200p v 10in Meade SCT. A question of weight.

[Telescope40]

Hi All. A plan has started to formulate while I deal with the cloud monsters my locality seems to be suffering from of late. Looking for some wise words as always. I can assure you this initial post will be followed by numerous questions that elude me, as of now. Please bear with me. Here we go. Happy for anyone to throw in any observations either big or small. I am a visual observer. The "odd" attempt with a DSLR every now and then, so far. .

Currently own a CG5 GT mount and a Skytee mount. Both seem happy to carry my 200p using a standard vixen, I think, dovetail and the saddles that come with them.

I also own a 10 in LX90 ( fork mounted ) and was wondering if anyone can clarify if both my mounts would be happy to carry the OTA of said SCT. Also allowing for the fact I would surely have to upgrade the dovetails and saddles to give me confidence, before a scope meets concrete scenario crops up.

I've even got to the point of thinking of selling my LX90 and looking for a 2nd hand SCT OTA. My LX90 is in good nick and in full working order ( this isnt a sales plug, for now BTW), with hopes of buying another SCT OTA, Meade 10 in / Celestron C11 with the required essential heavy duty mounting metallurgy and then using on my mounts.

Questions

My main query would be, will the mounts cope with the weight. In other words. Does a de fork SCT weight around the same as a 200p.

The mount has two counterweights that I use with the 200p. Sufficient enough to use with the SCT as balancing would be an issue. .

I have a pedestal added to my CG5 to avoid any snagging of the tripod. Would I end up in some sort of wrestling match with a de forked SCT, when trying to attach it to the saddle, aka Mick McManus on World of Sport - I'm showing my age. I am 5 ft 9 in and 12 stone - middleweight ??? lol

Thats it for now.

Thanks in advance as always John

[Bukko]

Hi, John,

I de-forked my 10" LX90 a couple of years ago and if I remember correctly, the OTA weighed around 12 or 13kg. I also don't know the weight of the 200p. but I guess you can put in on a scales.

BTW I was surprised at the demand for the array of parts on fleabay.

The dovetail plate for the mount is a Losmandy type, so you might also need to chaange the CG5 puck to suit. I woudl be careful of adding an additional adapter, as the further out from the mount centre, the greater the balancing weight is required and also the greated the instability...

I am not sure of the load capacity of the CG5, nor its stability, but a FL of 2500mm from the OAT is quite a lot for it to manage..

If I remember correctly, Mick McManus was the nasty one, who acted like a child when caught out...

Gordon

[Dunkster]

The C11 is 12 or 13kg also, and Celestron sell it on the CG5, so it must be possible... how close to the limit is hard to tell, but it's probably be OK for visual with a little care and patience.

I put my C11 on an NEQ6, which is quite a beast itself. The first time I setup, I did myself an injury. I don't think it's a question of build, but technique. The OTA isn't so much heavy as bulky and bottom heavy!

[Merlin66]

I used a Lx200 10" OTA (about 11Kg) on the NEQ6pro before upgrading to a C11 (12.5Kg).

For spectroscopy (holding a target star image on a 25micron slit gap) I think this is close to the NEQ6 limit...by the time you add a couple of cameras, spectroscope etc etc.