Advice please re Meade Wedge

[Dr Chandra]

Hi all,

I have had a Meade 10" LX90 for about 10 yrs and have used it for photography, but the results have never satisfied me.

I'm in need of some advice regarding buying an Equatorial Wedge, but all of the adverts I see are for the 8". I believe that I can buy an adaptor, but it isn't clear if the adaptor for the 10" will connect with the 8" wedge.

Can anyone clarify this for me?

thanks

Vince

[michael8554]

Yes the ads do suggest that only the 8" will fit.

Which is strange as on the LX200's the base is identical across the range I believe.

But maybe the 90's are different.

I hope a 90 owner responds for you.

Otherwise a phone call to a Meade dealer.

Michael

[cjdawson]

Hi, I've got an 8" LX-90 that I use for imaging and have a wedge as I'm working on DSO's (when I get the time which isn't anywhere near enough)

Looking at the pictures on the web, it looks to me like the 10" LX-90's share the same mounting mechanism between the OTA and the Tripod, so the wedge should indeed fit just fine.

One piece of advice that I will give is don't skimp on the wedge, get the biggest strongest wedge that your budget will allow.  When I bought my wedge it cost me about £200 10 years ago.  It's been a staple part of my setup since an does get knocked about a bit when transporting the scope.  If you get a lighter wedge, you are likely to get more flex in your setup, this can cause the scope to be much more sensitive to touching than when it is in Alt-Az mode.  I've combatted this successfully be using electric focussing (for getting that final tweak before imaging) and using the tripod damper things that you can get to sit the tripod on.  It might sound like an extra, but it does make a difference.

 

My wedge came with an adapter plate for the LX-90.  This plate bolts onto the underside of the LX-90 using the single bolt hole in the base (huge allan key fitting)  this in turn has three threaded bolt holes, that you use to attach the scope to the wedge.  The wedge attachs to the tripod using the center bolt, and if your wedge allow (as mine does) you can attach more bolts for extra security. I've found they are not needed and makes dismantling the scope more difficult as you need to remove the wedge to be able to fold up the tripod.