Eric Mjolnir 150 Report post Posted September 11, 2017 This is a post I should have made a long time ago but just now getting around to it. Back in Dec. of 2015 I picked up a new telescope (New AT72ED). I had mounted it on a ADM side by side dove tail. As you can see in the link this set up was very tail heavy when all the gear was mounted and focused. Although the scopes are fairly lite in weight and my SWEQ-6 would surely handle the balance problem, I had 2 other mounts that would not, a Celestron CG5-ASGT and an old Vixen GP modified for AP. A counter weight was in order to get this setup to balance. I had some parts laying around. A couple of 3lb counter weights and shaft from an old telescope. A block of aluminum and some time to do it. I was lacking real estate as I wanted to keep my RACI finder scope mounted in the center between the imaging scope (AT72ED) and the guide scope (Celestron 70). Here are the parts for the project. Eric 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eric Mjolnir 150 Report post Posted September 11, 2017 I wanted to make a counter weight bracket that would mount the counter weight shaft and the bracket for the finder scope and keep then center mounted. This raised the bracket for the finder a bit but that was a good thing. I started with machining the block to accept the counter weight shaft. I through drilled the block for 1/4-20 bolt and counter bored the pocket for the shaft. Eric 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eric Mjolnir 150 Report post Posted September 11, 2017 I then drilled and tapped the block for the SS 10-32 screws to hold the finder bracket. I through drill the holes for 10-32 then drilled the bottom for 1/4 20 bolts that would come in through the bottom of the dovetail. Eric 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eric Mjolnir 150 Report post Posted September 11, 2017 I now worked on the ADM dovetail. I through drill it for 1/4-20 SS socket head screws and tapped the bottom of the block. The finished assembly. Eric 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eric Mjolnir 150 Report post Posted September 11, 2017 Completed project used all Stainless steel hardware and counter weight and block painted. Now everything balances great! Eric 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
poppasmurf 377 Report post Posted September 11, 2017 Very nice Eric, a nifty looking solution. Shane 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Radar 656 Report post Posted September 11, 2017 A very clever solution Eric. I wouldn't have thought of that front counter weight like that. Ray 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
