[aworley (Alex)]

Hi all,

Thought I would just share the two mods I have just done to my LX90 Standard wedge.....these may have been covered before...but just in case...

I found this mod (www.atm-workshop.com/tripod-mods.html) to allow the wedge to remain attached to the tripod and be able to fold the tripod legs up for easy transport - not having to take the wedge on/off is one less thing to do when setting up at my dark sky site...I altered it slightly with Andrew Johansen's help to put a new 1/2" nut underneath the tripod (and thus not having to grind it) and not having to split the handle from the 1/2" rod (ie not battling with the Lock Tight glue used to secure handle to 1/2" rod - i dont own a vice and am not that strong) by turning the 1/2" rod upside down and using the other free handle (the one with the compass in it that used to screw into the 1/2" rod at the top - minus the compass now) as the free wheel that locks in the spreader at the bottom...Simple and easy... Thus, this mod is completely reversible - pun intended if you want to go back to Alt/Az...


(Note if you are going to do this mod...be aware...there is a difference between UNC thread and Whitford thread when getting the extra 1/2" nut; Bunnings did not sell the UNC thread only the Whitford thread - again thanks to Andrew J for helping with this)....most folk probably already know this...but not me....(apparently there is also some school that you go to where you learn the rules for clothes that go together - you know plain shirt with stripped pants...not both etc etc ... never went there myself)


Additionally, I did the 'delux' Azimuth mod (http://jan.eaglecreekobservatory.org/azimuth.html) - it works like a charm .... an old cd between tripod and wedge made a good deal of difference too...a long story, but I used 6mm threaded rod etc to get a neater fit of the cross-dowel into a smaller rectangular rod (filed out a bit to get the cross-dowel to fit) and the rectangular rod must be really, really tightly bolted to the tripod to prevent movement and thus 'backlash'...


Total cost of mods - less than $10....ease of use now .... priceless.....

In the end these were really simple, and particularly for someone like me who finds hammering two bits of wood together quite difficult...

Alex