Quote:
Originally Posted by White Rabbit
Hi guys.
I've seen many discussions here about how to keep you mount consistently east heavy but never really seen any solutions.
This is certainly not my idea, in fact I got it from the losmandy yahoo user group and thought others may find it useful.
I set this up today, haven't tested it yet but will once I get some clear weather.
All up the mod cost about $15 from bunnings, it's a very simple solution.
Basically it's a pendulum with a 1kg weight on the east side so that it constantly pulls to the east regardless of which side of the mount the scope is on. I've used some vb cord and wrapped it around and tied it to the RA axis. I then used a metal arm with a roller wheel at the end to ensure the cord winds off and on the RA axis evenly and doesn't snag on anything. I then used a C clamp to secure the arm to the mount.
Anyway it's kind of hard to describe, have look at the images they will hopefully explain it better than I did.
Sandy
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This is done at professional observatories as well. When I visited palomar, I got to have a look at the 48 inch Schmidt that has a similar setup to control backlash.