His mounts are really nice! However, you need to weight the back end of the tube down a bit and keep the upper end as light as possible since the ground clearance is so low.
> Also Optic-Craft Machining looks like they have some nice parts
> and I'm getting a catalog from them.
>
> Does anyone have recommendations good or bad for mount manufacturers?
>
> -Alan Kilian
>
There just aren't a whole lot of choices these days when it comes to decent equatorial mounts (perhaps a victim of the Dob 'revolution'). The requirements are most stringent if you plan to do any long exposure astrophotography. You still want a solid easy to use and setup mount for visual use, though.
Two manufacturers that offer mounts in the range you need are Losmandy and AstroPhysics (and some expensive Takahashi mounts). A Losmandy (celestron) G-11 would probably work, though you are probably at about the limit of its capabilities - if you ever went to a larger scope, it couldn't do it. That is why I like the GM200 (but it is a $4000 dollar mount...). The AstroPhysics 800 would do the job also, but won't go much past your 8 incher either (and it is more expensive than a G11).
You might find an old schaefer mount (the new ones are poorer quality and mucho expensive for what they are) for sale used. Probably a used G11 or GM100 (predecessor to the G-11 and probably a bit sturdier) would be the best value. Sometimes, some other less familiar good mounts show up used in the Starry Messenger.
Bob