As we all age we start to dream of telescopes made from exotic lightweight materials....
Well this isn't in my future (the lightweight materials part) so I started looking for a way to reduce the weight I have to lift in order to set up the scope. I am absolutely in love with the 10" SCT optical tube I have, so I started looking for a different way to mount it. Ken Sikes, a fellow LX50'r that lives near me decided to get one of the new Orion Atlas EQ-G mounts and I helped machining the mounting blocks and plate for his scope when he got the mount. I went over to his place one evening and we played with the new mount enough to convince me that this was a viable and relatively inexpensive way to go.
The plusses of the mount are weight, the heaviest single piece I need to lift is the mount head assembly itself. All in all this makes for an easy to set up system that will break down into 4 components for easy transport and storage.
I weighed all the parts and this is what I came up with......
| 10" Meade OTA | 28.5 lbs | Includes mounting rail for Atlas, Telrad base, Finder base, Corrector heater and two Meade camera brackets. |
| LX50-SD mounting with 10" optics | 64.1 lbs | |
| Meade LX50 SD Mounting | 35.8 lbs | Stepper converted model |
| Atlas EQ-G GoTo mounting | 35.2 lbs | |
| Atlas mount box | 26.0 lbs | |
| OTA Chest | 27.9 lbs | |
| Atlas tripod w/ spreader | 17.2 lbs | |
| Meade Adjustable field tripod with Super Wedge | 52.0 lbs |
January 2006 I plan to make a trunk for the OTA, a box for the mount head and another box for the weights and fittings. I will document the process as it progresses . I will also post the templates and measurements used in constructing the various storage boxes.
February 2006 Look under the Atlas Cases page for details.
As far as the operation of the mounting I have spent one evening (12/03/05) thus far playing with it under the stars. Details to come soon.....
9/16/06 Update.....
After many months of use I have decided I really do like this mounting. While there have been some teething problems, most notably in the looseness of the gearing and stiff spots in the bearings, once these issues were taken care of the mounting is a joy to use. The new Version 3 Hand controller is now shipping (I should have mine by the end of September '06) and it appears it will eliminate most of the complaints we users have about this mount.