Here is the place to talk about all those equipment(Telescope, Mounts, Eyepieces, etc...) you have. Not sure which scope/eyepiece is best for you? Trash it out here!
I'm in the process of moving back to my country from US (47N lat) and I'm going to bring back my equipments. Unfortunatelly I didnt start this hobby when I was back home and I started it quite "far away" from the equator. I'm so happy to find your website since I have some questions/concern regarding this moving process.
Currently i wonder if my German equatorial mount would work back home (around 5deg South). I have the counterweight shaft of my mount to be perpendicular to the ground and it works. Unfortunatelly the shaft (with counterweights installed) will hit one of the tripod leg (north tripod).
To solve the previous problem, i m thinking to rotate my mount 180deg so the polar scope will be facing North/South in between 2 of the legs. But I'm quite worry about the weight balance of the whole system if I do that (note that i'm currently using a refractor).
Any input/suggestions would be really appreciated , and thanks a lot in advance guys
What mount are you using and how heavy and long is your refractor?? If you are using a Vixen GP or clone, you should be able to use a half-pier to solve your problem.
Anyway, I had been using the method you mention (counter-weight between the two tripod leg) on my Vixen GP mount for years and I didn't had any problem with the weight balance... at least up to now. The scope I had mounted on using this method was Sky-Watcher 5" MCT, Sky-Watcher 6" F5 Newtonian and my current scope, Sky-Watcher 120mm F8.3 refractor. Although I'm now using a half-pier, my counter-weight is still between the two legs... the half-pier is now use to prevent my refractor hitting the tripod legs when point at high angle.
Have a nice day.
Yang Weixing "The universe is composed mainly of hydrogen and ignorance."
Hi Weixing, my refractor weights about 11kg and the length of the tube is around 82cm. The mount is an old version of EM200.
I recently took a hiatus from this hobby, therefore I havent set up my equipments and try the "near equator"-rigs since my refractor is still in the box. By just looking at the mount with the azimuth peg between 2 of the legs would give me some scary thoughts since most of the weights is concentrated at 1 side of the mount. Performing drift alignment would be really scary since i have to loosen the azimuth lock. But maybe i'm worrying too much ? hehe
You may want to check with Matthew (MCYM) as he has a similar setup using a Surveyor tripod. We might want to use a 12kg 10" f/5 Newtonian to test the stability of the mount :-)
Thanks for the pic guys, seems like I dont have to worry about the stability now
Found another problem though, after moving the azimuth peg to between 2 tripod's legs, the counterweight might still going to hit those 2 legs (due to counterweight's diameter). So I might have to get a tripod extension (1/2 pier), or custom counterweight like on Matthew's setup.
Found another problem though, after moving the azimuth peg to between 2 tripod's legs, the counterweight might still going to hit those 2 legs (due to counterweight's diameter). So I might have to get a tripod extension (1/2 pier), or custom counterweight like on Matthew's setup.
Ya... Matthew's counter-weight look very nice...
Anyway, I think the weight balance issue shouldn't be a big problem... unless someone really try to topple the mount (touch wood)... if that the case, the mount will still topple no matter where the counter-weight is...
By the way, You can try using a vixen counter-weight which is smaller in diameter or machine your counter-weight to a smaller diameter (but the weight will also decrease), but the clearance between the leg will be very small... will be a problem if you are doing drift-star alignment which require to adjust the Azimuth adjustment. Anyway, a half-pier should be a better solution.
Have a nice day.
Yang Weixing "The universe is composed mainly of hydrogen and ignorance."
My experience with large counterweight between the 2 tripod legs is that there is a tendency for scope to topple over at the slightest careless kick as the CG is not at the bottom of the scope.
This particularly true for Refractors with large lens cell in front, and if you point to polaris...it will just like tip over. My happen in sungei buloh, when i was shooting birds all over the shop and my telescope almost ate mud.
If it is a cassigrain, ie like Mewlons, it is less likely to happen as the thick mirror cell is at the rear of the Telescope. ( like the picture above and the em500 looks really good )
This particularly true for Refractors with large lens cell in front, and if you point to polaris...it will just like tip over. My happen in sungei buloh, when i was shooting birds all over the shop and my telescope almost ate mud.
Hmm.... I don't have this problem or may be I didn't realise it?? Did you balance your scope in the DEC?? When I adjust my tripod rear leg, my scope always point to North between the two leg and I don't find it easy to lift the rear leg.
Anyway, next time I'll remember to test which position will the scope most likely to topple off and that'll be my no "park zone"... hee hee
Have a nice day.
Yang Weixing "The universe is composed mainly of hydrogen and ignorance."
Balancing DEC is the right thing to do...some times in a hurry when a white throuted kingfisher perch by...., when the retractable lens hood is not extended, it is very possible to forget to balance it.
So front single leg at polaris is safer.
, and thanks a lot in advance guys 
"The universe is composed mainly of hydrogen and ignorance." 
