4
1. Lay the equatorial mount on its side. Attach the tripod legs,
one at a time, to the base of the mount by sliding the tripod leg
bolt into the slot in the mount and lightly tightening the wing
nut finger-tight. (Use a flat-blade screwdriver on the head of
the bolt while tightening the wing nut.) Note that the hinged
accessory tray bracket on each leg should face inward.
2. Secure the inner portion of each leg by tightening the two
leg lock bolts at the base of the 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. Stand the tripod with the equatorial mount attached
upright, and spread the legs apart enough to attach the
accessory tray to the three hinged tray brackets on the
legs. The brackets should be positioned underneath the
tray. Use the three small accessory tray screws and wing
nuts provided. Do not tighten the wing nuts yet.
4. With the accessory tray attached but not tightened,
spread the tripod legs apart as far as they will go, until the
accessory tray brackets are taut. Then tighten the wing
nuts of the accessory tray screws.
5. Next, tighten the wing nuts of the tripod leg bolts at the
base of the equatorial mount.
6. Remove the two hex-head bolts from the base of the tube ring
assembly. Place the assembly on the equatorial head and
secure with the two bolts (threading them from underneath).
7. Orient the equatorial mount as it appears in Figure 1, with the
latitude scale set at about a 40° angle. Tighten the latitude
adjustment knob, the declination (Dec.) and right ascension
(R.A.) lock knobs, and the azimuth lock knob all finger-tight.
8. Slide the counterweight on to the counterweight shaft.
Make sure the screw that holds the retaining washer at the
bottom end of the shaft is tightened. This washer will pre-
vent the counterweight from slipping off the shaft and
possibly onto your foot if the counterweight lock knob
should come loose! Now, with the counterweight lock knob
loose, hold the counterweight in one hand and thread the
shaft into the equatorial mount (at the base of the declina-
tion axis) with the other hand. When it is threaded all the
way in, position the counterweight about halfway up the
shaft and tighten the counterweight lock knob.
9. Lay the telescope optical tube in the (open) tube rings at
about the midpoint of the tube’s length, as in Figure 1.
Now close the rings over the optical tube and tighten the
tube ring knobs finger-tight to secure the telescope.
10. Attach the two slow-motion cables to the R.A. and Dec.
slow-motion shafts of the equatorial mount by positioning
the setscrew on the end of the cable over the indented slot
on the shaft, then tighten the setscrew.
11.To install the finder scope bracket on the optical tube (adja-
cent to the focuser), position the optical tube horizontally.
Before loosening the nuts on the two mounting screws,
place one hand inside the telescope tube and hold the
small bar that anchors the screws. You don’t want the bar
to drop off, as it could damage the primary or secondary
mirror. Holding the bar with one hand, remove the two nuts
with the other and install the bracket, then replace the nuts.
12. Lastly, install the finder scope in the bracket. To do this, we
recommend first removing the two spring-tensioned align-
ment screws (the top screw on each ring) and loosening the
other four screws so the finder scope can be inserted
through the rings—eyepiece end first—without resistance.
The larger objective lens of the finder scope should point
forward. Now, reinsert the two spring-tensioned alignment
screws. Then thread in the other four alignment screws until
the finder scope tube is roughly centered in the rings.
13. Insert an eyepiece into the focuser drawtube and secure
it in place with the thumbscrew.
3. Balancing the Telescope
To insure smooth movement of the telescope on both axes of
the equatorial mount, it is imperative that the optical tube be
properly balanced. We will first balance the telescope on the
R.A. axis, then on the Dec. axis.
1. Keeping one hand on the telescope optical tube, loosen
the R.A. lock knob. The telescope should now be able to
rotate freely about the R.A. axis. Rotate it until the coun-
terweight shaft is parallel to the ground (i.e., horizontal).
2. Now loosen the counterweight lock knob and slide the
weight along the shaft until it exactly counterbalances the
telescope. That’s the point at which the shaft remains hor-
izontal even when you let go with both hands.
3. Retighten the counterweight lock knob. The telescope is
now balanced on the R.A. axis.
4. To balance the telescope on the Dec. axis, first tighten the
R.A. lock knob, with the counterweight shaft still in the hori-
zontal position.
5. With one hand on the telescope optical tube, loosen the
Dec. lock knob. The telescope should now be able to
rotate freely about the Dec. axis. Loosen the tube ring lock
knobs two or three turns, until you can slide the telescope
tube forward and back inside the rings (this can be aided
by using a slight back-and-forth twisting motion on the
optical tube while you push or pull on it).
6. Position the telescope so it remains horizontal when you
carefully let go with both hands. This is the balance point.
Before clamping the rings tight again, rotate the telescope
so the eyepiece is at a convenient angle for viewing.
When you are actually observing with the telescope, you
can adjust the eyepiece position by loosening the rings
and rotating the scope.
7. Retighten the tube ring lock knobs.
The telescope is now balanced on both axes. Now when you
loosen the lock knobs on the axes and manually point the tel-
escope, it should move without resistance and should not drift
from where you point it.
