-3/Astroview mount is pretty nice but pretty big for the ST-80 and
undersized for larger scopes. Given Orions pricing, it seems one can save
money by purchasing a scope and mount together. The mount itself is something
like $219 while one can buy the same mount with a 6 inch F5 Newtonian for
$369..

Jon

"Stephen Paul" wrote in message news:l-O
I'd go with rings.

I recently acquired a Starmax 127 which comes on the Astroview mount (really
nice Messier/Planet/Moon scope by the way). Second thing I did was order a
set of rings. The main reason you want them, is so you can rotate the OTA to
get the finder in a usable place. The Starmax OTA comes with an inverse
dovetail bar mounted flush against the OTA. It has a number of 1/4-20 holes
in it so that you can pick one to properly balance the scope on a standard
photo tripod. At the ends of the dovetail bar, there are two holes drilled
for the thumbscrews that mate to the Astroview head. I'm not going to be
using the OTA on a tripod, and I don't like the finder to be under the scope
when looking west, so the bar is coming off, and rings are going on.


I agree with Stephen about going with the rings. I just got an
Astroview for my TV85 after thinking for 3 years I'd always be an
alt/az guy. I was wrong. I love EQ viewing. Plus with the rings, I
can leave them attached to the Astroview and just pop the scope off
when I want to use my alt/az set up for quick looks or for nature
study. The Astroview is really the CG4 and the Skyview Pro is the
CG5. The Astroview will carry the ST80 very easily as it's nice and
stable with my TV85 at 200x.

Clyde

"Jon Isaacs" wrote in message
...

The EQ-3/Astroview mount does not use a Dovetail, rather it uses tabs that
are
part of the head, similar to the EQ-1 and EQ-2 mounts.

3. You can either make an aluminum adapter that lets you use both tube
rings
with the ST-80 or you can use just one. I have found that one tube ring
is
sufficient to hold the ST-80 steady and solid. Try that first and then if
you
want to make your adapter.

Did I tell you lately that you're a genius? It's amazing how such simple
solutions can be so easily overlooked. Of course, given enough time to
ponder, and a true desire to get this done "before nightfall", it _might_
have dawned on me. Now I guess I'll never know. I'm going to play around
with this idea... thanks.


4. The EQ-3/Astroview mount is pretty nice but pretty big for the ST-80
and
undersized for larger scopes.

Actually, for the Starmax 127, it's pretty good. I'm sure by "larger
scopes" you didn't mean all scopes larger than an ST80.

Didn't Orion sell these under an 6" F5 and an 8" F4? I imagine the latter of
the two is damned wiggly, and the former isn't stable at the focus.

I'm operating on the premise that the weakness in the Astroview is no
different than that reportedly in the CG5. To wit, those "useless" aluminum
split legs. Looking at the mount and grabbing the counterweight shaft, I can
see the legs flex at the base. Geesh, that can't be good.

Fortunately, it seems the 1.5" steel leg tripod that goes under the Orion
SkyView Pro can be used with the EQ3 (Astroview) and the CG5 (they all bolt
on the same way) . It just so happens that (unlike Orion), Skywatcher sells
these, separately, with the HEQ5, and as upgrades to their EQ3 and EQ4 (CG5)
mounts. Kendrick has them listed for $88 USD. I'll let you know if it fits
for real, or not... when mine comes in. ;-)

Stephen Paul

Did I tell you lately that you're a genius? It's amazing how such simple
solutions can be so easily overlooked.

They say that "Laziness is the Mother of Invention." I needed to mount my
ST-80 on a plate that only had one hole it in so I tried it with only one ring.
I was surprised but it does seem to work.

It also has the advantage that the scope can be repositioned so that it is
better balanced.

I'm sure by "larger
scopes" you didn't mean all scopes larger than an ST80.

Right, I meant larger scope that the OP might be interested in purchasing.....
Its pretty good with my SpaceProbe 130ST...

I'm operating on the premise that the weakness in the Astroview is no
different than that reportedly in the CG5.

That is my experience. I had the 120mm F8.3 Orion Refractor mounted on the
EQ-3. It was shaky enough that the drive would cause the scope to vibrate so
the images were not sharp about 100X. Mounting the head on my Houston-Fearless
tripod cured that problem.

But make sure everything is tight, that helps, I found many of the small screws
on the legs were not tight.

Jon