Orion 8 EQ - Manual (Page 4)

4
bottom of the central support shaft until the three tray arms
are touching the legs of the tripod. The flat side of the
accessory tray should be facing up. Make sure the “V” of
each tray arm is against a tripod leg. Place the washer
back on the center support shaft against the tray, and
thread the securing knob all the way up the center support
shaft until it is tight against the tray. The tripod support tray
provides additional stability for the tripod, and holds five
1.25" eyepieces and two 2" eyepieces.
5. Thread the Latitude adjustment L-bolt into the rear of the of
the equatorial mount casing as shown in place in Figure 1.
6. Thread the counterweight shaft into the equatorial mount
at the base of the declination axis until tight. Make sure the
casting at the top is threaded clockwise as far as it will go
before attaching the shaft. Once the shaft is installed, turn
the casting counter-clockwise until the top of the casting is
flush with the mount.
7. Remove the knurled “toe saver” retaining screw on the bot-
tom of the counterweight shaft and slide both
counterweights onto the shaft. Make sure the counter-
weight lock knobs are adequately loosened to allow the
counterweight shaft to pass through the hole. Position the
counterweights about halfway up the shaft and tighten the
lock knobs. Replace the toe saver at the end of the bar.
The toe saver prevents the counterweights from falling on
your foot if the lock knobs happen to come loose.
8. Attach the slow-motion control knobs to the right ascen-
sion and declination gear shafts of the equatorial mount by
sliding them onto the shaft. Line up the flat on the end of
the gear shaft with thecorresponding feature in the interior
of the knob to attach them properly. The knobs can be
attached to either end of the shafts; use whichever end is
most convenient.
9. Attach the tube mounting rings to the tube mounting plate
using the attachment screws that are on the tube rings.
The screws should go through the holes on the outer ends
of the mounting plate and rethread into the tube rings.
Note that the side of the mounting plate with the central
“groove” will be facing up. Use the small wrench to secure
the tube rings to the mounting plate.
10. Loosen the black mounting plate securing knob as well as
the metal safety thumbscrew. Place the mounting plate in
the dovetail slot on top of the equatorial mount. Position
the mounting plate so that it is centered on the dovetail
slot. Re-tighten the mounting plate securing knob until the
mounting plate is secure. Then, tighten the safety thumb-
screw. The safety thumbscrew will ensure that the
mounting plate (and telescope tube) will not fall off the EQ
mount if the mounting plate securing knob should come
loose.
11. Open the tube rings and lay the telescope optical tube in
the rings at about the midpoint of the tube’s length. Rotate
the tube so that the focuser is at a convenient height for
viewing. Close the tube rings and tighten them.
Installing the Finder Scope
To place the finder scope (Figure 3a) in the finder scope brack-
et, unthread the two black nylon thumbscrews until the screw
ends 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 on the middle of the
finder scope. Slide the eyepiece end (narrow end) of the finder
scope into the end of the bracket’s cylinder opposite the align-
ment thumbscrews while pulling the chrome, spring-loaded
tensioner on the bracket with your fingers (Figure 3b). Push the
finder scope through the bracket until the O-ring seats just
inside the front opening of the bracket cylinder. Release the ten-
sioner and tighten the two alignment thumbscrews a couple of
turns each to secure the finder scope in place. Insert the base
of the finder scope bracket into the dovetail holder on the top of
the focuser. Lock the bracket into position by tightening the
knurled thumbscrew on the dovetail holder.
Finder scope
Finder scope bracket Nylon
alignment
thumbscrews
Focus lock ring
Figure 3a. The 6x30 finder scope.
Tensioner
Figure 2. Orient the equatorial mount so that the post on
the tripod head lines up with the azimuth adjustment knobs
on the equatorial mount.
Post
Azimuth
adjustment
knobs