Televue NP127 and Gibraltar 5 Mount Issue

Hello everyone,

I recently purchased a used Televue NP127 and a new Televue Gibraltar 5 mount. When installing the scope to the mount, the instructions say to mount the bottom ring plate under the mount cradle with four 1/4" button-head screws. The plate is threaded, so installation is easy. The problem is this. The the scope is mounted, the heads of the four button-head screws actually touch the scope tube, enough to cause concern for marring the finish on the scope, especially when sliding it back and forth for balancing. In talking with Televue, they only tell me it shouldn't be happening and to machine the screw heads to allow some clearance. On the internet, I find images of the same setup with the plate mounted above the cradle, which will work, with compromise in scope balance. Does anyone have this setup? Can you look and see how much clearance there is between the screw heads and the scope body?

Grasping at straws here. I did have the heads machined, but dangit that shouldn't be necessary!

Thanks,

William

I had my Gibralter(5) mounting plate screwed to the top of the G(5) cradle and works fine. It never occurred to me, till now, that the G(5) mounting plate gets installed on the bottom of the cradle.

Just mount the plate on top of the cradle 8) .

Attached Image:

I ran into the same problem a few years back. If you mount the bracket to the top of the swing cradle, you will get a very nasty off balance when the scope nears straight up and it will want to tip backwards. If you are not aware of this it will scare the bejesus out of you. You can use some low profile truss head screws and it will give you a bit more clearence. Another OK solution is to make some 1/16" shimes that mount between the bracket and the rings. I still had some reservations about these solutions so I ended up counter boreing the top of the swing cradle to accept flat head screws, works perfect, looks much better, and no chance of scratching the OTA. I used lock nuts on the underside so the bracket stays mounted all the time and only the scope and rings come off when dissassembled.
Hope this helps
Buck