Here you see the modification to the Telrad mount that I made. Originally, the
mounting plate was attached to the metal tube you see behind the Telrad. It was
held on using a couple of zip ties.
I moved the Telrad mount over closer to the focuser, so that it's much easier to
look through when you're on top of the ladder. The old location made for too much
of an uncomfortable stretch to look through the Telrad.
As you can see, I also added a couple of wood blocks to raise the Telrad up to
its previous distance from the surface of the UTA. These blocks give it about the
same distance as the tube did.
I decided to add a dew shield for the Telrad. It's very annoying
when you try to use the Telrad to align an object, only to find that the surface
of the Telrad is misted over.
I used a 2 liter soda bottle, since the diameter is about what I need
to clear the outermost edge of the Telrad, and because it's very easy to cut.
I cut the top and bottom off of the bottle, leaving me with a cylinder.
I then cut the cylinder in half, lengthwise. This gives me two half-cylinders.
The two halves are held together with double-stick tape. I used self-adhesive
velcro to attach the shield to the Telrad. It's a little hard to see in this
image (photographing transparent objects is tricky) but you can see how the
shield will protect against dew forming on the angled surface of the Telrad's
reflector plate, and from forming on the reticle lens.
This is still a work-in-progress. I'll see how well this works, and make any
further adjustments to it afterwards.