EZ Focus™ Kit
This kit is intended for use with all Meade 7"
through 16" Schmidt-Cassegrain and Maksutov-Cassegrain telescopes - including
the LX200GPS, the LX200 Classic, the LX90, the LX50 and the LX10.
It will remove most of the backlash in Meade's focusing system and consistently
provides a light precise feel to the focuser knob.
The EZ Focus™ Kit is used to modify the Meade
focus system - it does not replace it. By substituting precision
thrust bearings for the existing nylon washers, this kit greatly reduces
the need for separate costly, bulky backplate mounted focusers and motorized
focus controls. (Or in the case of the LX200GPS, the need to waste
time in switching over to using Meade's Microfocuser.)
The procedure is simple, and the instruction sheet contains detailed step by step instructions, accompanied by pictures. The only tool you need supply is a simple pair of pliers.
This extremely effective approach to improving
focuser action was developed by Michael Hart. Mr. Hart's basic design
is posted in the MAPUG archives. The EZ Focus™ Kit significantly
improves on the basic design and modification procedure. In addition
to the very detailed instructions and step by step photographs that anyone
can follow, the kit contains a collection of difficult to obtain items
- 2 precision miniature thrust bearings, a custom stamped stainless steel
thrust washer, an Allen wrench, a mirror cell retaining bolt, and a packet
of the
same grease used by Meade for lubricating all
of the telescope's internal workings.
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EZ Clutch™ Kit
This kit modifies the declination clutch system on Meade 7" through 12" LX200GPS telescopes and on the Meade 8" LX90 telescope. When installed, lightly tightening the clutch knob with two fingers is all that is required to hold even the most unbalanced scope firmly in position.
Meade's
design utilizes a "wet clutch" system where two steel plates engage the
aluminum declination drive gear. The space between these plates is
lubricated to prevent the aluminum gear from galling and having aluminum
chips falling onto the worm gear drive below. The EZ Clutch Kit converts
Meade's clutch design to a "dry clutch," adding a specially developed friction
plate to the system.
While the "obvious" fix was to add a larger knob as was used on the LX200 "classic", Meade's new smaller "stylized" knob comes with a smaller weaker screw thread. Due to concerns about applying excessive force on a small screw we spent bit more time with the engineering and developed this easy clutch modification.
The modification procedure is simple, and the 4
page photo illustrated instruction sheet contains detailed step by step
instructions.
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Buck's PRECISION Gears
Replace the plastic gears in your Meade LX200GPS drive train with precision cut high strength stainless steel gears. This kit not only replaces plastic gears; it addresses and tunes the full mechanical drive system for both axes.
Installation
of this kit will:
1) improve the drive precision in both RA and DEC drives, reducing or eliminating gear backlash.
2) eliminate the tendency of teeth to break or strip off of the plastic gears when slewing the telescope at high speed.
3) eliminate the tendency of the gears to loosen on their axle, due to use of a larger securing bolt capable of much higher locking torque.
The kit consists of detailed step-by-step photo illustrated instructions for the declination and the right ascension drives, 4 precision stainless steel gears, special gear grease and 4 hex wrenches. And to correct those scopes where the gears do not mesh closely but are only touching tooth tip to tooth tip in a cogging kind of action, the kit also includes a drill bit and 2 special spacer bushings.
Although the instructions provided are crystal
clear, the installation of this kit is slightly more complex than that
of the EZ Focus kit or the EZ Balance kit. If you had trouble with
either of our other kits, or if you consider yourself to be a klutz, please
either do not buy this kit or arrange for someone else to perform the installation
for you.
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Mounting
Assistant II ™
The Mounting Assistant II is a super-compact 8-1/2" X 10-1/4" mounting plate designed to simplify attachment of Meade LX200GPS and LX90 telescopes being used in the Alt-azimuth mode with Meade's standard field tripod or giant field tripod. It fits the 7" MCT as well as the 8", 10", 12" and 14" SCTs. Although the original Mounting Assistant will work just fine with the LX200GPS and LX90 scopes, this design was requested by owners of these scopes with Autostar hand controllers, as the side rail for hanging the old style controller is no longer necessary.
With this mounting system, you first, "square" the tripod using hardware supplied to insure that the legs are properly positioned. Then you simply place the rounded end of the telescope base against the three yellow positioning fingers and lower the telescope until it sits upon the base. Instead of wobbling the telescope sits firmly upon the plate and perfectly aligned over the tripod mounting screw. Simply raise the mounting screw and turn to engage.
This design solves 5 major problems inherent in competitive mounting plates, which are typically larger and permit the temporary storage of eyepieces.
1) Our experience is that eyepiece lenses stored on oversized mounting plate eyepiece trays rapidly collect dew, rendering them unusable without being dried off. Even in dry conditions, upright eyepieces seem to have an affinity for collecting cigarette ashes, dust and debris carried on the breeze.
2) We also found that large competitive plates protrude excessively, interfering with observing objects at the zenith. Your neck hits the plate long before your eye reaches the eyepiece. Note in the photo on the original Mounting Assistant web page how our smaller plates allow easy access to the eyepiece, even when viewing directly overhead.
3) The Mounting Assistant II's compact size permits convenient storage of your tripod in a tight space such as a closet or a vehicle without removal of the mounting plate.
4) A wing nut and washer (not shown) have been recently added to the Mounting Assistant II system to simplify "squaring the tripod" before placing the scope on the mounting plate. This simple procedure has been shown to be 100% effective - the scope fits 100% of the time. At present this is the only mounting plate known to provide this additional feature. And the price of the Mounting Assistant II remains unchanged.
The Mounting Assistant II is fabricated from alloy
6061T6 aircraft aluminum, and finished with black anodize. The mounting
guide posts are steel covered with vinyl so as to prevent marking the telescope
base.
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