deforking 10" meade to fit to Eq mount

[wooleybull]

anyone have any info on deforking my 10" meade and fitting it to an EQ mount like a CEM 60 or better. i cant find anywhere that just gives the scope weight and are there kits avalible for the scope to fit the mount
Cheers Michael

[Dave882]

Hi Michael- I deforked my 10” lx50 and put it on a cgem. Not sure exactly what model you have but I believe the lx50 is identical fixing to lx200 and perhaps a couple other dual fork models. It’s surprisingly simple and took about 15min in total. I just googled a couple of forum posts for the instructions, but the only really really important key is to not try and slide the tube out of the forks- rather you need to pull apart the forks first.

Remove the DEC setting circles from the fork.
Then lay the scope on it's side and remove the 4 bolts that hold the one fork to the base. Remove 3x screws holding the first (smaller) fork to the ota (I think some mounts you can just remove one fork and lift it off the scope.) Flip it over and remove the 3x screws on the other fork. The scope will then lift out of the other fork. Then reinstall the same bolts to plug the holes in the ota.

Install a Losmandy D style plate (with radius blocks is better). The ota is now ready to use!

I think the ota is about 15kg. I would recommend eq6 or cgem eqivelant load rated mounts especially if you want to do any kind of imaging.

[Merlin66]

Over the years I've deforked all sizes of Meade LX200 scopes.
Just needs a bit of care...