Balancing scope - elegantly?

[rubecula]

I've had to resort to gym weights and strips of lead tied on with bits of wire in order to balance the EdgeHD on the EQ6-R mount.  I have the scope pushed as far forward as I can get it on the dovetail but the weight of the camera, filter wheel and focuser needs a lot of weight to counterbalance it.

I'm wondering if there is a more elegant way of balancing the set up.

[pete_l]

18 minutes ago, rubecula said:

I'm wondering if there is a more elegant way of balancing the set up.

A longer dovetail?
All you are trying to do is to set the centre of gravity of the scope + accessories to be over the pivot point of the mount. Using a dovetail with more length at the rear will allow you to slide the scope even further forward.

[iPeace]

I'm not familiar with your scope, but assuming the dovetail protrudes forward of the mount's clamp, you could use a weight attached to its own clamp, thus making it easy to slide it along the front of the dovetail to find the perfect balance point.

Berlebach makes clamps with threaded holes and weights with protruding bolts to match.

[DaveS]

ADM do a range of add-on counterweights

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adm-counterweight-kits.html

So too do Baader

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/counterweights/baader-dovetail-bar-levelling-counterweight.html

But a longer dovetail might also be in order.

[Oldfort]

1 hour ago, DaveS said:

ADM do a range of add-on counterweights

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adm-counterweight-kits.html

So too do Baader

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/counterweights/baader-dovetail-bar-levelling-counterweight.html

But a longer dovetail might also be in order.

These are quite neat.  I use another Baader counterweight for my C8.  It screws into a threaded hole on the ADM dovetail bar.

https://www.baader-planetarium.com/en/accessories/mount-accessories/counterweights/1-kg-leveling-counterweight.html

These can be stacked.

Quite pricey though.

Edited August 2, 2019 by Oldfort

[Paz]

I use one of these dovetail counter weights on my maksutov and SCT if I'm hanging a lot of things off the back end. It's a Baader product, quite expensive, but well made.

[rubecula]

Thanks guys, that's given me plenty of ideas.  I really like the look of the Baader counterweights but at the moment I have 2.5kg of gym weights plus lead strips so it must be well over 3kg on the front of the scope.  If I can find a long dovetail bar that will allow me to slide the whole rig forward then I may be able to reduce the overall weight on the mount.  In the end I think it will take the longer bar plus some counterweight.  More money!

The dovetail on the 8" Edge is 13" long (330mm) and runs the full lenght of the tube so I'll have to find one that will protrude out the back.  So far 14" is the longest I've been able to find in the Vixen style format.  But I'll keep looking.

Thanks again for your help.