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| darkon... |
 Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 10:25 pm |
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Guest
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I have a Vixen 102mm achromat on a Great Polaris mount. The mount
has no motors or computer, and I'm getting tired of turning the knob
to keep something in view, especially at higher powers. I thought
of buying the necessary motors, controller and so on to motorize it,
but that would cost ~$500. After looking around a bit I see that the
Meade LXD75 mount is a Great Polaris clone and comes not only with
motors, but with Meade's Autostar Go-to controller. The LXD75 mount is
about $600, which sounds acceptable enough considering the price of the
upgrade to the GP.
But then I have a question: will I need a new mounting/saddle plate to
connect the telescope to the mount?
I read somewhere that the LXD75 motors and so on will fit the GP
mount unmodified, so possibly I could transfer them and still have
an extra mount. The Vixen mount is Japanese-made, so the quality
control is likely to be better than the Chinese-made LXD75. Or is the
LXD75 heavier than the GP mount?
(I originally posted this in alt.fan.cecil-adams, because that's where
I usually hang out, and also because this group doesn't have anywhere
near the traffic that I remember from years ago. Looks almost dead and
inundated with spam.) |
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| Steve Paul... |
| Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 7:08 am |
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darkon wrote:
[quote]I read somewhere that the LXD75 motors and so on will fit the GP
mount unmodified, so possibly I could transfer them and still have
an extra mount. The Vixen mount is Japanese-made, so the quality
control is likely to be better than the Chinese-made LXD75. Or is the
LXD75 heavier than the GP mount?
[/quote]
I don't know about the LXD75 motors, but....
I had a Vixen GP and bought a Celestron CG5-GT (used). Took the GoTo off the
CG5 and installed it onto the GP, then used the Celestron 2" steel leg
tripod. I wanted the precision of the Vixen worm gears, machine work, and
their excellent polar scope arrangement for (fast) polar alignment.
The GPDX would be an even better solution all around because it has higher
precision worms than the standard GP. Just FYI.
As I recall, I had to cut (very little) into the plastic on the GT system
cover with a utility knife (probably have pictures of that somewhere)
because of a slight difference in the casting on the GP, but otherwise it
was literally a plug and play operation. It worked well enough to do some
decent imaging with a DSLR (Canon 300D) at 800mm focal length using an 8" F4
reflector (Hardin Optical).
I kept everything until I sold it, so I could put things back the way they
were. Sold the GP with a refractor on it, and the CG5GT just as I bought it.
Got all my money back too for the most part. That's the nice thing about
buying used stuff when you're experimenting. Wish I could get the money back
that I spent before figuring that out. ;-)
Send me email. The addy's live. I'll see if I can dig up the pics if you
want to go that route.
-Steve Paul |
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| Steve Paul... |
| Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 8:32 am |
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Guest
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darkon wrote:
[quote]I have a Vixen 102mm achromat on a Great Polaris mount. The mount
has no motors or computer, and I'm getting tired of turning the knob
to keep something in view, especially at higher powers. I thought
of buying the necessary motors, controller and so on to motorize it
[/quote]
BTW, if the above is all you're after, you could just buy the RA motor from
someone like Orion Telescopes. That's what I have on my current CG5 clone. I
think I had a problem with the plastic cover, so I don't have that installed
over the motor, but it has never been an issue (except for "looks"), and I'm
way past caring about such things.
--
Steve Paul |
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| darkon... |
| Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 9:55 am |
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"Steve Paul" <smarshallpaul at (no spam) gmail.com> wrote in message
news:QfqdnQkJQNXNK0DXnZ2dnUVZ_hWdnZ2d at (no spam) giganews.com...
[quote]darkon wrote:
I read somewhere that the LXD75 motors and so on will fit the GP
mount unmodified, so possibly I could transfer them and still have
an extra mount. The Vixen mount is Japanese-made, so the quality
control is likely to be better than the Chinese-made LXD75. Or is the
LXD75 heavier than the GP mount?
I don't know about the LXD75 motors, but....
I had a Vixen GP and bought a Celestron CG5-GT (used). Took the GoTo off
the CG5 and installed it onto the GP, then used the Celestron 2" steel leg
tripod. I wanted the precision of the Vixen worm gears, machine work, and
their excellent polar scope arrangement for (fast) polar alignment.
