Modifying a calton altz mount to become one of the best everHi

[KKK26]

Here some photo of modified mounts

[KKK26]

more

[KKK26]

more

[superiorstream]

Hi All
Thanks koko for the upload of photos.
I must emphasise that we didn't get Any profit for doing that......the only motive is to promote astronomy and make things easier for amateurs......to be continued.....

[superiorstream]

Now to answer some questions
For akdwived
The 9th and the 10th photo shows a altz-3 mount modified to a side saddle mount. The essential parts is the L shape bracket. This way,it become a side mounting tripod and if initially the scope is mounted with its CG(centre of gravity) inside the dovetail saddle,then the CG will still inside the saddle.Hence NO NEED OF ANY COUNTERWT TO BALANCE THE SCOPE.

[superiorstream]

For bfds
The first 4 and the last few shows how the carlton mount is modified.
1)the one with the obviously longer horizontal Al piece(that cost approx ⁰100 dollar.)Its the best version of the conversion......can take the c110.....12.5kg
2)the second best is the one with a shorter horizontal Al piece and in order to shift the dovetail saddle further out so that the mounted scope don't hit the tripod leg, a rectangular Al piece is attached to the saddle.
3)For those without access to the horizontal Al piece ,you can just mount the dovetail saddle onto the two m6 screw on the L shape saddle accepting plate.One fact to note......to my knowledge ,only ONE TYPE (from china)of dovetail saddle has that screw spacing and only for m6 screw.Thus max payload is only for about 10 kg. The lesser the safer.

[superiorstream]

By the way ,for the 3rd method ,you have to get a longer m6 screw.....approx 5 to 5.5cm.
The rest of the photos show how l modify other mount to one that uses the mount method whereby the CG of the scope WON'T SHIFT UP OR DOWN WHEN THE SCOPE IS SHIFT VERTICALLY.The conversion is obvious from the photos.

[superiorstream]

Hi All
And some may wonder why l like altz mount so much and make so much attempts to modify the mount l have.
The reason is......
Here in the tropics we seldom have a whole sky clear throughout the night. The most is CLEAR PATCHES OCCUR AT RAMDOM PLACE IN THE SKY. So with a altz mount and no counterweight l can switch⁰ from patch A to patchB by just releasing the lock and then swing my scope there. If black cloud suddenly gather it just takes 2 steps to break the setup....a)remove the ota b)bring in the mount. No need to bring in the counterweight one by one.
Moreover there is no mount flip whereby if the equatorial mount has no access you have to take down the scope,flip the mount ,then reerect the scope.
With this carlton mount , l am glad ultimately l found the mount l very much wanted.
Finally l also like to thank koko for introducing me to the mount. Thanks.

[akdwivedi]

Thank you KKK and Mr Chia for the photos and explanation. Looks like a fantastic project. I do like alt az mounts as well due to ease of use during visuals. a top loaded alt az is even better specially if you are mounting a binocular (dont have big one yet, but even a 15x70 or 20x80 top loaded is so much easier.

could you point where to get that L bracket. and you are right, machining in singapore is expensive. I needed a ring adapter for my 120ST. the one that came with the focuser was slightly (1mm) wider and so I checked some folks if they were to just reduce the adapter ring by around 0.5mm.. the guy asked for a price higher than what the whole gso focuser cost me.

[superiorstream]

Hi Akdwived
I got that L shaped bracket from aliexpress through koko.again.