Our direct-drive mounts and gimbals are designed, fabricated, and assembled at our Adrian, Michigan campus. We manufacture our own direct-drive motors for each mount and gimbal to provide high precision tracking and pointing accuracy for demanding client applications all over the world.

L-Series Mounts

Our L-Series direct-drive mounts with high resolution on-axis encoders have set the new standard in performance and affordability for astronomical research, SDA, and astrophotography applications. The mounts are fully designed and manufactured by PlaneWave Instruments, and we even manufacture the direct-drive motors themselves on-campus. The benefits of direct-drive motors is they have zero backlash and zero periodic error, are virtually silent when in motion, and provide fast slewing speeds of up to 50 degrees per second. Not to mention direct-drive mounts require minimal maintenance as there are no gears meshing together that require lubrication. The L-series are configurable in either Alt/Az, or equatorial configuration depending upon client project requirements.. Three models of the L-Series are available: the L-350 is designed for carrying up to the CDK14 and is capable of holding 100 lbs. The L-500 is designed for the CDK17/20 and can hold a payload of over 200 lbs. The L-600 is ideal for the CDK24 and can hold up to 300 lbs.

700 Series and 1000 Series Gimbals

PlaneWave is proud to introduce our next stage in an already wildly successful lineup of mounts and gimbals. The 700 and 1000 series gimbals are utilized in our CDK700, RC700 and PW1000 observatory system telescopes and have extensive heritage in both performance and reliability. Configurable for specific customer goals, this new line of gimbals is ready to meet the most stringent applications. Available with additional ruggedization and weatherization, power input options, Coudé path compatible, and slip rings for continuous azimuth rotation.

T-Series Direct-Drive Gimbals