Orion SKYQUEST XT8 - Manual (Page 5)

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hole, and the large hole lines up with the central hole in
the baseplate. Thread an encoder board mounting screw
into the predrilled starter hole with a Phillips screwdriver
and tighten until just tight.
6. Place one fender washer (H) onto the azimuth axis screw
(I). Then push the screw up through the hole in the ground
baseplate (A).Then slide the encoder disk (J), flat side
down, onto the azimuth axis screw.
7. Place the brass bushing (F) onto the azimuth axis screw
(I) so that the wide end of the bushing is closest to the
encoder disk (J). Seat the bushing onto the encoder disk
so that the registration feature on the bushing goes into
the hole in the encoder disk. You may need to move the
encoder disk around on the azimuth axis screw a bit in
order for the bushing to seat properly.
8. Carefully position the top baseplate (D) over the ground
baseplate (A) and lower it so the brass bushing (F) goes
into in the center hole of the top baseplate. Place the
remaining fender washer (K) onto the shaft of the azimuth
axis screw, then thread the hex lock nut (L) onto the end of
the azimuth axis screw and tighten it finger tight, for now.
9. To tighten the azimuth axis screw (I) and hex lock nut
(L), tilt the assembled Dobsonian base at a slight angle
to lift the ground baseplate off the ground. Now, with one
wrench (or pliers) hold the head of the azimuth axis screw
still while turning the hex lock nut with the other wrench.
Figure 4 shows this being done. Tighten the hex lock nut
just until the top fender washer is no longer moving freely,
then tighten the hex nut a 3/16-1/4 turn beyond that. This
ensures proper spacing between the encoder disk and the
azimuth encoder board.
10. Attach the handle (M) to the front brace (B) with the two
handle mounting hex-head screws. Place one washer on
each screw, then press the handle against the front brace
(the end of the handle with the logo should be up). Then
thread the screws from the inside of the base into the han-
dle until tight using the supplied crescent wrench.
11. Line up one of the altitude bearing cylinders with the inside
of one of the four bearing cylinder holes on the side pan-
els. Push a bearing cylinder screw through the side panel
and bearing cylinder. Then thread it into the built-in hex nut
on the cylinder with the included hex key (Figure 5). The
beveled end of the cylinder should be facing away from
the side panel. Repeat this for the remaining three bearing
cylinders.
12. Attach the encoder connector board to the side panel. Place
the board against the side panel so that the modular jack fits
into the square-shaped hole and thread four encoder board
mounting screws through the connector board and into the
predrilled holes in the side panel until tight (Figure 6).
There are some predrilled holes on the side panel opposite
the panel that holds the encoder connector board. These
holes will be used to mount parts that come with the option-
al IntelliScope controller. If you purchased the IntelliScope
controller with your SkyQuest, you will want to follow the
installation instructions in the controller’s manual at this time.
installing the Vertical stop
Place the three flat washers onto the shaft of the vertical stop
screw. Thread the vertical stop into the threaded insert on the
inside of the front panel until tight (Figure 7). The position of
the vertical stop is adjustable by adding or removing wash-
ers. This is important when using the optional IntelliScope
Computerized Object Locator, since the optical tube must be
exactly vertical during the two-star alignment procedure.
Figure 5. Attaching the bearing cylinders. (XT10 Shown)
Figure 4. To connect the baseplates, tilt them only slightly, as shown.
Do not place them on their side. (a) Use one wrench to hold the hex nut
steady (b) while turning the other end of the azimuth axis screw.
b.
a.
Correct Tension pads
Bearing
cylinders