If you've ever tried to use a telescope mounted on a standard photo tripod, you know what a pain it can be. The scope never seems to move smoothly, and it always wants to tip over once you point it at something high in the sky. The TeleVue Telepod mount solves this problem by replacing your normal pan head with a cradle that lets the scope move smoothly, much like a Dobsonian telescope. These mounts (and similar mounts with the same head on sturdier tripods) have proven to be very popular among owners of 3"-4" refractors. In order for the Telepod to work well, though, the telescope must be carefully balanced in its cradle. Changing from a small eyepiece to a much larger one (such as a 2" wide-field design) often shifts the balance point enough to require re-adjusting the tube. In addition, some small refractors with very short optical tubes cannot even reach balance without an adapter plate that shifts the scope forward in its cradle. My own situation was further complicated by the fact that I often switch my little Oracle to an equatorial mount, and the constant re-adjusting between mounts became a bit annoying....Just annoying enough, in fact, to motivate me to do something about it:
The solution to my problem was first suggested by Darren Hennig of the TeleVue eGroup on Yahoo. He sent me photos and plans for a counterweight system that he had built to solve the same problem with his own Telepod/Bogen mount. I altered his dimensions a bit based on the scrap material that I had available, and built the system shown above. (I did the cutting and milling myself; a co-worker who owns a lathe cut the brass weights for me.)
The Telepod counterweight system consists of three parts: A stainless steel shaft upon which the weights can slide, three small brass weights 1.5" in diameter, and an aluminum mounting block which attaches the shaft to the bottom of the Telepod cradle. All of the attachment points use knobs & thumbscrews, so that no tools are required for setup in the field. The mounting block is attached to the cradle using one of the un-used (i.e. "off" side) holes for mounting the Telepod pan handle, so there is no need to drill holes or alter the Telepod mount in any way. In the photo above, the mounting block is visible as the small silver piece under the scope cradle. I have since painted it black to match the Telepod, but took the photo first so that it would show up well.
In use, the counterweight system works exactly as I had hoped it would. It adds very little weight to the complete setup, but puts enough weight out front to easily balance even my largest Nagler eyepiece. Adjustments between large & small eyepieces can usually be made by sliding a single counterweight along the shaft, which takes only a few seconds. In the end, I spent less than $10 (that was for the thumbscrews and some lacquer; all the metal stock came from scraps on hand), and I ended up with a smooth, easy-to-use mount.
Copyright 2004, Neil T. Hobbs