Dormant Scope Question

[ultramol]

I know this may sound daft but is it recomended to leave the counter balance weights on a scope whilst being stored awaiting a clear night. There is a lot of weight pushing down on the shaft and I was wondering if this could bend it at all. Thanks in advance....Geoff

[jambouk]

No, it's fine

[xtreemchaos]

if your leaving your scope on leave them on ,if not id take them off,its easyer to move and less stress on the mount.clear skys charl.

[ultramol]

Thanks for your answers, much appreciated.....Regards...Geoff

[beamer3.6m]

I would take them off as easier to lift and only a 30 second job to put back on.

To save time mark the counyer weight shaft with a permanent marker to speed things up.

[Oddsocks]

I know this may sound daft but is it recomended to leave the counter balance weights on a scope whilst being stored awaiting a clear night. There is a lot of weight pushing down on the shaft and I was wondering if this could bend it at all. Thanks in advance....Geoff

No!!!!!!!!   

I might have misunderstood your question but NEVER....EVER....remove the counterweights from a mount while the scope is still attached, the clutches will not support the tube and the slightest knock will send the scope crashing into the tripod legs....goodbye optics.....hello credit card......

Always....ALWAYS.....​set the counterweights to the lowest position, lightly set the clutches, remove the optical tube first, then remove the counterweights BEFORE moving the mount to storage, the RA and DEC bearings in the smaller EQ mounts can easily be flat-spotted and the worms bent if large loads are applied when physically moving the mount around, so you should not attempt to carry one around with the counterweights still attached, I know loads of people do and get away with it but it is not what the designer intended or what the mount is built for.

If the mount is stationary in an observatory then it is quite ok to leave the counterweights and optical tube attached, the mount can not be damaged in this way.

Pardon me for "shouting" but you see, as a newbie and rather stupid and tired one morning, (but not "emotional" , that came later") I removed the counterweights from my HEQ5 while the optical tube and CANON EOS camera were still attached, only to watch the tube and camera crash into the tripod legs, but holding a large counterweight in each hand was unable to do anything but stare in disbelief, the optical tube survived, the three week old CANON was smashed into many pieces.....Something you only do once ( I hope).

William.

[Dave In Vermont]

I leave my scopes so that the OTA and any weights cancel each other out so as to have as little stress as possible on the scope and the mount. Keep them in balance and not rely on a lock / clutch.

With a SCT, leave these scopes with the OTA pointing downwards so the nose is angled towards the floor or ground. This is due to the off-chance that , during hot weather, the grease used on the "sled" the primary-mirror  won't (very low chance anyways) drip down to the corrector-plate.  Stranger things have happened.

Good question, Geoff!

Dave

[ultramol]

My scope is balanced but it can literally be weeks were I live for a clear night so I leave it set up in the home position in the living room ( her indoors is quite ok about this and frankly has me worried )!! then on a clear night I remove the tube, then the weights and lift the mount outside. I do have marks on the set up to allow me to get it almost there before I balance and align. The reason I asked the question is whilst sitting watching TV or whatever in the living room I imagined the stress on the RA bearing and the threaded piece of the counterbalance shaft on my EQ5 mount . But if you knowledgeable people out there say it is OK then that is good enough for me. Thank you all very much for your input.

By the way William I feel for you .....must have been horrendous

[Zakalwe]

Pardon me for "shouting" but you see, as a newbie and rather stupid and tired one morning, (but not "emotional" , that came later") I removed the counterweights from my HEQ5 while the optical tube and CANON EOS camera were still attached, only to watch the tube and camera crash into the tripod legs, but holding a large counterweight in each hand was unable to do anything but stare in disbelief, the optical tube survived, the three week old CANON was smashed into many pieces.....Something you only do once ( I hope).

Horror story and an expensive lesson learned. :sad:

If the mount is stationary in an observatory then it is quite ok to leave the counterweights and optical tube attached, the mount can not be damaged in this way.

it's possible that the bearings could become brinnelled due to standing for long periods with a static load. Given the loads involved I would think that it's unlikely though, unless the bearings were horrendously badly made.

[LukeSkywatcher]

I left mine on my 90mm refractor and now i cant get the bar off the mount. The scope was angled upwards so obviously warped the bar. If you store the scope horizontally, you should be ok. The weight of the counter weights will go into the ground.

[cjdawson]

The whole point of balance weights is to remove stress from the setup.  So, whilst yes, the counter balance adds more weight to the whole scope it should put less pressure on the gears mechanisms.

[Coastliner]

I've just started to leave my kit fully assembled and I think the best way to store it is to loosen the RA and DEC clutches and let the whole thing find its own balance point, then throw a sheet over it. To my mind this would leave no stress on the drive train and minimum load on the bearings. This is only my opinion though, does anyone else agree?

I have just ordered castors to fit onto a wooden triangular base to form a trolley that will enable me to wheel the assembled kit out of the garage.