4
assembly from its housing for any reason, or the product war-
ranty and return policy will be voided.
1. Lay the equatorial mount on its side. Attach the tripod legs
one at a time to the mount using the screws installed in the
tops of the tripod legs. Remove the screw from the leg, line up
the holes in the top of the leg with the holes in the base of the
mount, and reinstall the screw so it passes through the leg
and the mount. Tighten the wingnuts only finger-tight, for now.
Note that the accessory tray bracket attachment point on
each leg should face inward.
2. Tighten the leg lock knobs at the base of the tripod legs. For
now, keep the legs at their shortest (fully retracted) length;
you can extend them to a more desirable length later, after the
scope is completely assembled.
3. With the tripod legs now attached to the equatorial mount,
stand the tripod upright (be careful!) and spread the legs
apart enough to connect each end of the accessory tray
bracket to the attachment point on each leg. Use the screw
that comes installed in each attachment point to do this. First
remove the screw using the supplied screwdriver, then line up
one of the ends of the bracket with the attachment point and
reinstall the screw. Make sure the accessory tray bracket is
oriented so that the ribs in its plastic molding face downward.
4. Now, with the accessory tray bracket attached, spread the
tripod legs apart as far as they will go, until the bracket is taut.
Attach the accessory tray to the bracket with the three
wingnut-head screws already installed in the tray. Push the
screws up through the holes in the bracket, then thread them
into the holes in the tray.
5. Next, tighten the wingnuts at the top of the tripod legs, so
the legs are securely fastened to the equatorial mount. Use
the larger wrench and your fingers to do this.
6. Orient the equatorial mount as it appears in Figure 1, at a
latitude of about 40°, i.e., so the pointer next to the latitude
scale is pointing to the line at “40”. To do this, loosen one of
the latitude adjusting T-bolts and then tighten the other lati-
tude adjusting T-bolt until the pointer and the “40” line up
(Figure 2). The declination (Dec.) and right ascension (R.A.)
axes many need re-positioning (rotation) as well. Be sure to
loosen the R.A. and Dec. lock levers before doing this.
Retighten them once the equatorial mount is properly orient-
ed.
7. Thread the counterweight shaft into the equatorial mount at
the base of the declination axis until tight. Make sure the cast-
ing at the top of the bar is threaded clockwise as far as it will
go before attaching the shaft.
8. Remove the knurled “toe saver” retaining screw on the bot-
tom of the counterweight shaft and slide both counterweights
onto the shaft. Make sure the counterweight lock knobs are
adequately loosened to allow the counterweight shaft to pass
through the hole. Position the counterweights about halfway
up the shaft and tighten the lock knobs. Replace the toe saver
on the end of the bar. It prevents the counterweights from
falling on your foot if the lock knobs happen to come loose.
9. Connect the optical tube to the top of the mount with the
optical tube attachment knobs. Place a lock washer on the
Figure 2.
To adjust the latitude angle of the equatorial mount,
loosen one of the two latitude adjustment T-bolts, then tighten the
other.
Figure 3b.
Pull back on the
tensioner and slide
the finder scope into
its bracket until the
O-ring is seated in
the bracket ring
Figure 3a.
The 6x26 Correct-Image finder scope
Finder scope
Finder scope
bracket
Nylon
thumbscrews
Tensioner
Focusing lock ring
