ETX Telescope Rail Mount

The Meade ETX-80 and ETX-90 telescopes are great starter scopes, but the mount wears out pretty quickly. This Instructable will allow you to put this quality telescope on a standard rail mount.

I refer to others that have taken apart the ETX80. I believe the ETX90 is the same.

Here is a good video; you don't have to remove the base, so skip forward to about 28 seconds in or so.

https://youtu.be/KbUmbO1pfzQ

I used a heat sink for my main part. The aluminum will be light and easy to cut. I cut off the sides after measuring. I also cut the length to fit under the telescope.

Drill four holes in the one side of the heat sink. This will be used to anchor the telescope to the 'rail' (heat sink).

I filed it down a bit to avoid wear on the attachment point.

Simply attach with zip ties (AKA swift tie). Plan ahead; I had to use two per end and therefore had to put the head under the heat sink. I put a piece of electric tape between the telescope and the heat sink to avoid a scratch and give it a landing place in case the metal isn't perfectly straight.

Mount the whole shebang to your mount. In my case I have an Orion Skyview Pro GOTO equatorial mount. You will have to adjust your counter weight; in my case I had to reduce it quite a bit.