Skywatcher 14 inch on Mesu 200 mount

[billdan]

Over Xmas I put the 14 inch Skywatcher up onto my Mesu 200 mount.

I got a carpenterr to make me two 425mm inside diam wooden cradles ( $60 for the pair ) to mount the scope in and used heavy duty pull down straps to hold it all together,

To get everything to balance in RA I ended up having to use 30Kg of counterweights made of six 5Kg olympic plates (50mm hole) with 3D printed plastic sleeves to give a tight fit onto the 40mm counterweight bar.

In DEC I had issues, the pointy end with cameras loaded etc is top heavy and I moved the dovetail as low in the saddle as I would dare. Even then I had to add another 2,5Kg of weight at the mirror end to make it balance.

I'm still having small pockets of sky (pointing SW) where it is top heavy, but I get around that with a 150g speaker magnet I can place at the mirror end, so I can remove it when pointing everywhere else.

I also had to swap out the focuser from the dual speed crayford supplied with the 14 inch for the single speed focuser I had on my 8 inch. The reason was the skywatcher electric motor bracket would not bolt onto the dual speed focuser, the bolt holes would not line up.


So a few photo's
a) The difference in size of the 8in and 14in sitting in my laundry
b) The dovetail moved down the saddle as far as I would dare
c) My dodgy counter weights.
d) Initial testing without the shroud on
e) Ready for action with my yoga mat dew shield in place

Cheers
Bill

[billdan]

Here is first light that I did 2 weeks ago before the rain, wind and clouds arrived.

This is 2 hours at Thors Helmet with the QHY12 OSC, software binned 2x2 in Startools. I didn't use any flats, as I have to get a bigger monitor.

Also a screen shot of the guide graph from PHD, not as good as I was getting with the 8 inch, but a few days later, I discovered my polar alignment had moved and I never checked it after installing the 14 inch. All OK now and I'm back to 0.4 arcsec RMS.

[xelasnave]

Bill you certainly have been busy.

My only worry is how far the tripod legs are apart.
Is it in danger of toppling?

Thanks for showing your project.

Alex

[billdan]

Thanks Alex,

The EQ6 tripod has an steel coffee table top bolted to the legs with U-Bolts, and I also have a heavy Uninterrupted Power Supply and a 25A 12 volt power supply sitting on the table which lowers the centre of gravity. So It should never tip over.