80mm To Lx200 Mounting Plate

[mick pinner]

Rumples Riot
Here are the pictures of the top mounting plate l made for the Orion 80mm.
ln the first pic you'll notice the large attaching bolts so minimum fumbling in the dark

[mick pinner]

When the scope is taken of the LX it can then be mounted straight to a dovetail for an eq or other type with the 2 mounting holes underneath.

[mick pinner]

The finder bolts are rubber mounted to protect the scope and give about 8 to 10mm movement, l'll post pics of the weight system wh they get back from the powder coaters.

[westsky]

Hi Mick, where did you get the rubber bits from I have been looking for the same ones and haven't been able to find them.

cheers
David

[Striker]

Mick,

May I ask why you need all these finder scopes.......I just push what I want then GOTO...whats with all the accessories.

BTW it looks great...I just dont see the point....educate me!

[mick pinner]

The finder was attached to the Orion because it was mounted on an EQ l dont really use it when it's mounted on the LX. No education needed.

[mick pinner]

Westsky,
The rubber caps are actually carburettor blocking plugs and you can buy them from any auto parts store in just about any size you want. About $3 for a pack of 8.

[westsky]

Thanks Mick

David.

[[1ponders]]

Damn now I'm itching again. :P Looks good Mick

[rumples riot]

Thanks Mick for posting those shots, given me some ideas about how to mount the Orion now. That is a job I need to attend to soon as the Orion is still in its packing box and waiting its first real use as a guide scope.

Striker we use all these add on scopes for multiple imaging and for guiding.

The finder scope that Meade supply is ok for getting you in the right neighbourhood, but you cannot use it as a guidscope for long exposure photography. In addition something like the orion is good for taking wide field shots and doing work on the planets. Schmidt cassigrains are notorious for being hard to collimate so for me the Orion is a scope that can be utilised to take planetary images which are ultra sharp.

Incidently when I say hard to collimate, I mean for the level required for planetary imaging. To get great shots the scope must be collimated beyond f20 on an f10 scope. F10 collimation is fine for viewing and doing deep sky astrophotography, but it needs to be really good for high magnification work. having a good quality refractor takes a lot of that trouble away.

Hope that makes sense.