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Side-by-Side and Vixen Style Plate Options
Many of our customers enjoy the convenience of a
side-by-side configuration. Often a nice pairing for a
versatile visual setup might be a wide field refractor
along with an SCT or Maksutov Cassegrain for
high-power viewing or its greater light grasp. We
never recommend using a side-by-side mounting
as a guidescope / imaging scope setup due to the
possibility of differential flexure. However, using
an off-axis guider with either scope can make for
successful imaging.
13” and 18” Side-by-Side D-style Plates
(SBD13SS & SBD18SS)
These plates will fit into any D-style compatible plates
and will accept the DOVELM2, the DOVEDV10 or the DOVELM162 as the instrument saddle plates for each scope. The
13” plate allows optical axes to be placed on 9.5” (250 mm) centers, and the 16” plate allows instruments on 12.5” (318
mm) optical centers.
10” Dovetail Saddle Plate for both D-style and V-style Plates (DOVEDV10)
Please see the description on the previous page. This saddle can use our 15” Vixen V-style Wide Dovetail Plate (SBV15).
12” Vixen Dovetail Converter (SBD2V)
This 12” plate fills the void for those customers whose telescopes use the Vixen-style mounting plate including the
Losmandy V-style. Now there is no need to replace your existing Vixen-style bar, rings, or clamshell to accommodate your
Astro-Physics mount.
The top portion is a female plate that accepts Vixen-style bars. In
order to retain the tilt-in feature of the dovetail, the sliding bars
must have an approximate width (at the widest point) between
1.65” (42 mm) and 1.8” (45 mm) and they must have have a 75
degree bevel on each side. The bottom portion is a standard
D-series dovetail that will fit into any of our D-Series compatible
saddle plates.
Please note that we are not great fans of the Vixen style design. It is our belief that the 75 degree bevel does not provide
an adequate safety margin for the clamps. We have not tested all plates that are currently available on the market. We
recommend you check your plate for a good fit in this saddle without an instrument attached! Also, note that the top portion
of this plate is NOT designed to be used with our SB0800, SB1000 or SB1500 sliding bars.
15” V-style Dovetail Plate (SBV15)
This 15” long Vixen V-style dovetail plate is designed to add maximum strength and rigidity to your scope setup. It uses a
wide attachment surface with the 2.362” (60 mm) side-to-side hole-pattern of Astro-Physics and many other scope rings,
along with the universality of center slots.
Though it was designed to be used with the 10” Dual-
style Saddle Plate (DOVEDV10), the SBV15 can be
used with all Vixen V-style OEM systems.
The plate can also be used as an accessory plate by attaching it to the top of rings. This will allow affixing a variety of
accessories using V-style adapters.
Other Mounting Plate Options
Additional mounting plate options including custom plates may be available from other sources. The hole patterns for the