Roland, will this be a simple swap out for current AP1600 owners. I assume that the existing worm gear would be retained and moved to the new housing for the quick release system. Any estimate on

Had one of those too. Still Have it.Ha Ha. Requires no batteries. Never needs to be rebooted! Don Anderson On Thursday, March 11,

Not to be picky, but they are called pocket protectors, and only the slide rule ranks higher in the engineer's kit. Mike

Pen protectors! Wow that goes back a long ways. i used to wear one every day when I was a TV Technician! Back then I thought they were cool. Don Anderson

I switched from a piggyback setup to a side by side setup and I found that it did help with flexure. But I have a permanent OBS so I only had to balance it once. It did take longer to get the right

Mike, I don’t have a definitive answer to that question, but my very heavy (12 lbs. I think) Losmandy side-by-side saddle seems quite solid and rigid for the small but heavy refractors I put on

The discussion about side to side systems has me wondering - Which has less flexure; side to side or piggyback ? Mike

A "teak" is a tiny tweak. A "tiny teak" is a micro-tweak. Let's get these definishions schraightened out! Rolando

Oops, I guess the word is “tweak”, not “teak”. Although teak would make a nice dowel rod. Regards, George George Whitney Astro-Physics, Inc. Phone: 815-222-6538 (direct

Rolando, I thought everyone carried a dowel rod in their pen protector…oh, wait…I guess that’s a pencil. <G> Regards, George George Whitney Astro-Physics, Inc. Phone:

Woody, <G> It’ll make your life easier. Only tiny teaks will be necessary on mount. Regards, George George Whitney Astro-Physics, Inc. Phone: 815-222-6538 (direct

Woops, you beat me to it, George. I call it the pencil balance (i don't always have a dowel rod laying around). Rolando

You could always do the pencil balance. It is quick, easy and deadly accurate. Rolando

George, Thank you. That looks like a very helpful document. It’s not the same procedure I’ve used in the past, but I’ll give it a try the next time I setup my side-by-side solar scopes.

Jack, I’m surprised nobody from AP has responded also. I know there was a retrofit kit available for my old Mach1 and I thought they had them for all the AP mounts of our vintage. But I just

Guys, Balance side-to-side setups with a dowel rod on a table and save yourselves the

Jack, I forgot that you have a side-by-side setup. Those are a bear to balance. As I recall, it took me nearly an hour to get my side-by-side solar setup properly balanced in all directions and

No, I'm afraid not at this point in time. Hopefully we can make them in tandem with the next run of 1100 parts. We could not have a full production crew at our shop for many months until the

Roland, Is this true also for 1100 mounts? Best, Luca

We are in the process of machining1600 parts and we are making extra gearboxes to be made available for older mounts. Please be patient. Roland Christen Astro-Physics Inc.