A question of balance

[RT65CB-SWL]

OK! I purchased a cheap Eq-GEM on 'Astroboot' a few weeks ago.

It came with everything apart from the weight that attaches to the declination shaft. They had a 2.2kg one, so I ordered one at the same time.

My questions are:-

1. What should the weight weigh?

2.Should it weigh the same as the scope that is on the mount?

3. Over or under weight so you can move it along the shaft to achieve 'near perfect' balance?

My heaviest scope is my Celestron C6-SCT and my lightest is my TeleVue Ranger & my 'modded' ETX105 somewhere in between. Is 2.2kgs in one lump of metal ok, or should I purchase individual weights to make up the weight of the heavy scope?

[ronin]

1) Almost anything within reason 0.5Kg to 5Kg seems to be available. So 2.2Kg is the middle.

2) No, you add, remove or move weights as you find best. With 1 you can only just move it up or down the shaft for balance.

3) I think Overweight is "better" for all the static balance can be done with light weight further away or heavy weight closer, with the weight closer to the mount then I think the moment of inertia is lower.

Problem may be that the heavy scope and any imaging bits mean there is insufficent balance shaft length available.