[pvelez (Pete)]

Is it just me, or is it really, really difficult to balance a scope?

My trusty LXD-75 has served me well. Its an 8 inch schmidt -newt and sits very happily on my EQ6.

Not content with my trusty Canon, I picked up a SBIG ST-8300M. A ripper of a camera - but its heavy.

So to my problem, I can't get everything balanced so I can access all parts of the sky. Looking at my graph in PHD, on some occasions I find the Dec wandering off, despite the best efforts of the software.

The boys at Bintel suggested I rotate the camera so it is facing the counterweight - I have a short tube 80mm guidescope mounted on the outside of the OTA. This should balance the camera - he thinks hopefully.

So I find that the scope can be balanced well so I can access the eastern sky and the zenith now seems to work ok. Also, it seems to balance well to the north. But the west and south west - forget it! The scope seems to always want to rotate towards the north.

I am sure I can balance it to suit that part of the sky - which means I need to rebalance if I want to access anywhere else.

Is this normal?

I fear I amy need to go to a side by side arrangement - though I've been warned that is another nasty alternative as it requires 3 axes rather than 2.

So is it just me?

Pete