Strgazr27
23-12-2004, 10:45 PM
While I wait for the new drives and motherboard to arrive I figured I would keep myself busy. I was not at all happy with the Superwedge from Meade and thought I could improve upon it. Spending the money on a Milburn or Ultiwedge is out of the question so I figured I had nothing to lose
After disassembling the wedge the first thing I noticed was the poor machining on the surfaces of some of the castings. The base of the sides showed gaps where they met the baseplate so that was the first thing I got rid of. I chucked them on the bench mounted belt sander and trued them up nicely. I also corrected the machined areas on the base where these would sit. The fit improvement was 100% better. Next up was the center bolt for the leg stiffener/wedge mount. The bolt is very loose in the opening and could not help the stability of the mount. I picked up a 1" by 1/2" ID bronze bushing and after drilling out the tripod head to accept it, firmly pressed it in place. After running the bolt up through it there was now ZERO play
One of my biggest complaints with the wedge was how impossible it was to do fine movements while trying to polar align the mount. Go to far the wrong way and sit there, trying to turn the AZ adjuster with 2 hands becuase it was so tight 8 turns waiting for it to move when all of a sudden...BAM..It would jump too far the opposite direction. Same problem with the Altitude adjuster. Very sloppy, unprecise movement. This meant only one word.......TEFLON! I picked up a 14"x10"x1/4" Pure teflon cutting board at the local home store for %7. I used the base a s atemplate to trace a disk out of the Teflon to rest on. This was cut out on the band saw and the holes opened up on the drill press. I than took the scraps left and using the bandsaw, cut it into various thickness strips that would become spacers and washers. I used a Punch to make the washers and cut the various sized strips with either an X-Acto blade or sheetrock knife.
I added the Teflon washers to any part that would contact each other in hopes of improving the smoothness of the mount. I also used this Teflon to shim up the spaces bewteen the altitude bar and the mount as well as the Scope plate and the wedge sides.
The biggest issue with the wedge is the peg that the AZ adjuster uses to move the wedge back and forth. It uses a small pin to carry the weight of the wedge and the fit is beyong horrible. I leave the wedge mounted to the tripod so for me it was an easy solution. Add a spacer to make up for the TEflon pad the wedge now sat on and, after cutting off the pin, drilling and tapping the adjuster for a bolt that would anchor the adjuster to the GFT. This was the single best mod to the tripod/wedge assembly.
I also cut/drilled and tapped 2 rods of 7075 aluminum to act as braces that would tie the wedge sides together adding to the stability of the wedge.
I was afraid that the Teflon pad may add to the instability of the mount but all I can say is......This is now one "SUPERWEDGE !!" The altitude and AZ adjustments can be done with one hand turning the knobs. I have managed to remove 99% of the play and slop and added to the stability of the mount by at least 100%. It is truly a night and day difference.
The total cost was less than $30 and the time spent was around 4 hours. I cannot wait to get the scope together with all new drives, Motherboard and the improved wedge.
Sorry for the length of the post. Just thought some of you may pull out some useful info.
The pics below show most of the mods.
CS's
Bobby
After disassembling the wedge the first thing I noticed was the poor machining on the surfaces of some of the castings. The base of the sides showed gaps where they met the baseplate so that was the first thing I got rid of. I chucked them on the bench mounted belt sander and trued them up nicely. I also corrected the machined areas on the base where these would sit. The fit improvement was 100% better. Next up was the center bolt for the leg stiffener/wedge mount. The bolt is very loose in the opening and could not help the stability of the mount. I picked up a 1" by 1/2" ID bronze bushing and after drilling out the tripod head to accept it, firmly pressed it in place. After running the bolt up through it there was now ZERO play
One of my biggest complaints with the wedge was how impossible it was to do fine movements while trying to polar align the mount. Go to far the wrong way and sit there, trying to turn the AZ adjuster with 2 hands becuase it was so tight 8 turns waiting for it to move when all of a sudden...BAM..It would jump too far the opposite direction. Same problem with the Altitude adjuster. Very sloppy, unprecise movement. This meant only one word.......TEFLON! I picked up a 14"x10"x1/4" Pure teflon cutting board at the local home store for %7. I used the base a s atemplate to trace a disk out of the Teflon to rest on. This was cut out on the band saw and the holes opened up on the drill press. I than took the scraps left and using the bandsaw, cut it into various thickness strips that would become spacers and washers. I used a Punch to make the washers and cut the various sized strips with either an X-Acto blade or sheetrock knife.
I added the Teflon washers to any part that would contact each other in hopes of improving the smoothness of the mount. I also used this Teflon to shim up the spaces bewteen the altitude bar and the mount as well as the Scope plate and the wedge sides.
The biggest issue with the wedge is the peg that the AZ adjuster uses to move the wedge back and forth. It uses a small pin to carry the weight of the wedge and the fit is beyong horrible. I leave the wedge mounted to the tripod so for me it was an easy solution. Add a spacer to make up for the TEflon pad the wedge now sat on and, after cutting off the pin, drilling and tapping the adjuster for a bolt that would anchor the adjuster to the GFT. This was the single best mod to the tripod/wedge assembly.
I also cut/drilled and tapped 2 rods of 7075 aluminum to act as braces that would tie the wedge sides together adding to the stability of the wedge.
I was afraid that the Teflon pad may add to the instability of the mount but all I can say is......This is now one "SUPERWEDGE !!" The altitude and AZ adjustments can be done with one hand turning the knobs. I have managed to remove 99% of the play and slop and added to the stability of the mount by at least 100%. It is truly a night and day difference.
The total cost was less than $30 and the time spent was around 4 hours. I cannot wait to get the scope together with all new drives, Motherboard and the improved wedge.
Sorry for the length of the post. Just thought some of you may pull out some useful info.
The pics below show most of the mods.
CS's
Bobby