Meade etx 90 observer

[troymills72]

i have a meade etx 90 observer telescope it needs a ra or dec motor or should i repair them both at same time? were can i get these in the us?

[RT65CB-SWL]

Hi @troymills72 and welcome to SGL. 

Depending on how old your ETX90 is, I would personally de-fork it and mount it on an alt-az or EQ mount and dovetail bar. There are a few videos on YouTube. The dovetail bar, (preferebly one with slotted holes), can be screwed underneath the plastic rear end with 2x 1/4-20” UNC machine screws/bolts. Just don’t overtighten them, as the threaded inserts may become loose. The RA and DEC drives were not that good anyway as the gears are/were nylon/plastic.

I have a de-forked ETX105 [image below] which has been ‘re-modded’ with an aluminium backplate following an accident that damaged two of the three mounting points of the original plastic visual back assembly after a fall from a mount.

A good resource for all things ETX related, is this site... http://www.weasner.com/etx/menu.html 

If you wish to change the backplate, then have a look here... https://wegatoptical.com/

 

 

Edited November 26, 2023 by RT65CB-SWL

[RT65CB-SWL]

BTW… I sold the Vixen GP and now mount my ‘scopes on these… 

…and now 100% alt-az.

Also my ETX105 now has tube rings and not using the Jubilee/hose rings that held the dovetail bar to the OTA as shown in my first reply. 

Edited November 26, 2023 by RT65CB-SWL