ETX 125 motor help

[Helen]

I've got an ETX 125 in the cupboard. The motors are too frustrating to encourage me to use it, and I wouldn't feel happy selling it as it stands (except as a potential project for someone and potentially at great loss!).

I've looked at the Weasner site, but some of the suggestions are scary!

Has anyone here attempted (and hopefully succeeded ) in getting the best out of the motors for an ETX scope. The scope has soooo much potential, if only the mechanics were up to the optics!

Any help gratefully received!

Thanks

Helen

[geppetto]

Helen

Sadly the ETX motors are not up to much but the optics

in the 125 are.

Best bet is to take the OTA off the mount, get some rings to fit

and mount it on an EQ mount.

Really is a good scope, shame about the mechanics :?

[jonifive]

Helen

As Phil said....I have removed the OTA of my ETX 90 and am waiting for Steve to send me some rings to mount it to my HEQ5. The fork mount is the worst piece of junk ever. Mine has never worked properly, even tho meade said they had fixed it!!! On the other hand the optics are splendid.

I agree that it has such potential, but the engineering is very poor and very frustrating. It almost put me off astronomy for life....and it cost £600.

Take the tube off, get it mounted and get some joy from it!

Jonathen

[Helen]

Bought mine 3 years ago, and with all the bits it cost over £1000 :shock: Like you, Jon, its never worked properly. I took it to COAA and Bev's quote, when he saw the way the motors had a life of their own, was 'it would take me a while to learn to love that feature!' Occasionally it has aligned and worked OK, though that just makes it worse when it doesn't! I've wasted quite a few evenings getting frustrated trying.... Took it to Telescope House last year for fixing - but it still doesn't work properly...

I know some people on here have ones that work - what's the secret folks??

Helen

[geppetto]

what's the secret folks

I've had a couple of these to bits for a look around and the one biggest

failing is the clutches.

As you may have found, you have to tighten them so tight to stop

slippage that the knobs can brake.

That's fixable to a point by getting the grease of the clutch surfaces and doing

a mod with cork washers.

Also, the ETX's are very vulnerable to variable power sources. You have to

train the motors with every change of power source.

The internal wiring can get tied up (even snap itself) which doesn't help.

The list goes on...

[jonifive]

The cradle that holds the worm gears on mine cracked...twice. When I sent it to Meade for it to be fixed they used oversized screws to hold it on and broke the moulded screw holes (part of the base of the fork mount). Finally I fixed it with araldite, and then the motors developed a mind of their own and after alignment would slew upwards until it died. After updating the firm ware it still did it, so I moved on. If fact if I ever meet a meade rep I will happily stick the fork mount up his/her bum.

I felt duped to be honest, I new nothing about astronomy and felt that after my (still excellent) Helios 114 I was moving up to a proper scope. Damned lies. How meade can get away with still producing these mounts is incredible. The scopes are superb, the fork mount is a design disaster. :nono:

DON'T BuY ONE....EVER.

J5

[Helen]

Right,

took the mount apart (nothing to lose I figured!) I think I might have improved the grip, but now I can't get the scope back into the arms :?

Is there a trick to it, 'cos I'm getting very frustrated (and even though I'm pretty sure it'll still not work very well, I hate being thwarted by a piece of plastic!!!)

Helen

PS when sanity returns I will probably come to terms with the loss I've incurred here, put it down to experience, and use or sell the rather nice OTA! Its just that the sale of this was going to help fund a proper CCD camera...

[Helen]

Update:

managed to get the OTA back in the arms!

What was the guy who designed these scopes thinking of though It takes real talent to make it so difficult but so ineffective!!

Oh for some dark skies now to test whether I've really made any difference!

Helen

[jonifive]

oh for some dark skies now to test whether I've really made any difference!

Helen.......no chance of darkness and no chance of making that fork mount work better.......sorry but thats just the way it is

J

[Helen]

Yeah, not really holding out hope for either.... but never mind, feeling a little more relaxed about it now - life's too short to waste much viewing time on this project

Helen

[proflight2000]

I had the 105 and as a starter scope it was ok. I ended up taking all the electrics apart and re routing them in a different way. When they "throw" the electricals in they do just that in my opinion, throw them in. The wiring quite often used to get snagged on the gears and get ripped. Anyways shes gone now bt as said, the optics I liked and taking into account how small it was i was quite impressed.

[daz]

Without getting on a soapbox, I think we (as astronomers) are part of the problem. Meade will continue to make and sell them, because we don't go back to them and say "It doesn't work, it is not as described, I want my money back".

If you bought a new car and the steering wheel suddenly had a mind of its own and went off in another direction, you'd be back to the showroom sharpish. When your new microwave packs up, you don't start taking it to bits and re-wiring it...

OK, extreme examples, but you get the point. For some reason we seem loathe to go back to the manufacturers and say "This is not good enough".

Phew, quite dizzy up on that high box!!

[geppetto]

For some reason we seem loathe to go back to the manufacturers and say "This is not good enough".

I'll second that Daz...

Cheap and nasty is one thing, expensive and nasty is not on..

[Helen]

I agree we're too reticent. I didn't get to use it much early on because of a combination of poor weather and heavy work commitment - and being inexperienced I think I thought user error was a factor too... There was nowhere really to just take it in and say 'am I doing this right?' ie 'is it me or the scope?' Now, with a bit more knowledge, the help of people on this forum, and really good dealers like Steve, I'm sure I'd be much more inclined to do the right thing and start by talking through what I perceived to be the problems, and then take it further if appropriate..

Helen

[jonifive]

You are both right on that point. We who have suffered with the rubbish ETX should have complained......but I felt the same as Helen.....I was a minority, especially after I visited Weaner's webpage because hundreds of people were raving about them.

It must backfire on Meade because I will never buy anything of theirs again. I am sure there are others out there who feel the same.

JV

[Helen]

As there was too much cloud and rain about to risk the NS8 (TOO big to run with if it suddenly rains!) I thought I'd test the ETX.

Not a bad result considering...

It doesn't seem to boomerang like it used to when using the arrow keys, so lining up alignment stars was much easier. It aligned first time :shock: and then it got Albireo in the field of view on the first goto :shock: I was then going to test the tracking, but managed to pull out the handbox and when going to get the recticule eyepiece to do the alignment again managed to trip over the power lead and nearly head-butt the conservatory. And then the clouds came over Decided someone was trying to tell me something, so I'm now off to bed, its safer!

Helen

[geppetto]

managed to trip over the power lead and nearly head-butt the conservatory

You need to swap the gin for lemonade Helen

[Helen]

Coffee might have been even better

Helen