In order to use the LVI Autoguider I ordered recently, I needed to add a guide scope to my setup. When I ordered the EQ6 Pro I also bought an 80mm Skywatcher refractor. It’s nothing special, having cost about GBP£100 and was bought exclusively to be used as a guide scope.
But there was the problem of how to fasten it to the VC200L. The solution I came up with was to replace the faux leather carrying strap that was bolted to the the outside of the VC200L (with standard 1/4″ 20tpi bolts) with a sturdy steel bar that wouldn’t (hopefully) suffer from flexure once the guide scope was bolted to it.
I bought the steel bar in the local hardware shop for a few Euro. As it was much longer than the VC200L itself, I had to cut a section off the bar. This would also reduce the bar’s weight. Since I didn’t fancy attacking the bar with a hacksaw, I used an angle grinder to cut the required length from it.
I then measured where the two bolt holes should go and drilled the holes in the bar.
The next thing to do was to position the tube ring for the guide scope on the bar. A little playing around with positioning the guide scope on the VC200L yielded a good position that would keep the weight reasonably balanced and allow some latitude to adjust that if needed.
With the tube ring position noted, two more holes were drilled in the steel bar to fix the tube ring. Here’s a pic of the bits prior to assembly:
And here’s the assembled guide scope mount:
The mount attached to the VC200L:
And, finally, the guide scope mounted on the VC200L:
[phpbay](lvi smartguider|autoguider|auto guider), 100, “28179”, “”[/phpbay]
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Filed under: My Personal Astronomy Blog
