Misc mods

I bought 3M double sided sticky tape for my finder base. If you do that, make sure to clean the area well with rubbing alcohol. I did and the tape (two layers about an inch long) is holding like it was welded on. No drilling holes in that pretty tube for me! It holds my laser or my Orion RA finderscope without any issues.


I’m finally getting round to drilling holes for a finder shoe for a 6x30 RACI finder in the midpoint like SteveG has with his laser pointer, or OrdinaryLight with his RACI addition.

The tube is steel. Buy a new bit for cutting any holes, and just use a hand drill. Put masking tape on the outside of the tube, and mark your hole centers on the tape. Before drilling, with the tube expanded, place some masking tape on the inside of the tube where the bit will be coming through. Now place a second layer of tape, only leaving a large air gap. This will catch all of the steel filings. Another trick is to point the scope at the floor or your table so that any filings that come through will not land on the primary mirror.

You do not have to remove any optics in order to drill a couple of small holes in the tube.

I added a RACI finder bracket and drilled the holes using tape to catch the filings as SteveG recommends. However, after using the finder for a few sessions, I realized that it wasn’t all that useful. The ES 24mm 68 eyepiece gives 2.5 degrees FOV which is good enough for star-hopping.

If for some reason you don’t like the RDF, a green laser is probably the best way to go.


The only way to mount anything substantially heavier than a RDF is to drill 2 holes and mount a Synta shoe on the lower steel tube.