Comments from Paul Collins who first saw the potential of the setup for astrophotography, "John made up a prototype that allowed him to view the transit. When I saw the prototype I was impressed at what he had achieved. It was also at this time that I had decided to change from my alt az mounted LX90 and obtain a smaller refractor and a decent digital camera. I soon obtained a GPDX and a small 80mm refractor to allow me to follow my interest into astrophotography."

Prototype setup as used for transit without OTA's

Collimating rings on prototype

One of the things you realise early on when you start purchasing astronomy equipment is that UK astronomers seem to pay top prices for most of the smaller accessories and more often than not these same items were so dedicated that they only did one job on one manufacturers system.

As a result of this John and I sat down and talked through what we wanted from a mounting system this is what we decided on;

• must be rigid.

• must have multiple uses in its basic state.

• must be a fair and reasonable price.

We looked at what was available and came up with nothing that fitted our basic three point test.

We decided that the first thing to consider would be what mounts were most astronomers using. We concluded that our design should be based around the Vixen dovetail system, as there were a large number of popular mounts available at a realistic price.

We then thought through what evolving stages astronomers go through as they develop their observing skills.

• First stage buy scope and mount then perhaps consider mounting a camera either piggyback or onto the rear of the scope.

• Then think about autoguiding with a second scope or a video camera.

So our system had to fit all the above requirements yet remain versatile & easy to use. 

Months later after many hours spent in John’s workshop and countless trips out testing the multi modular mounting system [m3] had evolved.

Basic plate.

Scope longitudinally. Camera under.

Scope and camera side by side.

Scope and guide scope. [collimation rings].

Note the dovetail system on the top of our plate, this allows 3" accessories from other companies to be used.

We initially intended to produce the complete system ourselves but each time we took even a prototype out someone would ask if they could have one. We also realised that we were also without a system for us to use... as a result we chose to go into production as it was easier to deal with batches rather than one off's. As you will see we have opted to produce parts to a high specification including the hard anodised finish for durability & the choice of Stainless Steel for the fixings.

 

This is an example of the production version of the system with 2 scopes mounted

(in this case a TMB80 and an 80ED on a GPDX mount)

 

We believe that we have managed to create a unique system that can be a professional solution to the needs of both today’s and tomorrow’s astronomers.

The multi modular mount system [m³] designed by astronomers for astronomers.