How do you balance your scope

[bomberbaz]

At first I thought this only applied to short scopes (Maks/SCT's) due to their compressed size but having thought about it, I realise it matters to all scopes but it is more critical on the shorter ones and particularly in my case with an SE8 on the original goto mount..

So the scenario is for most of us is you have balanced your scope up with (depending on preferences) telrad & ravf or similar then you add on your EP. But my EP's vary from a couple of hundred grams for a Celestron 18mm X-Cel to over 800 for my newly purchased Skywatcher 23mm Panorama.

Where do you set your centre of balance. I guess this is more critical for the guys like me with goto not wishing to put your motors under undue strain. A few things spring to mind, which EP do you use most being the most obvious one. But I am going to go with the set the balance point between the heaviest and lightest as this will, in the long run cause the least overall strain. If it turns out I am using one EP more than any other by a significant margin, then its time for a rethink.

What does anyone else reckon................

[Bizibilder]

If you have one particularly heavy eyepiece (or camera etc) it may be worth setting up a remoneable balance weight - just for use when the heavy "lump" is in use. This saves having to rebalance the whole set-up every time. I believe there are commercial versions of these "extra" weights that can be bolted to your scope/mount as and when required.

[bomberbaz]

If you have one particularly heavy eyepiece (or camera etc) it may be worth setting up a remoneable balance weight - just for use when the heavy "lump" is in use. This saves having to rebalance the whole set-up every time. I believe there are commercial versions of these "extra" weights that can be bolted to your scope/mount as and when required.

actually that's a very good point, of my EP's, 4 are roughly the same weight, ones a little lighter with just one being quite a bit heavier. I think I could easily knock something up with some velcro and something out of the garage

[Macavity]

I use a long dovetail bar, which projects forward of the balance point, underneath the scope. I can the use a dovetail clamp "in reverse" to add weights under the nose of the scope. You can even fine-adjust by sliding. Key to this (I discovered by trial and error!) is to balance the above-axis eyepiece weight (in the diagonal) at the back end, with the corresponding weight below-axis at the front end.