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Even if this mount is branded Konus,
it's
identical to the Kenko NES (including the colors of the knobs!). It's
motorized
in both axes and has an excellent tracking, with a very little periodic
error, considering it's compactness and lightness. It can easily track
15 minutes exposures with a 50mm or more without corrections, always
giving
pin-point stars: this is possible thanks to it's great polar finder. On
the mount I've placed a small acromatic refractor (80mm f/5) and a
Pentax
75 apo refractor. The first is used as guide telescope and the second
for
deep-sky imaging. With an aluminum bar I can put also two cameras, plus
one piggybacked on Pentax 75 plus one on the counterweight bar. It's an
interesting solution for meteor imaging.
The mount work very well with the ST4,
that I use when I take 40 min exposures with the 200mm or Pentax75
500mm.
Some views of Kenko
Nes with the Pentax 75 apo and the 80mm f/5 refractor. Note the 6kg
counterweight
(green): the big overload is well supported by the mount that track
very
well for deepsky imaging.
Graph of the
periodic
error of Kenko NES: it's quite irregular, but the amplitude of the
motion
is however small for such a small mount, about +/-20". Click for
enlarging.
Hints for
autoconstruction:
 Image of control box with, from the left, the ST4 interface cable, the 12V power supply and the cables for the motors.   The control box closed and open, where I placed the wires for the ST4 control. Even if my control box is branded Konus, actually it's a Kenko one , as the inscriptions on the electronic board demonstrate.  Detail of the buttons and of the wires for the ST4 control. The wires must be connected to a 15-pin connector with this scheme:
Note: all the modification here described will invalidate the warranty, so be aware that you will assume all the risks. |
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