Farpoint Vixen Dovetail Plate - Armored Strip - Celestron 9.25 Inch SCT

Product Overview

The Farpoint FVC9.25S-AS is a 17.25″ Vixen-style (V-size) dovetail plate kit for the Celestron 9.25″ SCT in its post-2008 form. The bar is machined from aluminum with a black anodized finish and carries a stainless steel armored strip along the edge that saddle set screws bear on. Radius blocks and mounting screws are included. Farpoint gives the shipping weight as 1.813 lb, and the parts are CNC-machined in the United States.

Who It’s For

• This is a good match if you carry a newer Celestron 9.25″ SCT on a Vixen-style saddle and want the clamping edge protected.
• This is a good match if your saddle or accessory clamps hold the bar with set screws rather than a flat clamping bar.
• This is a good match if you are replacing a bar whose dovetail edge has already been grooved by repeated clamping.

Key Features & Design

• Stainless steel armored strip: set along the clamping edge, so set-screw pressure lands on hardened steel rather than anodized aluminum.
• 17.25″ V-size bar: the Vixen profile at a length that gives the saddle a wide clamping span and the tube room to be balanced fore and aft.
• Radius blocks included: machined to the curve of the 9.25″ tube so the bar beds against the OTA.
• Black anodized aluminum: bar and blocks are machined from aluminum and anodized black.
• Mounting screws supplied: the hardware to bolt the assembly to the tube is in the box.
• Published weight 1.813 lb: light enough to stay on the tube between sessions.
• CNC-machined in the USA: Farpoint machines the bar and blocks in the United States.

Mechanical Design

Two separate things are going on in this bar. The radius blocks handle the interface to the tube: a flat bar bolted straight onto a round 9.25″ OTA would touch only at the fastener holes, whereas blocks cut to the tube’s curve spread the clamping load along a curved bearing face, which stiffens the joint and keeps the load off two small points of the tube wall. The armored strip handles the interface to the mount. Where a saddle clamps with a set screw, all of the holding force arrives through a single hardened point pressed into the dovetail edge; on bare aluminum that point digs in, and the pits and grooves it leaves make each subsequent clamp-up a little less precise. The stainless strip gives that screw steel to bite on, so the dovetail geometry stays as machined over years of clamping.

Recommended Uses

• Mounting a post-2008 Celestron 9.25″ SCT on a Vixen-style equatorial or alt-azimuth saddle.
• Setups where the tube comes off the mount after every session and the dovetail is clamped and released constantly.
• Imaging runs where a worn, loose dovetail joint would let the tube settle mid-sequence.
• Balancing a 9.25″ tube with a heavy imaging train by sliding it along the 17.25″ of bar available.

Compatibility and Accessory Notes

• Telescope: Celestron 9.25″ SCT optical tube assembly, newer models from 2008 onward.
• Dovetail standard: V-size (Vixen). It seats in Vixen saddles; a D-size (Losmandy) saddle takes the wider profile, and an adapter bridges the two.
• Bar length: 17.25″.
• Kit contents: dovetail bar, radius blocks, mounting screws.
• Clamping edge: stainless steel armored strip.
• Material and finish: black anodized aluminum.
• Origin: CNC-machined in the United States.

Tell us your scope and mount and we’ll confirm the fit.

Good to Know Before You Order

• Farpoint specifies this kit for the newer, 2008-and-later Celestron 9.25″ OTA. Earlier 9.25″ tubes used a different arrangement, and we can check a serial number or a photo of your tube against it.
• The armored strip earns its keep only where a set screw clamps. Saddles that hold the bar with a flat clamping bar press across the face instead of into it and leave a plain aluminum dovetail unmarked; the standard FVC9.25S covers that case.
• This is a V-size bar. A mount with a D-size (Losmandy) saddle takes the wider profile, so a D bar or a Vixen-to-D adapter is the route there.
• The telescope is not included. The kit is the 17.25″ bar, the radius blocks and the screws.
• Published weight is 1.813 lb. Shipping is calculated on a rounded 2 lb.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it difficult to install?

It is a bolt-on part. The radius blocks locate against the curve of the tube, the bar lies across them, and the supplied screws pull the assembly together with a hex key.

What does the armored strip actually do?

It gives set screws a hardened steel surface to bear against. On a bare aluminum dovetail, set screws mar and pit the edge, cutting grooves that make the clamped connection progressively sloppier. The stainless strip absorbs that contact instead.

How does this differ from the plain Vixen bar?

The 17.25″ profile, the radius blocks and the screws are the same. The armored version adds the stainless strip along the clamping edge.

Will it fit an older 9.25″ tube?

Farpoint lists this kit for the newer 9.25″ OTA, 2008 and later. Send us a photo of the rear cell or the serial number and we’ll tell you which generation you have.

Bottom Line

In short: the 17.25″ Vixen dovetail kit for a post-2008 Celestron 9.25″ SCT — bar, matched radius blocks and screws at a published 1.813 lb — with a stainless armored strip so set screws bear on steel rather than anodized aluminum.