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desertrefugee
professor emeritus
Reged: 08/06/07
Posts: 526
Loc: Arizona
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Can this be done? I'm assuming that there will be no pre-drilled holes for the fork adapters, but could this be made to work? Any reason not to attempt it?
As luck would have it, I have a really decent older C8 rig with a rotten OTA. I have an opportunity to pick up a Meade 203SC/500 for a very attractive price. I'm really looking to get a decent fork-mounted 8" SCT running for some basic astrophotography experimentation.
Would I be wasting my time . . . and money ?
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"Look now upon the River of Heaven, Sky-Road of the Immortals, White with the star-frost of a billion years".
+++
-Darrell
Reflectors (114, 150, 254mm), Refractors (60, 76.2, 80, 120), MCT (125), way too many Binoculars
Cave Creek/Carefree, AZ
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rmollise
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 07/06/07
Posts: 1637
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Quote:
Can this be done? I'm assuming that there will be no pre-drilled holes for the fork adapters, but could this be made to work? Any reason not to attempt it?
As luck would have it, I have a really decent older C8 rig with a rotten OTA. I have an opportunity to pick up a Meade 203SC/500 for a very attractive price. I'm really looking to get a decent fork-mounted 8" SCT running for some basic astrophotography experimentation.
Would I be wasting my time . . . and money ?
Not necessarily. You might have to cut, fit and drill a bit, but that would not be much of a task. OTOH, a fork is not my idea of something easy to use for a beginning imager. But that is just me. My inclination would be to tell you to sell the whole shebang and get a modern OTA on a GEM.
--------------------
Uncle Rod
Watch for Rod's New Book:
Choosing and Using a New CAT--coming in December!
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desertrefugee
professor emeritus
Reged: 08/06/07
Posts: 526
Loc: Arizona
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Thanks, Rod. Your advice is not falling on deaf ears.
In fact, the more I think about it, the more I think that money well-spent would be in a relatively heavy, but reasonably priced GEM (think Atlas). And its usage would not be limited to the SCT. Hmmmm . . .
--------------------
"Look now upon the River of Heaven, Sky-Road of the Immortals, White with the star-frost of a billion years".
+++
-Darrell
Reflectors (114, 150, 254mm), Refractors (60, 76.2, 80, 120), MCT (125), way too many Binoculars
Cave Creek/Carefree, AZ
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rmollise
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 07/06/07
Posts: 1637
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Quote:
Thanks, Rod. Your advice is not falling on deaf ears.
In fact, the more I think about it, the more I think that money well-spent would be in a relatively heavy, but reasonably priced GEM (think Atlas). And its usage would not be limited to the SCT. Hmmmm . . .
Right on.
--------------------
Uncle Rod
Watch for Rod's New Book:
Choosing and Using a New CAT--coming in December!
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Skywatchr
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 06/03/06
Posts: 1573
Loc: North-Central Pa.
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You're not accepting PMs. But I would like to inquire about your "rotten" C8 OTA.
But, it would be easy to mount the Meade OTA onto the Celestron forks. Just 4 holes (2 each side) drilled and tapped into the rear cell to match the DEC brackets will do it. I've done it before. 
Or just 2 holes. Use one existing hole on each side, and add the other to match.
Jeff
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18" F/5 Home-Built Dob. with Mike Dudley Mirror
Highly Modified Meade DS-16 in Roll Off Roof
6" F/15 Brass w/ D&G Lens on DS-16 Mount
DS-10 10" F/4.5 Newtonian
LXD650, LX200 Classic
Orange Tube C11
DayStar 0.45 with multiple ERFs
Vixen ED80sf
10" LX200 GPS SMT
11x80 Meade, 20x80 Celestron binocs (Japan Made).
Lots of Naglers and 8mm and 13mm Ethos.
Gadgets and parts everywhere.
And a Wife that loves it as much as me!
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Skywatchr
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 06/03/06
Posts: 1573
Loc: North-Central Pa.
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The fork mount is very easy to use for AP from south to the zenith. Beyond that, the GEM will be *much* more user friendly. But the GEM will have to do a meridian flip to cross from east to west. The fork, obviously, doesn't need to. But since you have the forks, and can get the 8" SCT reasonably, use the forks for now. You can always get a GEM down the road to do more serious AP.
Jeff
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18" F/5 Home-Built Dob. with Mike Dudley Mirror
Highly Modified Meade DS-16 in Roll Off Roof
6" F/15 Brass w/ D&G Lens on DS-16 Mount
DS-10 10" F/4.5 Newtonian
LXD650, LX200 Classic
Orange Tube C11
DayStar 0.45 with multiple ERFs
Vixen ED80sf
10" LX200 GPS SMT
11x80 Meade, 20x80 Celestron binocs (Japan Made).
Lots of Naglers and 8mm and 13mm Ethos.
Gadgets and parts everywhere.
And a Wife that loves it as much as me!
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desertrefugee
professor emeritus
Reged: 08/06/07
Posts: 526
Loc: Arizona
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Jeff.
PM sent. (I'll describe the OTA)
Quote:
You're not accepting PMs. But I would like to inquire about your "rotten" C8 OTA.
Thanks for the head's up. Don't know how that got toggled. I'm not a closed society of one. I cheerfully accept and disseminate communication 
--------------------
"Look now upon the River of Heaven, Sky-Road of the Immortals, White with the star-frost of a billion years".
+++
-Darrell
Reflectors (114, 150, 254mm), Refractors (60, 76.2, 80, 120), MCT (125), way too many Binoculars
Cave Creek/Carefree, AZ
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