TheSkySearchers

How do I somehow make the mount operate in a vertically reversed/upside-down mode somehow so I can use a dob telescope with it right-side-up but facing backwards?

My problem is if I mount it forwards. (mirror facing the sky) the eyepiece is pointing at the ground and unaccessible
but if i mount if facing backwards it will be right-side-up eyepiece but i can't align it anymore. I dont know of any way to fool it or trick it into thinking it's set up forwards or something. theres not really any fancy or custom options to use.
it works fine with refractors because you can always flip the diagonal whatever way you want to make the eyepiece right-side-up

Hello Realflow

You lost me at "right-side-up but facing backwards"!

Can you post a photo of your Dob showing the problem and I'm sure someone will come up with a solution.

Regards

Graeme

What exact telescope are you trying to put on the mount?
We unfortunately cannot read your thoughts so need to know all the information required to help

May want to double check your settings in the hand controller. Specifically your lat and lon settings. Make sure you dont have it set for South when it should be north, that kind of thing.

No it works fine with a refractor but not my dob telescope. the only way I can mount it with the "eyepiece" facing upright and not at the ground is mounting it backwards so it faces the opposite way that the refractor does.
and I cant align it like that. it doesnt cooporate

it doesnt work if i rotate it the other way so the eyepiece is facing up and accessible.

I cant use it like this. and it wont work if i rotate it around to face backwards and re-tighten the clutch knob. it just doesnt work. cant align properly. it just rotates and flips the telescope 180 degrees to face AWAY from what i want to point at.

A picture saves a thousand words! Whoever said that was bang on! Your dilemma makes sense now! So, firstly a Dobsonian is the mount, not the telescope. What you have is a Newtonian telescope that you have attached to an Alt Az motorised mount. No problem with that except the focuser now points in an awkward to use direction.

Have you got a diagonal you can attach to the focuser to put the eye piece into?

Regards

Graeme

No a diagonal wont work. can't reach focus. not enough inwards focus travel. even with a barlow.
and the only diagonal i have is crap and has a warped/bent mirror which causes a blurry double-image effect and chromatic abberation at even moderate magnification. which is even worse at higher magnification.

It would be fine if I could just somehow make it work up-right by reversing something on the controller or setup.

How about you attach a camera and view the image on a laptop?

Can't do that. Dont have a laptop. or a 100 foot USB cable. and i have actually tried and theres not enough functionality that way.
and I can't bring a desktop computer outside

hello?
?

If I understand your situation correctly, you have two options.
1) You can buy a set of rings big enough to slide your OTA into and attach that to the mount. This would allow you to rotate the OTA to put the eyepiece in a convenient position. This is both expensive and adds extra way to the mount that it may not like.
2) Your other option is to reposition the dovetail bar that's attached to the side of the OTA that allows you to attach it to the mount. So you would want to move it to the other side of the scope from where it is now this is both cheap and easy and may be your best option. The only downside to this is that if you do get an equatorial mount now you may need to move that bar back to its original position.

Cheers,
JT

the dovetail thing? it's held in with threaded screws and nuts I would have to precisely drill some holes to make it work properly.
Also would likely have to shift it up or down if I need to adjust for weight distribution so that its not pulling on the motor shaft

I'm not sure im comfortable drilling holes to move the dovetail thing around to the other side.
plus it's a HUGE PAIN to get the nuts on the screws with it the way it is. i'd have to take the secondary or primary mirror off in order to get to them

Jay Tee is right, you need a set of rings.

i know it would be cheaper to try to attach it on the opposite side by modifying the telescope but i'm not sure if I should try it. could I risk damaging something? or would it probably be fine?

Put a cloth inside the tube to cover the mirror while drilling holes, you do not want metal shavings on it.

Make sure the dovetail is properly lined up straight with the tube and take your time.

RIP it broke

A plastic peg holding the gearbox assembly busted off when slewing my telescope. it went too far and hit the tripod leg and busted the plastic instead of slipping the clutch

What do I do? its barely hanging on by a thread of plastic. the peg itself isn't busted off but a small chunk of plastic is busted off with the peg and its barely holding on by a thread

Hate to ask, but do you have a pic of what happened?

nope. I tried super gluing it back together held it on for a few minutes then waited a few hours for the glue to dry and put it back in. and seems to be working. but it will probably break if I put a camera on the telescope since I don't have any counter weight for an ALT-AZ dovetail mount.
superglue is really brittle and i hope it doesnt break again

You are just not having good luck with these.
Hopefully that changes right away and you can get to actually enjoying your gear instead of fixing it.

Yeah. recently my camera sensor had a HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE dust speck on it. visible even at F3.5
i carefully blew it off with a puff of air by poking a hole in an empty plastic bottle cap and "puffing" at it with the bottle.