Meade 14" Mirror Flop

[Benny L (Ben)]

Hi All,

I have a meade 14" LX200R OTA an i can tell you right now that the 'mirror lock' that this thing has is not worth the screws that hold it in place

Seeing as the telescope is now permanently mounted I was thinking of putting the transport screw back in to try and minimize the mirror flapping about.. its not bad so long as i stay on one side of the pier, but as soon as i do a meridian-flip you can hear it move.. stuffs up all my focus-max models while it's at it too!

Any thoughts?

cheers in advance

Ben

[Lester]

Hi Ben, I have a 14" LX200 OTA and am away of the mirror flop. I have had my OTA apart a number of times to fit temp sensor, flock tube and fit fans.

The mirror lock on mine is done with the split ring that closes up as the mirror lock is applied. Mine also has become less effective over the years due to leaving the lock applied.

My plan is the next time I open up the OTA is to remove some of the split ring so that it can close up tighter on the central tube that the primary slides on.

IMO the mirror lock mechanism should work very well, as the spit ring has the ability to clamp quite firm.

Does your mirror locking knob become firm before it hits the stop?

If not, by removing the locking knob and turning the large diameter toothed wheel past the small section of no teeth, will allow you to tighten it. This is providing the locking mechanism is the same on your scope as mine.

All the best.

[Benny L (Ben)]

Hi Lester,

When we got the scope it was severely out of collimation and the mirror lock mechanism was flopping about inside the tube. We pulled it apart and tightened up the big wheel and now it is much better, although i could probably turn the mirror knob lock a bit tighter, but I don't for fear that it will break :0

thanks for your input mate