Balancing The Telescope - Meade LX80 Instruction Manual

Balancing the Telescope

In order for the telescope to be stable on the tripod and
also for it to move smoothly, it must be properly balanced
in both vertical and horizontal axes. The horizontal axis
is commonly referred to as the DEC (Declination) axis
and vertical axis the RA (Right Ascension) axis. Most
Fig 25: While maintaining hold of OTA, loosen the
DEC lock
of the motion of the telescope takes place by moving
about these two axes, separately or simultaneously.
Become familiar with how the telescope moves on
each axis and their corresponding locks.
Fig 26: Balancing the OTA
Declination Balance: This is achieved by moving the
telescope optical tube fore and aft within its holder,
so that the weight is equally balanced along the
DEC axis.
• Schmidt-Cassegrain (SC) OTAs: Carefully unloosen
the DEC lock (see Fig 25), keeping one hand on the
OTA to control its movement. You will notice that the
OTA will want to rotate in one direction. Carefully
loosen the two dovetail lock knobs just enough, so that
the OTA can be slid fore and aft. Slide the OTA until it
no longer rotates in either direction and is balanced.
When the OTA is balanced, tighten the two dovetail
lock knobs fi rmly.
• APOS and Coronado SolarMaxII OTAs: Carefully
unloosen the DEC lock (see Fig 25), keeping one hand
on the OTA to control its movement. You will notice that
the OTA will want to rotate in one direction. Carefully
loosen the two cradle lock knobs (see Fig 26) just
enough, so that the OTA can be slid fore and aft in the
cradle. Slide the OTA until it no longer rotates in either
direction and is balanced. When OTA is balanced,
tighten the two cradle lock knobs.
RA (Right Ascension) Balance:
At this point you will need to use the LX80 hex tool
(Page 12, Fig 9, 31). This tool can be found at the
lower left of the backside of the drive base. Twist
counter clockwise to remove the tool from the mount.
This tool contains a hex head wrench that fi ts multiple
fasteners and adjustments on the mount.
Fig 27: Removing the hex head tool
Tilt the Mount head: Use the dedicated LX80 tool to
tilt the mount head about 45° from the standard alt-az
shipping confi guration (reference the scale cast into
the base, Fig 29). Note that for this balancing exercise
it is not necessary to precisely tilt the head to 45°) —
an approximation is all that is required.
Loosen the right and left side latitude lock (Fig. 28)
using the LX80 hex tool. Then insert the tool into hex
headed latitude adjustment. Twisting counter clockwise
will begin to tilt the head towards 45°.
Release the RA Lock: Unlock the RA lock by moving
the lock knob left (counter clockwise), keeping a hand on
the counterweight shaft to control rotation. The mount
head will now have tendency to rotate in one direction
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