Any suggestions as to increasing the weight on the front end of a scope?

[Tim]

I have a rather tasty 6" refractor on loan, an Esprit 150 ED.

And following a purchase at the IAS last week, I wanted to try it with a 2x powermate, and image at 2100mm, f14.

However, even without the flattener, this makes the whole rig 1.4 metres long at focus, which is too big to be safe from hitting the walls at the back of the scope, so I need to move the scope forward in the rings by about 6".

The mount I have is extremely sensitive to balance, and wouldn't tolerate that without the front end being made more weighty.

But as it is not my scope, i'm looking for non marking suggestions to increase the weight at the front end so that I can slide the scope forward in the rings.

Anybody got any bright ideas? My brain is fuzzed :s

Cheers

Tim

[Merlin66]

Tim,

The usual, easiest and cheapest method is to pick up a couple of those wrist weights with Velcro fasteners from Tesco and wrap them around the tube.

[Tinker1947]

If its a metal tube a couple of magnets....??

[swag72]

My Pentax was back heavy and I used a weight attached to the underside of the dovetail - Worked a treat.

[jambouk]

Yeah, a laggy band around the scope holding something heavy and non particulate so it doesn't move; i thought small packs of rice as they are quite dense but the grains would move, and may interfere with any imaging.

How much weight do you need there?

[m.tweedy]

excuse me being very thick but if you move the tube forward does that not increase the front end weight not the back. would the additional weight not need to go on the back? if so buy an ethos 21 seriously though the wrist weights work well. I may even have a spare one knocking around

[Tim]

Hahaha, good spot Michael! You are right of course. I blame a clear night before the busiest day of the year so far at work

The wrist weights are a brilliant idea, I'll grab some and do just that. Thanks for the suggestions

Tim

[alan potts]

Tim,

Cheap as chips, I wrap a 1.25 kg barbell weight in a flannel and use a sprap that camne off a LowePro bag to hold it on the end of my GSO 150 for the same reason. It has never fallen off and for me at least, it's stable.

Alan

[ollypenrice]

What I like to do is use a sliding guide scope attachment. I can slide the guide scope forwards and backwards to fine tune Dec balance or the reduce the amount of tube length at the camera end to get longer pre-flip.

This avoids adding extra weight, too. The mini saddle plate clamps can be had from Baader or Altair Astro who do a slightly more substantial one with two screws. It also means I can swap guide scope for solar scope very quickly, as in the pic. (The Lunt is a lousy guidescope...)

Olly