3
Note: If you have a telescope with a dovetail mounting bar
attached directly to the tube, or you are using the ¼"-20
dovetail adapter, the finderscope may be oriented in an awk-
ward position when connected to the SkyView AZ. In most
cases, this should not cause any problems in actual usage.
If you wish to orient the telescope differently, you will need
to purchase optional accessories such as tube rings and a
dovetail mounting bar so the tube can be rotated within the
rings, or a ¼"-20 dovetail L-adapter (Figure 2). It is likely you
will also need to remove the mounting bar connected directly
to the telescope tube.
Each dovetail holder of the SkyView AZ mount was designed
to be used with telescope optical tube assemblies weighing
up to 25 lbs. The mount may not provide adequate stability if
the mounted telescope exceeds 25 lbs.
An innovative feature of the SkyView AZ mount is its capac-
ity to support two telescopes at once. This feature can be
extremely useful when observing a celestial object that
offers pleasing wide-field and high-magnification views. For
example, one could mount a wide-field, low-focal length
telescope on one of the dovetail holders, and a narrow-field,
long focal-length telescope on the other to yield both wide-
angle and high-magnification views of the same object. This
can be extremely useful when viewing with a large number
of people.
For optimum up-and-down motion, each mounted telescope
should be balanced front-to-back when positioned horizon-
tally. You can balance the telescope by loosening the thumb
screws slightly, and moving the dovetail bar slightly forward
or back in the dovetail holder. If you are using tube rings,
you can move the telescope tube forward or back in the tube
rings. When the telescope doesn’t move up-and-down by
itself when the altitude tensioning knob is not very tight, you
have achieved good balance. If balancing two telescopes of
significantly different weight, it is more critical that the heavi-
er telescope be well-balanced.
If the relative orientation of the SkyView AZ mount dovetail
holders requires adjustment, the included 2mm hex key can
be used. If you intend to align the dovetail holders so the
mounted telescopes point to the same area, it is a good idea
to have two telescopes mounted during the re-orientation
process to ensure proper alignment. Alignment is best done
during daylight hours.
Follow the instructions below to re-orient the dovetail holder:
1. Find the adjustable dovetail holder with four small dovetail
holder adjustment set-screws (Figure 3).
2. Locate an object such as the top of a telephone pole or a
street sign that is at least a quarter-mile away. Move the
telescope mounted on the non-adjustable dovetail holder
Figure 3.
The SkyView AZ mount head.
Safety thumbscrew
Dovetail holder
thumbscre
ws
Safety thimbscrew
Dovetail holder
Azimuth tension
knob
Altitude tension knob
Dovetail holder
Dovetail holder
adjustment set-
screws (4)