Any Meade 7" Maks still kicking about?

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

Might anyone have one of these Meade 7" Maks still? Seem to have been always a rare fish here in Oz. Had a curious 5kg counterweight lump of steel plonked in behind the primary mirror in order for it to clear the hub of the fork tynes! Not sure if the GEM mounted versions also had this counterweight built into them?? There were a couple of fork mount models, the LX50 and the LX200.

Alex.

[Wavytone]

Alex, As I recall these were originally only available in forks (LX versions). Any on a GEM have been deforked by the owner.

As Meades mechanicals were terrible I suspect most are now unusable - it’s at least 10-12 years since I’ve seen one.

[SkyWatch (Dean)]

My recollection is the same: I only ever saw the Meades advertised on a fork mount, but I didn't realise they had a built-in 5kg counter-weight! I do recall some very complementary comments about their optics though.

I suspect the Questar 7" Mak is an even rarer beast in Oz: although that is one I would definitely lust after! - Although on second thoughts the 12" Questar would be more of an object of lust- but I believe these were only produced in single figures... (and would probably sell for 6 figures!)

- Dean

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

The counterweight was because of the heavy corrector lens. Below is a pic of the lump of steel removed from one OTA. Caused/causes all manner of cooling issues this dumb idea. The counterweight was so the OTA could fit Meade's existing forks and not fabricate a new mount with longer arms.

[Wavytone]

The Meade 7” mak I saw 12 years ago was optically very good, but effectively crippled by the dead weight in the back which meant it had a terrible thermal plume internally that made it very difficult for casual use - although back then I wasn’t aware insulating the OTA would effectively kill the plume.

But it’s not valid to generalise from a sample of just 1.

Q12 has to be the ugliest thing Questar made. Apparently the real market for these big Maks was LIDAR and the military, astro versions were only a sideline.

The APM Matthias Wirth ones are a better buy (1 left) but you’ll need an observatory to put that in.

My MK91 is about the upper limit in what is practicable for a portable mak. Not sure I’d like to lift a 10” often and a 12” definitely would need mechanical help.

[Merlin66 (Ken)]

All the Meade SCT's have large heavy counterweights built into the rear cell.

[Wavytone]

Gawd what a dumb idea that was, vs adding a centimetre or two to the fork arms.

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

Originally Posted by Wavytone

Gawd what a dumb idea that was, vs adding a centimetre or two to the fork arms.

Hey, they thought it was a smart idea - "look, we now don't need to tool up again! ... and screw the consequences..."

Real shame as these Maks were probably the best scopes Meade ever offered.

[Tropo-Bob (Bob)]

From memory, the first Meade 7" Maks sold did not have the counterweight. They were unbalanced, so after a few months, they were sold with the counterweight.

[brian nordstrom (As avatar)]

I knew a guy probably 15+ years ago that had one in NZ and it was quite large and the LX200 GOTO was awesome !! , it really showed up the Celestron's of the day ,, BUT ! when cooled and on a good night it would equal to a good C11 on planets , amazing telescope .

I wonder what ever become of it ? , I wanted it but was poor at the time and it was only a dream .

On that our club was gifted a nice 150mm Mak ( Orion ) on a Meade LDX50 ? GEM and the GOTO on this scope was hideous but optically ( when cooled ) was very good but the 7 inch Meade was a whole lot better in all ways , its amazing what 1 inch does at these sizes when you can pump stupid high powers you know 400-500x and the image is still very good .

Brian.

[netwolf]

I’d love to find one , been on the look out for some time. I’d like to compare with the skywatcher 180.

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

Originally Posted by Merlin66

All the Meade SCT's have large heavy counterweights built into the rear cell.

Ken, interesting to find out about this counterweight in Meade SCT's. And it isn't going to help the thermal properties of these scopes either. Yet by the looks of the one in your picture, it isn't the monster 5kg that Meade stuck in the back end of their Maks! Enough to make your eyes water this amount of dead weight and thermal mass...

[AndrewJ]

Gday Alex
Just for info, i had always heard that some of the 7" Maks had the counterweight and some didnt, but i have never heard of weights being in the LX200 SCTs???
Andrew

[Shano592 (Shane)]

I'm not game to pull mine apart to look!

I have this knack of coming away with spare parts...