weight

[eye in the sky]

Hi again all

Ive put a meade 5000 80mm apo on top of my lx90 12" with a guide ring system made by astro engineering. Ive also mounted a meade weight system under the scope to counter balance. the problem ive got is the scope on top is far heavier than the weights underneath causing counterbalance problems. Can i put more weight under my scope ie put a g clamp on one of the weights to add more weight to counterbalance. Im just worried about the weight on the scope. Will the weight hurt the scope or will an out of balance scope fare worse.

thankyou

dave w

[adamsp123]

thats heck of a load, is it the fork mount that comes with the LX90? If yes I think it will be well overloaded.

[eye in the sky]

yes its the standard fork mount. so why do they sell ring setups for them if they cant take the weight? So if i want to piggyback for ccd imaging what scope should i buy? I went for the larger aperture because i thought it would be able to deal with more weight.

dave

[barkis]

I have a Meade LX90 12", and I've had conflicting advice regards weighting the scope. I'm quite happy with a zs66 apo in guide rings, which I will use as a guidescope whilst imaging at f6.3.

My counter balance system is a homemade one, which I can move a weight in 3 directions. Fortunately, the little 66 is easily counterbalanced.

Balance is crucial, but don't over weight the scope, or the motors may suffer.

Ron.

[Psychobilly]

A Meade expert might shoot me down but the LX90's have the weaker gears.... compared to the LX200's

Balance is going to be the most important thing as it will drastically reduce the load on the drive components...

My CPC 800 is well... a bit of a bloater... bit like me really... having a Megrez72 FF III and DSLR in 5" rings a 500mm f8 with DSI IIC in custom rings , A Piggy back B&S head for a DSLR and lenses and a DSLR at Prime Focus mounted on it ... it needs about 9 kg weight mounted under the scope to balance well towards the back it all out... but when balanced can be moved easily with one finger...

Peter...

[roundycat]

I had that sort of weight on my LX200 10" once and operated it well out of balance. It seemed to work and didn't appear to do any damage. YMMV.

Dennis

[adamsp123]

my apologies I saw the 5000 and brain jumped in with 127mm not the 80mm, I am such a Dumkopf, idiot, muppet .......etc etc

[eye in the sky]

so my scope 12"lx90 on a mega wedge with a meade 80mm apo which weighs about 5 kilos is ok as long as i counterbalance.

An idea that has come to mind using one of my weights is to drill and tap it m10.

screw in some m10 bar short enough so it doesnt hit base when telescope is at polaris then put a smaller weight on the bar using it further away from centre of the scope holdind in place by a nut on either side making it adjustable.

dave

[eye in the sky]

going for it today. im going to drill weight as i said i my last post but also im going to drill and tap 2 more holes 90 degrees either side of the first one screw in m10 bar then put 2 smaller weights on these bars to help with balance other way. Nobodys gave me a definate answer about the weight. Will it be ok to have about 10-12kg in total on my scope thats including rings, scope, finderscope and weights as long as it is properly balanced.

thankyou

dave

[Psychobilly]

I dont think anyone will give you a definite yes it will be ok just incase something goes wrong with the mounts drive motors , gearing or bearings....

Proceed at your own risk.....

But here's how My CPC800 gets used.... or should that be "AB"used

Peter...