hello, I thought I'd share this in case it's ever helpful to someone in the future.
I have a Celestron C8 and an ioptron minitower. With a WO crayford, a 2" diagonal and some hefty eyepieces it is a bit tricky to balance.
When researching the minitower I found a youtube video of a Italian who had a DIY counterweight for a C* on his minitower, and have used that as inspiration to make this.
Uses a Bintel dovetail adapter, some 8mm threaded bar, some washers, nuts and heavier square metal washers all from the local hardware shop.
It allows balance in 2 dimensions - slide along the dovetail bar attaching C8 to the minitower, and move up and down on the threaded bar.
I fluked the perfect balance the second time I attached it (first time not quite heavy enough).
See youtube video (ignore fat man!
)
http://youtu.be/4DRAE7qfAvU
and images