SP Mount to make a comeback?

Well that was a short retirement...

I said earlier that the Super Polaris mount was to retire gracefully which really meant to be used only as a back up. Well maybe retire was not the right word. Given the convoluted mess that the two mounts, the CG-5 and the SP mount create because they use two different saddle plates, it became necessary to standardized the saddles just in case both the C102 and Pronto go out without having to take two different plates out. The SP saddle was upgraded with an ADM Super Polaris Saddle. I outfitted the Pronto with a simple Vixen style universal dovetail which nicely fits into the ADM SP Saddle. The C102 has been given a standard Synta eight inch dovetail which is also the Vixen standard. My original dovetail for the Pronto did not work right. Two screws got in the way of the ADM adapter and it had to be simplified. Just two screws and two washers now. It looks much better.

The combination works and is now seamless without accidentally forgeting a plate or forgeting the tools to switch things around.

Im back!

Yes I'm back. Can't say we did a lot of observing while away, only one night actually it was kind of bad, but the weather wasn't all that rotten as we managed to hike and take some nice pics of the North Shore of Lake Superior...

Might want to check out some pics here if you wish:

http://tinfoilhat.zenfolio.com/p317071516

Tonight might be a bit clear, who knows!

Enjoy

Marc

Pronto Road?

Snotty little scope got a road named after it!

Well, not really. Pronto, Ontario, Hwy 17 west of Sudbury

Pronto, Refractor and The Sleeping Giant

I'm off to The Sleeping Giant, a provincial park on Lake Superior outside of Thunder Bay. The Pronto and the old Refractor will be there, but the Moon will be bright so really, it'll just be for planetary and that sort of thing. The Pronto of course will be used for daytime wildlife observing so we'll see what we get with pictures.

Later everyone. Back in two weeks!

M:)

Pronto gets a new ride

After merging two plates and searching for washers and screws and borrowing from other mounts, the Pronto now has a ride on the CG-5 Mount. Combining a dovetail with TeleVue's SP mount plate, it can now ride on the saddle just like the two other refractors. I can also now dismount the 2080 from the fork if I really want too and make it a true EQ mounted scope. But not right now.

Clouds have rolled in, but we will see what happens over the next few days.

M:)