Why do people spend on counterweights?

[speach]

I make mine from weight lifting weights. all that's needed is a bush made to center hole to whatever the shaft diameter is. A hole drilled and tapped for a bolt to secure it from sliding about. Instead of paying upto $100 for a 5kg weight mine cost me about $10.

[janoskiss]

People pay for convenience, that's why. I can cook better than the take-away around the corner, but it's there, good to go, and requires no time or effort on my part. Also a lot of folks don't have the resources to drill big holes let alone tap threads in large chunks of iron or steel.

[DarkArts]

... and when you enquire with a local metalwork company, you find they charge even more to make one. :eyepop:

[Kunama]

I hear that some people actually consider the aesthetics as well........

[janoskiss]

well, that's just silly since it's going to be used in the dark :P :lol: ... but you can always cover it all in Al-foil: make it look like bleeding-edge research equipment. ;)

[Kunama]

I didn't spend a small fortune on astro gear just to take it out in the night time, who knows what sort of icky things might be lurking in the dark to get onto the scopes......:question:

[bojan]

What's wrong with this (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=109588&highlight=counterweight) in aesthetic terms ? :P

[speach]

seems like some of you have more money then sense, as for "aesthetics" it's dark!!

[multiweb]

I've found the cheapest alternative is to use gym weight. They have small 5kg/10kg plates and they're rubber coated so no rust. You just sandwich them between your existing counter weights and lock the lot.

[chrisp9au]

In the past I made mine from capped poly pipe filled with fishing lead weights/sinkers, topped up with sand to stop any movement inside. They looked OK too.

[strongmanmike]

Aerobic class ankle weights, odd bits of metal and finished off with trusty sticky tape = full flexibility and perfect balance :D...the image cares not what the counter weights look like :lol:

[janoskiss]

Wow Mike! What an awesome beast! The one on the left I mean. :lol:

[strongmanmike]

:lol:...as long as it works and produces the goods huh? ;)

Mike

[Kunama]

I only have two scopes, my only counterweight is a 2.2Ah Gelcell for the fan....

[ZeroID]

I use a couple of weight plates to supplement my setup. Allows me to keep the extension short in the OB so I don't knock it in the dark.
The mount was supposed to come with two weights but one gone lost in the mail. Could always give them a quick coat of paint from a spray can if your aesthetics is offended. My money gets spent on more important gear.

[speach]

glad to see I'm not the only one not to worry about "aesthetics" !!!!!!!

[billdan]

This thread is relevant for me as I have a MESU 200 mount on the way, and it comes without counterweights. The MESU uses a 40mm diam counterweight bar so is sort of unique.
Weight lifter plates come with either a 32mm bore or the Olympic standard plates uses a 50mm bore. So do I buy the smaller bore and get it drilled to size, or the Olympic version and have it sleeved.

Probably end up doing what Bojan did and make my own with concrete and lead fishing sinkers mixed in.

Cheers
Bill

[bojan]

You can take another approach: buy weights with 50mm bore and 3D-print the plastic sleeves.

Concrete weight (with 3D-printed plastic sleeve) is the cheapest option, though. I like the lead sinkers idea, it can significantly reduce the size of the weight.

[billdan]

Thanks Bojan, I do have a 3D printer so I could print off my own sleeves.
Bill

[leon]

I used to actually melt down my own lead, and pour it into any size aluminium round containers I wanted, cake tines were good for this. ;)

Then drill the appropriate hole size, it did work quite well actually.

Did it in the shed on a small gas two burner barbecue using a very heavy, deep old fry pan, and plenty of ventilation.

When ready I would ladle the lead into the hot mould on the other side of the gas burner, put in what I needed and turn it off to cool

worked a treat :thumbsup:

Leon

[el_draco]

Go to tip shop; buy weights for $5 and get them drilled out for about $10 each. No big deal. Better to have a few smaller ones than a back breaker to fine tune.

[billdan]

As it happens I was talking to a builder mate of mine this afternoon and he gave me 20Kg of lead roof flashing. Can't believe a small rolled up bundle weighs so much.
So I'll split it up into 5Kg lots and work around that.

Builders don't use lead anymore, they now use tin as its also soft and bendable.

[billdan]

I hear you Olsen, however in my case the telescope weighs 25Kg.
Plywood is off the menu for this one.
Cheers
Bill

EDIT: That's weird, the post I replied to disappeared.

[Kunama]

Even I resorted to those 'weights' once, but only because the colour matched..... just because they're used in the dark doesn't mean they should not look great in daylight... ;)

[Steffen]

And as hard as it may be to believe, Mike carries that whole setup under one arm and a carton of beer under the other :lol:

[The Mekon]

Bill - that poster has been banned - see "possible scam" thread on the general chat section.