Balance weights

[PRejto (Peter)]

I have no idea if this idea is original, however it worked perfectly in my situation.

My TEC-180 fits in my observatory "only" if it is mounted very close to the middle point of the camera end and end of the dew shield. My camera gear is quite robust so I needed to add weight near the objective. My solution was to use ankle/wrist weights which come in pairs with velcrow attach points. Putting two together in series and then making use of the elastic material the two weights just fit around the OTA. I secured them with several joined tie wraps. It took 4 weights to balance however, the nice thing about this system is you can slide them along the tube to just about any point and you are done. Too easy!

These weights are all over ebay and Amazon. Here is an example:

https://www.amazon.com.au/Holyfire-A..._1_11?crid=ZBQ

Peter

[gregbradley]

A good tip - thanks Peter.
Greg

[Joshua Bunn (Joshua)]

Is it possible that you can locate the computer and power box towards the objective?

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

That's exactly what I used to do back when I used the 6" Starfire, you can see two joined together along the upper section of the OTA, very effective and adjustable solution for heavy and/or changing configurations

Mike

[AlexN]

I have nothing of value to input - but DAMMMMNNNNN that's a big APO!

Is that previously Mr Greg Bradley's? Surely there's not more than one of them kicking around in Australia?

[Startrek (Martin)]

Nifty solution
Well thought out
I had a dilemma with my 10” f5 Carbon Newt and balancing Dec when I set it up in my Dome
The thing was so rear heavy ( carbon tube weighs nothing ) due to that big 10” mirror and base , so I used builders lead flashing and wrapped it tight around the OTA towards the front just behind the focuser. It was held tight together with black gaffer tape each end and a Velcro band. ) Looks part of the OTA set up. Unless I mentioned it no one would guess what it is or what is does.
The single wrap of lead flashing plus my camera , filter wheel , focuser etc.. resolved the issue with perfect Dec balance and with the OTA almost centered on the mount.
If I hadn’t done this the OTA would have been so offset nose first and almost touching the walls of the Dome.

Martin