shaft of each of the knobs, followed by a flat washer. Align the
holes in the top of the mount with the holes in the mounting
plate. Push the knobs, with washers attached, up through the
holes in the mount and thread them into the plate until finger
tight.
10. Attach the two slow-motion cables to the R.A. and Dec.
worm gear shafts of the equatorial mount by positioning the
small screw on the end of the cable over the indented slot on
the worm gear shaft. Then tighten the screw.
11. To place the finder scope in the finder scope bracket, first
unthread the two black nylon thumbscrews until the screw
ends are flush with the inside diameter of the bracket. Place
the O-ring that comes on the base of the bracket over the
body of the finder scope until it seats into the groove on the
middle of the finder scope. Slide the eyepiece end (narrow
end) of the finder scope into the end of the bracket’s cylinder
opposite the alignment thumbscrews while pulling the
chrome, spring-loaded tensioner on the bracket with your fin-
gers (Figure 3b). Push the finder scope through the bracket
until the O-ring seats just inside the front opening of the
brackets cylinder. Now, release the tensioner and tighten the
two black nylon thumbscrews a couple of turns each to
secure the finder scope in place.
12. Insert the “foot” of the finder scope bracket into its mount-
ing base on top of the optical tube. Lock the bracket into
position by tightening the knurled thumbscrew on the base.
13. Insert the chrome barrel of the star diagonal into the eye-
piece adapter and secure it with the thumbscrews.
14. Then insert the 25mm Plössl eyepiece into the star diago-
nal and secure it in place with the thumbscrews on the
diagonal. (Always loosen the thumbscrews before rotating or
removing the diagonal or an eyepiece.)
15. Install the polar axis finder scope into its housing inside
the R.A. axis of the equatorial mount (Figure 4). First loosen
the three thumbscrews on the housing, which is located at the
rear of the R.A. axis. Insert the front end of the polar finder
(the end without the eyeguard) into the housing so only about
1” of the polar finder extends from the back of the housing. Do
this slowly and with a twisting motion to prevent the internal
O-ring from becoming unseated. If it does become unseated,
you can remove the entire housing from the mount to locate
the O-ring and reseat it. This is done by rotating the entire
housing counterclockwise. Once the polar axis finder scope is
in the housing, tighten the three thumbscrews. These thumb-
screws will be used later to align the finder with the mount’s
R.A. axis.
The telescope system is now fully assembled. Keep the dust
cover over the front end of the telescope when it is not in use.
4. Getting Started
Balancing the Telescope
To insure smooth movement of the telescope on both axes of
motion (R.A. and Dec.) of the equatorial mount, it is impera-
tive that the optical tube be properly balanced.
Keeping one hand on the telescope optical tube, loosen the
R.A. lock lever. Make sure the Dec. lock lever is locked. The
telescope should now be able to rotate freely about the R.A.
axis. Rotate it until the counterweight shaft is parallel to the
ground (i.e., horizontal).
Now loosen the counterweight lock knobs and slide the
weights along the shaft until it exactly counterbalances the
telescope (Figure 5a). That’s the point at which the shaft
Figure 4.
The polar axis finder scope installed in the right
ascension (R.A.) axis of the mount.
5
Pointer
R.A. setting circle
Meridian
offset scale
Polar scope
housing
Polar axis
finder scope
Date circle
Ring with
engraved time
meridian indicator
mark
Polar scope
alignment
thumbscrew (3)
Figure 5a and 5b.
Proper operation of the equatorial mount
requires balancing the telescope tube on the R.A. axis. (a) With the
R.A. lock knob released, slide the counterweight along the
counterweight shaft until it just counterbalances the tube. (b) When
you let go with both hands, the tube should not drift up or down.
a.
b.
