Telescope Dovetail Saddle Clamp Mount Base for Vixen Style Dovetail Plate Bar, with M6 M8 Countersunk Bores for Astronomical OTA Equatorial Head Tripod Adapter, Support Drop-in Mounting

I'm using this dovetail adapter to mount my Spacecat to my Manfrotto geared head for daytime use. This adapter is strong and well-made like a piece of professional cine gear. The weak point of the assembled quick release plate and the dovetail adapter is actually the 3/8"-16 camera screw that comes with the tripod. The 3/8"-16 hole in the center of the dovetail adapter is threaded for its entire 13mm depth. However, the typical camera screw has only 6mm or so of threaded portion. It is very difficult to locate an alternate camera screw with a longer threaded portion. In addition, tightening the camera screw is an all-or-nothing proposition: you turn it to the hard stop and it's not possible to turn it further. I didn't feel comfortable trusting my 'scope and fancy camera to this one limited fastener. If some shock ever dislodged it, the mounted equipment wouldn't fall off, but would be free to rotate. The extra holes in the dovetail adapter provided a solution. The Manfrotto quick release plate's slot for positioning the camera screw also allows a second nut/bolt, for a more secure connection to the dovetail adapter. I used an M5.8 x 16mm bolt with matching nut and a couple flat washers. Together with the camera screw, this provides a semipermanent secure connection. The photos show the top and bottom of the assembly with the extra nut/bolt.

I got this to attach my scope to my vixen dovetail so it could be quickly removed when needed. I wasn’t sure how well it would have held up since it only has one tightening knob and is a relatively small unit but as soon as I took the product out of the package I knew it was quality. The entire body is SOLID aluminum that has been expertly machined and the clamping section is spring loaded with a nice amount of tension. It feels of quality all around and is a serious piece of kit. I use it to hold my wide field scope along with thousands of dollars worth of filters/cameras and I am not at all concerned about the clamp failing. I will be ordering more for my other rigs.

I needed to modify this dovetail base a bit in order to make it work on my equatorial telescope mount. There was nothing wrong with it, just that the holes were not perfectly lined up as-is. I think the quality is very good and the "grab" it has on my dovetail bar is excellent. I am including a couple of photos to illustrate the unit in place and with my telescope attached.

Just what I needed to mount my C-90 to my tripod. Rock solid, and no more wiggle compared to the 1/4 20 thread mount i was using before.

I had an old telescope tube and wanted to use it for spotting, so this bracket allowed me to adapt an unused video tripod to be used as a telescope platform.