Balancing the ED80/350D on the EQ6

[Kal (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by iceman

yeh another good idea.

Only problem is, it makes a nice looking refractor look ugly. Much like the weight taped on with grey/silver duck tape does

Could be worse. Ugly is a big blob on playdo stuck on the end of your tube!

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Or a sledgehammer head attached to the end of your counterweight shaft.

[Lee]

Ouch! I couldn't even stand Losmandy's nasty counterweights, had to get a couple of Mick's shmick ones

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Now there's an idea Mike. Playdo, plasticine or better yet, bright yellow U Tac with small lead sinkers mixed in with it. Would work a treat.

[joshman (Josh)]

i had this very problem the other night when trying to balance the 400d with battery grip (who needs AC mains when you've got two x 1200mAh batteries powering your camera? puts the canon 720mAh batteries to shame), which i fairly heavy, attached to teh ed80. my though was to get a longer dovetail made up so that it would stick out backwards over (under?) the focuser, or possibly drill and tap another hole into teh existing dovetail so that i can adjust teh ring spacing and allow the dovetail to sit back under the focuser a bit more....

but velcro and weights seems a more elegant option.

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Of course probably the easiest way to deal with this is to get another 400D with a nice heavy 135mm lens or similar, that can be mounted on the forward piggyback point to help counterbalance. Sort of like a seesaw.

I'll just settle for an SBIG at the back and the 300D at the front shall I.

[Lee]

Originally Posted by iceman

It's like I need a counterweight on the dewshield end of the ED80.

How do I balance it properly? What do I need to/what can I use to balance properly in DEC by adding more weight to the objective end?

I've thought of this - what I was thinking of is making a small plate from some aluminium, and joining it to the pair of camera mount spots on the top of the ED80 rings - then mount the camera on the plate, more towards the middle.....

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

You mean like this

What works well is instead of using just the ball head, use the manfrotto video adapter that can slide with the ball head on top. Or position the camera further out along the aluminium. You just have to be careful of flexure in the aluminium bar then.

Except that Mike is imaging at prime focus.


But Mike you could try mounting the weights to the end of the Aluminium bar. Yours is thick enough and as long enough.

[Lee]

Originally Posted by [1ponders]

Except that Mike is imaging at prime focus.

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

[joshman (Josh)]

Originally Posted by [1ponders]

Of course probably the easiest way to deal with this is to get another 400D with a nice heavy 135mm lens or similar, that can be mounted on the forward piggyback point to help counterbalance. Sort of like a seesaw.

I'll just settle for an SBIG at the back and the 300D at the front shall I.

hahah, i think you might be onto something!!!!!! or i get a 40d and use that prime focus and put the 400d on the forward piggyback!!!

oh noes....i might catch the buying frenzy!!!

not likely, i have negative mulah, lol