6
2. assembly
Carefully open all of the boxes in the shipping container.
Make sure all the parts listed in section 2 are present. Save
the boxes and packaging material. In the unlikely event that
you need to return the telescope, you must use the original
packaging.
Assembling the telescope for the first time should take about
20 minutes. All bolts should be tightened securely to eliminate
flexing and wobbling, but only tighten them “finger tight.” Be
careful not to over-tighten so as not to strip the threads. Refer
to Figure 1 during the assembly process.
During assembly (and anytime, for that matter), DO NOT
touch the surfaces of the telescope mirrors or the lenses of
the finder scopes or eyepieces with your fingers. The optical
surfaces have delicate coatings on them that can easily be
damaged if touched inappropriately. NEVER remove any lens
assembly from its housing for any reason, or the product war-
ranty and return policy will be voided.
1. Lay the equatorial mount on its side. Attach the tripod
legs, one at a time, to the base of the mount by sliding a
tripod leg attachment bolt through the top of a leg and
through the hole in the base of the mount. The washers
should be on the outside of the tripod legs. Secure the
wing nuts barely finger-tight. Note that the hinged acces-
sory tray bracket on each leg should face inward.
2. Attach and tighten the leg lock bolts at the base of the
legs. For now, keep the legs at their shortest (fully retract-
ed) length; you can extend them to a more desirable
length later, after the scope is completely assembled.
3. With the tripod legs now attached to the equatorial mount,
stand the tripod upright (be careful!) 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 acces-
sory tray screws and wing nuts provided. Do not tighten
the wing nuts yet.
4. Now, with the accessory tray attached loosely, spread the
tripod legs apart as far as they will go, until the accessory
tray brackets are taut. Then tighten the wing nuts.
5. Next, tighten the wing nuts on the tripod leg attachment
bolts at the base of the equatorial mount, so that the legs
are securely fastened.
6. Orient the equatorial mount as it appears in Figure 1, at a
latitude of about 40°, i.e., so that the pointer next to the
latitude scale is pointing to the hash mark at “40.” To do
this, loosen the latitude lock t-bolt (central to the latitude
scale), and turn the latitude adjustment t-bolt until the
pointer and the “40” line up. Then retighten the latitude
lock t-bolt. Also tighten the declination (Dec.) and right
ascension (R.A.) lock bolts.
7. Slide the counterweight onto the counterweight shaft, and
secure it on the shaft with the bolt on the counterweight.
The washer and bolt on the end of the counterweight shaft
will prevent the counterweights from slipping off the shaft
and possibly onto your foot if the counterweight lock bolt
should come loose!
8. Grip the counterweight with one hand and thread the shaft
into the equatorial mount (at the base of declination axis)
with the other hand. When it is threaded in as far as it will
go, position the counterweight about halfway up the shaft
and retighten the counterweight lock bolt.
9. Attach the two tube rings to the equatorial head, using the
tube ring bolts attached to the tube rings. Open the tube rings.
10. Lay the telescope optical tube in the felt-lined tube rings at
about the midpoint of the tube’s length. Rotate the tube in
the rings so the focuser is angled somewhere between
horizontal and straight up. Close the rings over the tube
and tighten the knurled ring clamps finger-tight to secure
the telescope in position.
11. Now attach the two slow-motion cables to the R.A. and
Dec. worm gear shafts of the equatorial mount by posi-
tioning the setscrew on the end of the cable over the
indented slot on the worm gear shaft, then tightening the
setscrew. On the R.A. worm gear shaft, a cable can be
attached to either end of the shaft, whichever is most con-
venient for you.
12. To install the finder scope bracket on the optical tube
(adjacent to the focuser), first remove the round nuts on
the two mounting screws. Do not loosen the small hex
nuts on the mounting screws. Place the finder scope
bracket over the two screws. Orient the bracket so that it
angles back towards the rear of the telescope. Replace
the round nuts and tighten finger-tight.
13. Place the finder scope in the finder bracket by first backing
off all three alignment screws until the screw tips are flush
with the inside diameter of the finder bracket. Slide the finder
scope through the finder bracket ring with the larger (objec-
tive) end of the finder scope pointing in the same direction as
the open end of the main telescope. Tighten the three align-
ment screws equally to secure the finder scope in place.
14. Remove the cap on the focuser drawtube and insert the
25mm Kellner eyepiece. You will need to remove the entire
cap, which requires unthreading the thumbscrew on the
end of the focuser drawtube. Secure the eyepiece in place
with the thumbscrew.
15. Remove the entire tube dust cover from the front of the
telescope.
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 with
respect to the R.A. axis, then the Dec. axis.
1. Keeping one hand on the telescope optical tube, loosen
the R.A. lock bolt. Make sure the Dec. lock bolt is locked,
for now. The telescope should now be able to rotate freely
about the R.A. axis. Rotate it until the counterweight shaft
is parallel to the ground (i.e., horizontal).
