3. Assembly
Assembling the telescope for the first time should take about
30 minutes. The only tool you will need is a Phillips head
screwdriver. As a general note, tighten all screws securely to
eliminate flexing and wobbling, but be careful not to over-
tighten and thereby strip the threads. Refer to Figures 1
through 3 during the assembly process.
During assembly (and any other time, for that matter), do not
touch the surfaces of the telescope objective lens or the lens-
es of the finder scope and eyepiece with your fingers. These
optical surfaces have delicate coatings that can easily be dam-
aged if touched. Never remove any lens assembly from its hous-
ing for any reason, or the product warranty will be void.
Begin set-up of the telescope by assembling the tripod and
mount first:
1. Lay the equatorial mount (5) on its side. Attach the tripod
legs (9), one at a time, to the base of the mount by sliding
a tripod leg attachment screw (31) through the top of a leg
and through the holes in the base of the mount. The wash-
ers should be on the outside of the tripod legs. Secure the
wing nuts finger-tight. Figure 3b shows a close-up detail of
the screws attaching the tripod legs to the mount.
2. Install and tighten the leg lock knobs (12) on the bottom
braces of the tripod legs (9). For now, keep the legs at their
shortest (fully retracted) length; you can extend them to a
more desirable length later, once the tripod is completely
assembled.
3. Stand the tripod and mount upright and spread the tripod
legs (9) apart as far as they will go, until the accessory tray
bracket (11) is taut. Connect the accessory tray (10) to the
accessory tray bracket (11) with the three wing screws
installed in the tray. Push the wing screws up through the
holes in the accessory tray bracket and thread them into
the holes in the accessory tray.
4. Tighten the tripod leg attachment screws (31) at the tops
of the tripod legs so the legs are securely fastened to the
mount. Use the Phillips head screwdriver and/or your
fingers to do this.
5. Thread the latitude adjustment T-bolt (29) into the base of
the equatorial mount (5) in the location shown Figure 3a
6. Orient the equatorial mount as it appears in Figure 1, at a
latitude of about 40°, i.e., so the pointer next to the latitude
scale(27) is pointing to the hash mark at “40.” To do this,
loosen the latitude lock T-bolt (28), and turn the latitude
adjustment T-bolt (29) until the pointer and the “40” line up.
Then retighten the latitude lock T-bolt. The declination
(Dec.) and right ascension (R.A.) axes may need re-posi-
tioning (rotation) as well. Be sure to loosen the R.A. and
Dec. lock knobs (22,24) before doing this. Retighten the
R.A. and Dec. lock knobs once the equatorial mount is
properly oriented.
7. Thread the counterweight shaft (25) into the equatorial
mount (5) at the base of the declination axis (shown in
Figure 3a) until tight.
8. Remove the screw and washer on the bottom of the coun-
terweight shaft (25) and slide the counterweight (6) onto
the shaft. Make sure the counterweight lock knob (26) is
adequately loosened to allow the counterweight shaft to
pass through the hole. Position the counterweight about
halfway up the shaft and tighten the lock knob. Replace
the screw and washer on the end of the shaft.
9. Remove the wingnuts from the two threaded shafts com-
ing out of the bottom of the optical tube (1). Line the shafts
up with the holes in the head of the equatorial mount (15)
and put them through. Then replace the wingnuts on the
shafts to secure the optical tube to the equatorial mount.
10. Attach the two slow-motion cables (7,8) to the R.A. and
Dec. worm gear shafts of the equatorial mount (5) by posi-
tioning the thumbscrew on the end of the cable over the
indented slot on the worm gear shaft and then tightening
the thumbscrew. We recommend that the shorter cable be
used on the R.A. worm gear shaft and the longer cable on
the Dec. worm gear shaft. The R.A. slow-motion cable can
be attached to either end of the R.A. worm gear shaft.
10
Do You Wear Eyeglasses?
If you wear eyeglasses, you may be able to keep
them on while you observe. In order to do this, your
eyepiece must have enough “eye relief” to allow you
to see the entire field of view with glasses on. You
can try looking through the eyepiece first with your
glasses on and then with them off, to see if the
glasses restrict the view to only a portion of the full
field. If the glasses do restrict the field of view, you
may be able to observe with your glasses off by just
refocusing the telescope to your unaided vision.
If your eyes are astigmatic, images will probably
appear best with glasses on. This is because a
telescope’s focuser can accommodate for
nearsightedness or farsightedness, but not
astigmatism. If you have to wear your glasses while
observing and cannot see the entire field of view, you
may want to purchase additional eyepieces that have
longer eye relief.
Short eye relief restricts
the field of view for
eyeglass wearers.
Long eye relief allows
full field of view to be
seen with or without
eyeglasses.
