Should I de-fork my LX-90?

[lineout]

Hi all,

Quick question on whether I should de-fork my LX-90. I have an Meade 8" LX-90 that is currently in it's original Alt-Az mount. I'm pretty un-happy with it's aligning and am lookinf at possibly de-forking and attaching to an Eq mount.

So should I?
Is there any benefit (aside from being able to take long exposure photos)?
What EQ mount should I look at? (budget is $2000-$3000)

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers

[marki]

If you want to take long exposure shots just put it on a wedge (bintel $329.00). When these scopes are setup in the factory a lot of effort goes into aligning the tube to the forks and it would be very difficult to put back correctly if you did not like the change. Also the tubes are very tightly clamped within the forks and will not come out easily (possible damage?). No matter what people say about the meades I think you would be hard pushed to find an EQ mount with a comparable hand controller (i.e. ease of use and function). The real question is what is wrong with the alignment? Have you calibrated the motors and sensors and set the backlash properly? Another option might be to sell the scope and buy a seperate OTA and mount.

Mark

[tlgerdes]

Go the wedge before considering de-forking. I have seen some really good photos and tracking done by these in polar mounting.

https://www.bintelshop.com.au/Images/Stock/5479.jpg (https://www.bintelshop.com.au/Product.aspx?ID=5479)

for the price of $330 odd, it would be the safer choice as it is easy to convert between the two modes - Setup-Telescope-Mount-Polar/Alt-Az