LX850-The Unpacking and assembly

[baggywrinkle]

 

As promised, my first post re unpacking and setting up my new LX850 onto the pier.

The LX850 arrives in 7 boxes of varying sizes and weights. The two heaviest and largest are the mount and the 12” OTA. All are carefully packed and I was please to see as I unpacked there appeared to be no damage to any of the contents.

My LX850 was shipped within the UK via UPS (who also managed to mislay 2 of the 7 boxes), I certainly would have not been able to get all of them in my car.

Box 1: 12" ACF f/8 OTA 21kg, 97cm x 59cm x 60cm

Box 2: OTA accessory kit 3kg, 32cm x 32cm x 33cm

Box 3: Mount Body 30kg, 55cm x 42cm x 79cm

Box 4: Mount Accessories 22kg, 76cm x 49cm x 29cm

Box 5: Counterweight 14kg, 27cm x 27cm x 14cm

Box 6: Counterweight 14kg, 27cm x 27cm x 14cm

Box 7: Giant Tripod 24kg, 44cm x 44cm x 102cm

My first job was to dismantle the EQ-AZ6 off my pier ready to take the LX850, for that reason I unpacked and then repacked the large mount just to ensure it was in good order.

I had also been to my local hardware shop to buy a ½” 13 UNC bolt, locking nut and washer, they would be needed to secure the mount to the pier.

Next to unpack was the mount box. The mount head comes is two main parts, the Dec part and the RA assemblies along with the instructions, hand controller and the control panel.

I had previously downloaded the PDF version of the handbook to gen up on ahead of receiving the real thing. You would have thought that considering the price tag on the mount the handbook would have been something better than very poorly printed pages off a photo copier. The images are poor to useless, so just as well I had the PDF to refer to.

There was also a second document that shed a little more light on the assembly. IMO sorely needed as Meade does not seem to employ literate technical writers. It too was a poor photocopy.

The main part of the mount has carry handles which does make lifting this heavy lump into place easier. Correct size imperial sized hex wrenches are supplied plus a spanner that looks a bit like a glorified bottle opener…it is much more useful than that as I was to find out

The RA head then has to be attached, that is followed by running the cables supplied for the RA drive and the Starlock OTA though the dedicated raceways. This is a good idea as it prevented cables from twisting and dangling around when the whole assembly is built and in use.

The whole assembly is incredibly solidly built and oozes quality.

I then used a digital inclinometer and a compass to roughly set Polar North and Latitude. It was then that the bottle opener spanner came into play...much needed when you have a heavy mass to alter the declination on

Next was the attachment of the very large mounting plate and the mass bar with its two 14Kg masses. As I am using the Starlock Finder on top of the OTA I did not need to add the extra counterweight provided for the plate to offset the extra sideways mass if the Starlock finder is used in that position.

For the next part I was lucky enough to have a friend turn up who could help me lift the OTA onto the mount. At 21Kg and very bulky IMO two are needed into order not to drop the OTA or getting a hernia.

I also notice that though a power supply was included the none of the power leads included were of a 3 Pin UK type…another minus point to Meade.

I am now waiting for some clear skies so I can do a proper polar align and set up.

 

 

 

 

 

[Alan White]

Now that is a serious bit of kit.

You may wish to blank out your, name, address and mobile number,
that all clearly shows in some of the images posted though.

Hope you get first light soon.

Nice observatory too, how big is it, the mount makes it look small!

[heliumstar]

Like it! Really, really nice. Clear skies!

[Craney]

Crikey..... that's a sexy looking rig.    The mount looks like it's made by NASA, makes my EQ6 look like it's from the middle ages.

Hope you havent triggered a runaway greenhouse effect in terms of cloud cover.

[Prador]

Mods may need to step in to safeguard PERSEC. I'd be too busy in the obsy tinkering with that behemoth rather than check this thread ?

[FenlandPaul]

That’s a seriously beautiful scope, Frank - looking forward to hearing about first light.

How did you find lifting the OTA onto the mount? A one-person job?

[dannybgoode]

Properly nice. Not at all jealous. However, between you getting this and me deciding to stop messing about and go get a nice imaging set up I can see nothing but clouds until at least late May...

[JeremyS]

Looks a serious bit of kit. Looking forward to hearing how you get on ?

 

[pete_l]

Now that's what I call a telescope!

Excellent write-up, thank you very much.
I hope you get some clear nights soon.

 

I considered getting one of those a few years back. But I asked Meade some fairly basic technical questions (such as what size was the imaging circle - about as complicated as asking a car salesman how many seats there are) and they couldn't tell me. No sale!

[fozzybear]

maybe remove the photo with your address and phone number on it.... on the carton just a thought

I envy you a great setup

[garryblueboy]

Looks amazing 

[Neil27]

You've got to love the deep blue colour of the Meade.

Looks great hope to hear your journey with this set up.