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Repurposing my Meade LX5 mount, Tom Gray

Repurposing my Meade LX5 mount

Repurposing my Meade LX5 mount, Tom Gray

Repurposing my Meade LX5 mount

Description

Thanks to a recent generous donation of a Meade LX6 premier mount for my 8” SCT, I have repurposed my LX5 drive to carry my WO Zenithstar II 80ED semi-Apochromat refractor for astrophotography.

Inspired by ‘Scopejunkie’s’ efforts [cloudynights.com/topic/478922-cpc-refractor], I have made a few modifications, using junk lying around. The cradle is ‘hand crafted’ to fit the forks using existing bolt holes, and I have pivoted this at the top for stability, as this provides sufficient clearance at the zenith.

The Zenithstar is held securely using an ADM plate and rings, and my homemade finder-guider is mounted below, allowing this to be interchanged with my SCT rig. There is space to add a camera/lens combo beside this, and I have added counterweights below for balance. The mount appears very strong and stable, with short damping time (B)

I have an old red dot finder, to which I have added a home made dew heater, using coils of nichrome wire (from an old toaster element), which delivers sufficient warmth when attached to 3v output on my power station (C). In addition I have fabricated a rather clunky fixing for my JMI motodec to allow guiding in declination (D).

Currently focusing is by hand using the Crayford 10:1 dual focuser, and a homemade Bahtinov mask, and/or ‘magic eye’ FMHW in Envisage/Nebulosity - a belt driven electric focuser is in the design stage (making use of my JMI motofocus). Polar alignment is achieved using polar drift align in PHD (or I could make a shoe for my Meade 9x60 Polaris finderscope).

Anyway, hopefully these inexpensive modifications might be of interest to those pursuing their astrophotography on a budget and/or using archaic equipment. Nothing is ever redundant!

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    Repurposing my Meade LX5 mount, Tom Gray
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  • Repurposing my Meade LX5 mount, Tom Gray
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  • Repurposing my Meade LX5 mount, Tom Gray
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B

Description: Mounting cradle

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C

Description: Red dot finder with homemade dew heater

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D

Description: Mounting for my JMI motodec

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Repurposing my Meade LX5 mount, Tom Gray