mount balance problems

[Davler (David)]

I recently purchased some new equipment for my telescope princibly a new finder scope a much larger one and now the declination wont balance out any suggestion.

[tilbrook@rbe.ne (Justin Tilbrook)]

Hi David,

What's your setup?
Fork or german equatorial.
Some pics of your setup may help.

Cheers,
Justin.

[traveller (Bo)]

Loosen the RA clutch first. Balance the scope in the RA axis, then put the scope and the counterweights in the 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock position and lock up the RA clutch.
Now add diagonal, EP and whatever else you will use, gently loosen the Dec clutch and see which way the scope will tilt. If the head of the scope tilts up, loosen the dovetail knobs and slide the scope towards the front end of the scope, reverse if the scope the head dips down. (I.e. Slide the scope towards the end that's tilting up)

[Davler (David)]

know all that traveller done it all but scope still wont balance. I had it in the past where it stayed put no matter what possy the scope was in. But i recently added a new 80mm stellarvue finder scope with a 90 degree angle and a 2" 90 degree angle for the scope a qsi ccd cam and a new 21mm televue ethos eyepiece all that extra weight has thrown the balance out of kelter and in odd places around the scope so i cant get true balance without extra weight elsewhere on the scope.

[traveller (Bo)]

You added some hefty gear there David. Sounds like a SCT on an EQ mount? A couple of photos might help. Can you move the 80mm finder further up the main scope? Ethos are heavy EPs and the ccd camera isn't light either.
There are SCT balance weights available (if yours is a SCT) or you may have to add some weights up front.
Bo

[Davler (David)]

my thoughts exactly bo and yeah same mount as yours in your room you got there

[traveller (Bo)]

Can always try to attach a couple sandbags up front as an interim measure.

[Davler (David)]

maybe I'll try my dumbells

[2stroke (Jay)]

make a canvas pouch and add some valcrow, then inbetween the section add length's of steel rod and stich up. Kinda like a 12 gauge ammo belt, hell you could even use one of them with ammo hahaha

[Davler (David)]

I triied adding weight to the bottom of the front of the scope but to no avail. I'm going to try adding weight to the top rear of the scope the opposite angle of the finder and see if that works however i'm not sure how i'm going to go about it yet. Does anyone have any ideas as to what i could use to attach to rear mounting bolts?

[traveller (Bo)]

A picture is worth a thousand words David, a couple may even be better