Manufacturer of mount counterweights

[marco]

Dear all, I am looking for a company or an amateur that can make some custom made counterweights around 15/20 Kg each, possibly located in NSW. It would be great to have them in stainless steel but probably it will be too expensive, anyhow at least should be painted against corrosion.
I still don't know yet the total weight I need, I will have to take a decision in several weeks however I am just checking in advance to be ready :)
Thanks for any suggestion!

Kind Regards
Marco

[bojan]

Use plastic pot, place a plastic tube in the middle and pour the concrete in the pot.. et voila, in a day or two you have your counterweight.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=109588&highlight=counterweight

[MattT]

Hi marco,
I'm going to make some CW's for a mount I'm building. I'm going with 127mm wide brass. Cost of brass this size works out to $79 for a 5kg weight. Skywatcher CW's are $59-69 from Bintel. I'm surprised Brass is sort of cheap.

Probably no help to you but look up George White and co.

Matt

[marco]

Thanks Matt, just checked the website but they only manage non ferrous (no steel) materials..



Thanks Bojan, the idea is good and you did a nice job there, however I do not live in Australia, I have my observatory hosted there so I need to find a machining guy/shop able to make it to specs, be paied with a money transfer and deliver to my site in Coonabarabra, so unfortunately not DIY possibility for me..

Furthermore I have already other counterweights mounted so I would like a solution that is more "traditional" to work with the existing ones if possible. Unfortunately deliver down under counterweights is bloody expensive so I would like to avoid if possible..

Regards
Marco

[strongmanmike]

Ok, ok, so what new scope are you getting, huh? huh? Huh? :D

Mike

[gregbradley]

Marco,

I got some rubber coated 10kg weights from a gym company in Castle Hill. They were about $20 each.

They lock between 2 locked counterweights and I filled in the oversized hole in the gym weights with a magnetic strip you can buy at Bunnings.

I was going to get some AP or Software Bisque ones but as you say shipping is expensive and they are about US$300 each plus probably $150 shipping for a 10kg shiny stainless steel one. I figured 2 x 20lb stainless steel weights from AP (different sized hole to PME) would cost around AUD$1100 possibly $1200.

Greg.

[bojan]

Any builder can make concrete weights for you for less than $100, I am sure.
BTW, Carl Zeiss used to use concrete counterweight for their 2.5 telescopes (like the one in Odrejov, Check republic)

[Baza]

local foundry can produce whatever you want. the local turner can produce patterns

[LewisM]

Marco,

Peter Tan in HK is offering custom made stainless counterweights - contact him and ask. Near bottom of page: http://www.tan14.com/Others.htm

He only lists small weights, but when I asked for a 10kg weight, he seemed willing.

[ZeroID]

Biggest problem with concrete weights I found was they had to be a lot bigger to give the same weight as a metal one. If you're going to go that way then load them up with steel scrap or something. I used some CD plastic stackers as a mold, Just left it on after, nice and plasticy smooth.
But I went with some 5kg gym weights in the end, smaller and easier to handle.