Balancing Fork on Wedge in RA

[yuklop]

Hi everyone,

I sometimes wonder if I’m not going a bit barmy!

I have a lx200 12” on a wedge. I understand balance is important and I can achieve perfect balance in dec. There are many guides, and it’s a straight forward matter to sort out. Most of the guides then say at the horizontal position release the RA clutch and see how the arms want to move - then balance.

No problems so far. 
The bit I haven’t seen explained is, as soon as the forks are rotated about RA the balance is lost. Whichever arm is high wants to drop. It very much wants to return to the level position. I can fix this by adding weight to whichever arm is low. But it would require a different amount of weight for each RA position.

Is this normal behaviour? Is there a sensible fix since it must be best that the scope to be balanced however it is pointing.

I can only imagine this is because there is a load of weight at the top of the forks, I.e motor assembly on one side and balance on the other. But if that’s the case why isn’t it mentioned in the guides on balancing!?

 

[DaveS]

I don't have a fork, but  my DDMs are very sensitive to balance , to the point that they have to be  balanced  around  all three  axes, I think your lx200 might need the same .

[yuklop]

Yes, it does. The tricky bit is that I cannot be balanced for all RA positions. The correct balance for forks level is not correct for forks not level. And trickier still the extra weight to balance must go on the low arm (which of course changes depending on whether it is pointing east or west)

I think it needs balancing for whatever RA position it is in for imaging, which is a pest. I’m wondering if that is usual or if I have somehow done something odd!