Meade LX200 Mount Adapter for Celestron HD Wedge

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a100171 United States of America
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Meade LX200 Mount Adapter for Celestron HD Wedge

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Post by a100171 »


So, I have my older Meade LX200 more or less all ready to go outside. I plan on leaving it all outside with a cover. I should have had my observatory put up by now, but too much yard fixing to do first.

So I was looking at a gooder wedge than the one I have. I have one of the standard wedges, but it doesn't quite seem to cut it for the 10" LX200. Now Ido have one of those Heavy Duty Celestron wedges. And I have a Celestron CPC800HD with a Hyperstar. Naturally, things do not line-up between the two.

In the mail, I just received a 3/4" thick piece of aluminum. I am planning on mounting this to the LX200,and tapping a set of holes that will line-up with the Celestron holes. This way, I can use the Celestron wedge with either scope, and have a nicely polar-aligned base that I could use with either scope.

Let me see if this will work. I will in all probability learn something from the experience.
Meade 6", 8", and 10" SN, Meade 10" f/6.3 Lx200, ES ES-102, Meade 90mm DS-2000, Celestron CPC-800 HD, Celestron , AVX, CGEM-DX, Twilight I mounts. Omegon 2.1x 41mm Binocs.
Hyperstar for EdgeHD, ZWO and Celestron Nightscape CCD. A fully-functional Meade 12" RCX-400.
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Re: Meade LX200 Mount Adapter for Celestron HD Wedge

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Post by mcolbert »


a100171, so how's it going? Is it up and running yet? Images would be appreciated ;)
Refractor - APQ 130 Reflector - Meade SCT Au coating. Mount - AYOMaster (on order)
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Re: Meade LX200 Mount Adapter for Celestron HD Wedge

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Well I finally managed to rough-in the adapter. I uploaded some pictures to my gallery, which show how it all went.

Made it out of 3/4' thick aluminum stock. I got a piece of 9-in square stock from EBay (Stoner raw materials). Before I started, I used the project as an excuse to buy a nice adjustable-speed bench grinder.

Cut an arc off one end, as the Celestron wedge is not entirely flat. Made the cut with a jigsaw (yes, it was a bear) but I got through the whole thing with a single "thick metal" blade. Cheers to the Lenox blade; it still has good bite even after that cut!

I ground-down the arc to get it closer to a true curve. There were some rather bad misses during the cut. Not an easy grind, given this was 3/4" thick stock.

I made a paper template before drilling the holes. It was a good plan. But on the third hole, the pilot bit snapped deep into the plate, and it destroyed a few drill bits trying to get it out of there. The hole (the one where the knob goes) ended up being significantly larger, but that was OK given this hole happened to be the "guide" that slides in the top of the wedge. I was pretty 'issed to say the least though! Man, that bit was just lodged deep, and I can tell you it is tough trying to drill through a drill bit!

I counter-sunk the two hex bolts so that they are below the surface. I used a step-bit to widen the top part, and it worked just perfectly. I drilled two holes and tapped them with the standard 3/8 thread. Given that this is 3/4 thick, I am hoping that the thread will hold. If it strips out, I suppose I could insert some sort of 3/8 nut or something, but not something that a total amateur is good at. Maybe some day.

All I need is a longer 3/8 bolt/hand knob for the one post. I will finish-grind the arc-ed portion and possibly give it a nice coat of paint.

Now why doesn't someone make this sort of thing??? The Celestron wedge(the "HD wedge") is a real piece of gear. I got this one for under $300. It is the heavy one, made for the CPC-1100 series.

I should be easily able to use the Celestron heavy-duty CPC wedge with either my CPC-800HD or the 10" Meade LX200 f/6.3. In a couple of days, it will all be outside, more or less for good.

Now...how the heck do you post images?? I will figure it out. [img]file:///C:/Users/Marc/Desktop/Mounted-2-1.jpg[/img]
Meade 6", 8", and 10" SN, Meade 10" f/6.3 Lx200, ES ES-102, Meade 90mm DS-2000, Celestron CPC-800 HD, Celestron , AVX, CGEM-DX, Twilight I mounts. Omegon 2.1x 41mm Binocs.
Hyperstar for EdgeHD, ZWO and Celestron Nightscape CCD. A fully-functional Meade 12" RCX-400.
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Re: Meade LX200 Mount Adapter for Celestron HD Wedge

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Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

Let's see if this works...
Meade 6", 8", and 10" SN, Meade 10" f/6.3 Lx200, ES ES-102, Meade 90mm DS-2000, Celestron CPC-800 HD, Celestron , AVX, CGEM-DX, Twilight I mounts. Omegon 2.1x 41mm Binocs.
Hyperstar for EdgeHD, ZWO and Celestron Nightscape CCD. A fully-functional Meade 12" RCX-400.
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Re: Meade LX200 Mount Adapter for Celestron HD Wedge

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Post by a100171 »


Well I certainly learned a lot from this. I got some much better tools for starters.
A quality tap wrench for one...the cheapo one that came from the set (Harbor Freight) simply shattered from /begin sarcastic_font the might of my right hand and arm /end sarcastic_font. And my right arm is simply not as strong as it used to be.

Also, the threaded knob at the top, where one "hangs" the scope on the wedge, was a tad too far down. When that beast of a scope/mount slides on that bad-boy, the inaccuracies of my threaded holes was a bit of a problem. I am thinking a simple sleeve for the threaded knob will fix this. The Meade mount had a threaded set screw, but the Celestron does not. But it did allign-up with some coaxing.

Now the bigger problem.
Now that I had this all mounted, I decided to run this through a complete collimation, end-to-end. I have a Hotech SCT collimator, and now I finally have a strong enough mount for the scope to do some tuning. Now using a photographic tripod for the Laser Collimator unit...Forget About It!! Just way too flimsy. I ended up zeroing-out my AVX tripod and mounting the unit on a Vixen plate I had (I think a uber-solid William Optics plate). Much better!!
The secondary is off quite a bit, as far as centering in the tube. I can see some old "pads" along the inside that were used as spacers, but these are ancient and rather dried-up. I am going to need to clean all that up and see if it can be brought into center.

Or just wait for the below-zero days of winter, for a weekend project and do it right. Maybe add collimation screws on the tube edge by tapping-in some set screws. Or I just buy a new LX200 while they are on sale!

The more I seem to get done, the more it seems that I need to do.
Meade 6", 8", and 10" SN, Meade 10" f/6.3 Lx200, ES ES-102, Meade 90mm DS-2000, Celestron CPC-800 HD, Celestron , AVX, CGEM-DX, Twilight I mounts. Omegon 2.1x 41mm Binocs.
Hyperstar for EdgeHD, ZWO and Celestron Nightscape CCD. A fully-functional Meade 12" RCX-400.
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