The GPDX would be an even better solution all around because it has higher
precision worms than the standard GP. Just FYI.
As I recall, I had to cut (very little) into the plastic on the GT system
cover with a utility knife (probably have pictures of that somewhere)
because of a slight difference in the casting on the GP, but otherwise it
was literally a plug and play operation. It worked well enough to do some
decent imaging with a DSLR (Canon 300D) at 800mm focal length using an 8"
F4 reflector (Hardin Optical).
I kept everything until I sold it, so I could put things back the way they
were. Sold the GP with a refractor on it, and the CG5GT just as I bought
it. Got all my money back too for the most part. That's the nice thing
about buying used stuff when you're experimenting. Wish I could get the
money back that I spent before figuring that out. ;-)
Send me email. The addy's live. I'll see if I can dig up the pics if you
want to go that route.
[/quote]
That's OK, I don't need pictures. Thanks for the info. I can certainly
handle a few minor mods to the equipment. The GP mount already has rosewood
tightening knobs on both axes where the original ones came off during a
house move. |
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| Ray Porter... |
| Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 6:58 am |
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"darkon" <darkon.tdo at (no spam) gmail.com> wrote in message
news:Xns9CAA4497EFEAdarkonwashere at (no spam) 216.168.3.30...
[quote]
But then I have a question: will I need a new mounting/saddle plate to
connect the telescope to the mount?
[/quote]
No. If I remember correctly (haven't seen the Vixen mount in a while) the
mounting plates are identical. I have an LXD75 and have been quite happy
with it (5" refractor).
Ray |
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| darkon... |
| Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 3:37 pm |
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Guest
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"Ray Porter" <ray_porter at (no spam) unc.edu> wrote in message
news:4ae056b9$1_1 at (no spam) news.unc.edu...
[quote]
"darkon" <darkon.tdo at (no spam) gmail.com> wrote in message
news:Xns9CAA4497EFEAdarkonwashere at (no spam) 216.168.3.30...
But then I have a question: will I need a new mounting/saddle plate to
connect the telescope to the mount?
No. If I remember correctly (haven't seen the Vixen mount in a while) the
mounting plates are identical. I have an LXD75 and have been quite happy
with it (5" refractor).
[/quote]
Yup, you're right. I bought the LXD75 mount, and my old Vixon 102 achromat
fit on it perfectly with the old mounting plate.
I made a temporary mounting plate out of plywood to put my short-tube 80mm
scope on the GP mount. Today I bought some aluminum so I can make a more
permanent mounting plate. (Harbor Freight mini-mill to the rescue! :-)
I got the new mount last Friday, but had to go out of town during the
weekend, and of course now it's raining. |
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| yourmommycalled... |
| Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 5:39 am |
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Guest
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On Oct 27, 4:37 pm, "darkon" <darkon.... at (no spam) gmail.com> wrote:
[quote]"Ray Porter" <ray_por... at (no spam) unc.edu> wrote in message
news:4ae056b9$1_1 at (no spam) news.unc.edu...
"darkon" <darkon.... at (no spam) gmail.com> wrote in message
news:Xns9CAA4497EFEAdarkonwashere at (no spam) 216.168.3.30...
But then I have a question: will I need a new mounting/saddle plate to
connect the telescope to the mount?
No. If I remember correctly (haven't seen the Vixen mount in a while) the
mounting plates are identical. I have an LXD75 and have been quite happy
with it (5" refractor).
Yup, you're right. I bought the LXD75 mount, and my old Vixon 102 achromat
fit on it perfectly with the old mounting plate.
I made a temporary mounting plate out of plywood to put my short-tube 80mm
scope on the GP mount. Today I bought some aluminum so I can make a more
permanent mounting plate. (Harbor Freight mini-mill to the rescue! :-)
I got the new mount last Friday, but had to go out of town during the
weekend, and of course now it's raining.
[/quote]
You might look into the yahoo roboscope group for how to mount the
very inexpensive meade motors on your mount. You don't need to get
the autostar as there is a dumb hand paddle that will work as well. |
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