Orion 8891 instruction manual Parts List, Assembly, Mounting the Mini Guide Scope

Congratulations on your purchase of the Orion Mini 50mm Guide Scope – a “new breed” of simple, compact, and light­ weight guide scope designed for use with the Orion StarShoot AutoGuider, Orion StarShoot Planetary Imager & AutoGuider, or similar, sensitive small-chip CCD cameras. It’s ideal for guiding long-exposure astrophotographs with short to medium focal length telescopes up to 1500mm focal length. Its bright, wide-field optics serve up lots of potential guide stars on your autoguider’s CCD sensor, and it’s small enough to stash in an accessory case!

			Adjustment
		Lock ring	thumbscrews (x3)
					Thumbscrews,
					camera
Objective					attachment
lens cell		O-ring
		(not visible)
		Bracket
Adapter plate
			1.25"
				Holder
		Socket head		Dovetail foot
		screws (x2)
#8-32 Screws
						1.5mm
	Hex nuts					Allen
						wrench
		Dovetail base
			1.25" Parfocal ring

Figure 1. The Mini 50mm Guide Scope and included components

Parts List

1Guide scope optical tube assembly

1Dovetail bracket

1Dovetail base

2#8-32 x 3/8" flat (countersunk) Phillips head screws, and 2 hex nuts

2#8-32 x ½" length flat (countersunk) Phillips head screws

1Adapter plate

1Socket head screw, ¼"-20 x 1"

1Socket head screw, ¼"-20 x 1/2"

1Parfocal ring, 1.25"

1Allen wrench, 1.5mm

Assembly

The Mini Guide Scope comes fully assembled and mounted in the dovetail bracket. Refer to Figure 1 to familiarize yourself with the features and parts of the guide scope.

Mounting the Mini Guide Scope

The Mini 50mm Guide Scope’s mounting bracket has a dovetail foot that fits the Orion dovetail finder scope base included on many Orion telescopes. The guide scope also comes with a separate dovetail base (Orion part #7214), with two #8-32 x 3/8" flat Phillips-head screws and two hex nuts, for custom installations.

To mount the Mini 50mm Guide Scope on a dovetail plate such as Orion’s Wide or Narrow Universal mounting plates, or similar plates produced under other brands, we’ve included an adapter plate that makes it easy. The Mini Guide Scope can then be piggybacked on top of your main instrument’s tube rings, or on a side-by- side saddle plate, for autoguiding.

On the adapter plate there are three threaded holes. The two outer ones are for attaching the dovetail base to the adapter plate, using the two included #8-32 x ½" length flat (countersunk) Phillips head screws. (These are the longer of the four #8-32 screws.) Once the dovetail base is securely attached, you can mount the adapter plate onto a dovetail mounting bar or plate by inserting one of the supplied 1/4"-20 socket head screws up through an unthreaded hole or slot in the dovetail plate and into the ¼"-20 hole in the center of the adapter plate. Tighten with a 3/16" Allen wrench (user supplied). We have provided two different socket head screws for your convenience, one is ½" long, the other 1" long. Choose the one that best fits your mounting bar or plate.

2 3