Reducing Vibration in the EQ1 Mount

I previously mentioned that when I used the EQ1 mount last time, it was so sensitive to vibration thst adjustment of focus started it quivering for about ten seconds.   If you are patient,  this is okay.

A couple tricks for reducing vibration on this cheap mount are to collapse the legs to minimum length and the tiny screws that hold the legs to the base on the mount.

So I did so.   Big improvement.   Vibration is less than three seconds.  I also get to observe from a chair.   This is really useful for public astronomy where you have small children.  Also, I can pick up and carry the mount with the legs collapsed fairly easily and then put the Televue-85 on it. The CFC mount should be even easier. 

The next step of improvement is adding a hanging weight to damp vibration.   The mount tracks well.

Jupiter is a bit low and viewing conditions were less than ideal.  108x was no more detail than 90x--multiple cloud bands.  It is still amazing for such a tiny scope.