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finder scope or eyepieces with your fingers. The optical sur-
faces 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 void.
1. Lay the equatorial mount on its side. Attach the tripod
legs, one at a time, to the mount by sliding the bolts
installed in the tops of the tripod legs into the slots at the
base of the mount and tightening the wingnuts finger-tight.
Note that the accessory tray bracket attachment point on
each leg should face inward.
2. Tighten the leg lock knobs at the base of the tripod legs.
For now, keep the legs at their shortest (fully retracted)
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 connect each end of the accessory tray
bracket to the attachment point on each leg. Use the bolt
that comes installed in each attachment point to do this.
First remove the bolt, then line up one of the ends of the
bracket with the attachment point and reinstall the bolt.
Make sure the smooth side of the accessory tray bracket
faces upwards.
4. Now, with the accessory tray bracket attached, spread the
tripod legs apart as far as they will go, until the bracket is
taut. Attach the accessory tray to the accessory tray
bracket with the 3 wingnut-head bolts already installed in
the tray. This is done by pushing the bolts up through the
holes in the accessory tray bracket, and then threading
them into the holes in the accessory tray.
5. Next, tighten the bolts at the tops of the tripod legs, so the
legs are securely fastened to the equatorial mount. Use
the larger wrench and your fingers to do this.
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—located directly above the latitude locking t-bolt—
is pointing to the hash mark at "40.") To do this, loosen the
latitude locking t-bolt, and turn the latitude adjustment t-
bolt until the pointer and the "40" line up. Then tighten the
latitude locking t-bolt. The declination (Dec.) and right
ascension (R.A.) axes may need repositioning (rotation)
as well. Be sure to loosen the R.A. and Dec. lock knobs
before doing this. Retighten the R.A. and Dec. lock knobs
once the equatorial mount is properly oriented.
7. Slide the counterweight onto the counterweight shaft.
Make sure the counterweight locking thumbscrew is ade-
quately loosened so the metal pin the thumbscrew pushes
against (inside the counterweight) is recessed enough to
allow the counterweight shaft to pass through the hole in
the counterweight.
8. Now, with the counterweight locking thumbscrew still
loose, grip the counterweight with one hand and thread
the shaft into the equatorial mount (at the base of the dec-
lination axis) with the other hand. When it is threaded as
far in as it will go, position the counterweight about
4
halfway up the shaft and tighten the counterweight locking
thumbscrew.
9. Attach the two tube rings to the equatorial head using the
bolts that come installed in the bottom of the rings. First
remove the bolts, then push the bolts, with the washers
still attached, up through the holes in the tube ring mount-
ing plate (on the top of the equatorial mount) and
re-thread them into the bottom of the tube rings. Tighten
the bolts securely with the smaller wrench. Open the tube
rings by first loosening the knurled ring clamps.
10.Lay the telescope optical tube in the tube rings at about the
midpoint of the tube's length. Rotate the tube in the rings
so the focus knobs are on the underside of the telescope.
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 positioning the
setscrew on the end of the cable over the indented slot on
the worm gear shaft. Then tighten the setscrew.
12.Place the finder scope in the finder scope bracket by first
backing off all three alignment screws until the screw tips
are flush with the inside diameter of the bracket. Place the
O-ring that comes on the base of the bracket over the
body of the finder scope until it seats into the slot in the
middle of the finder scope. Slide the eyepiece end (narrow
end) of the finder scope into the end of the bracket's cylin-
der that does not have the adjustment screws. Push the
finder scope through the bracket until the groove on the
eyepiece end of the finder scope lines up with the three
adjustment screws. The O-ring should seat just inside the
front opening of the bracket's cylinder. Tighten the three
alignment screws equally to secure the finder scope in
place. You may need to first back off the knurled locking
nuts on the adjustment screws to do this.
13.Insert the base of the finder scope bracket into the dove-
tail slot on the top of the focuser housing. Lock the bracket
in position by tightening the knurled setscrew on the dove-
tail slot.
14.Insert the chrome barrel of the star diagonal into the
focuser drawtube and secure with the thumbscrew on the
drawtube.
15.Then insert an eyepiece into the star diagonal and secure
it in place with the thumbscrews on the diagonal. (Always
loosen the thumbscrews before rotating or removing the
diagonal or an eyepiece.)
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 knob. Make sure the Dec. lock knob is
locked, for now. The telescope should now be able to
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