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Graham,
I have been using the above mentioned setup for a couple of years now and there is no problem with this load on the mount so far. The bigger issue is flexure between the guide and main imaging scope which in my case has nothing to do with the mount. I have also had the mount in pieces and the bearings that are carrying the load are wheel bearings off a car - obviously these are good for a lot more than 40 kgs.
The one weak point in my opinion is the way the counteweight shaft is attached to the DEC axis. If you end up with a lot of counterweights and the shaft is horizontal you are putting a fair amount of stress on the aluminium DEC locking nut that is holding the counterweight shaft to the axis. I've seen another post where someone has modified this arrangement to transfer the load to the steel dec shaft rather then have the aluminium part carry it.
Peter
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