Satisfied
member
Reged: 02/14/08
Posts: 47
Loc: Colorado
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As some of you may be aware, there is obviously something wrong with many of the new LX90 ACF's. I just received my second one today and it has the same problem as the first one that I just returned. While tracking, the object will flutter up and down every 10-30 seconds and you can hear a rattling sound in the right fork arm. I'm aware of others having the same issue (Weasner's LX90 website for example). I just talked to Meade customer service as well as OPT and they claim they've never heard of such a problem. I guess my options are to send the brand new scope into Meade for service, exchange this scope for a third one (which I'm convinced will have the same problem), or get a refund. How irritating!
Sorry, I just had to vent.
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8" LX90 ACF
ETX 105 AT
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Joe Lalumia
Post Laureate
Reged: 01/24/07
Posts: 4136
Loc: Rockwall, Texas, USA
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HOPEFULLY-------- someone from Meade is reading this forum. Many posts with the same problem--- not good.
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LX90 8" LNT, SV Nighthawk & TelePOD, ETX 90, Orion XT10i, SV 80/9d, 20x80 binoculars www.texasastro.org
"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources." - Albert Einstein
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Joseph Gillman
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/06/05
Posts: 2976
Loc: Due south of the North Pole (A...
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Try GOTOing an object near the meridian. I assume you are in alt az mode otherwise you wouldn't be using the Declination/altitude motor for tracking.
If you are on the meridian or very close, the declination motor is not needed at all for tracking (that is if viewing due south the object is at its maximum height in the sky and not moving in altitude for a little while, till it moves farther west and starts "setting")
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Satisfied
member
Reged: 02/14/08
Posts: 47
Loc: Colorado
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I still get the rattling near the meridian. Its strange, because the rattling is not very consistent regarding its alt/az position. Some positions, the problem is minimal, some its very bad.
Here's what is baffling me. How can a gear drive that is barely turning produce a rattle with such frequency and amplitude? Does anyone know how fast the motor rotates at tracking speed? It seems to me that about the only thing that could cause this rattling at such slow speeds is a motor bearing, assuming the motor rotates at high RPM while tracking.
Regardless, it appears that repairing myself without voiding the warranty is out of the question.
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8" LX90 ACF
ETX 105 AT
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Joseph Gillman
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/06/05
Posts: 2976
Loc: Due south of the North Pole (A...
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Odd because the motor is hardly turning if you are correctly tracking near the meridian.
Open up the cover and see if your transfer gears are missing teeth, or are poorly meshed? That will not void any warranty to just take a look (and installing things like peterson upgrades does not void warranty either, I don't believe)
Take some pictures if you can, and we might be able to diagnose the problem
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Satisfied
member
Reged: 02/14/08
Posts: 47
Loc: Colorado
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I took the cover off last night. The drive still rattles even with the spur gear removed and the clutch disengaged. This tells me that its gotta be the motor.
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8" LX90 ACF
ETX 105 AT
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Satisfied
member
Reged: 02/14/08
Posts: 47
Loc: Colorado
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I just checked again and I'm 99% certain that its the gearmotor assembly that's vibrating. I can put my finger on the assembly and feel the vibrations. How foolish would I be to disassemble this? It looks like once I remove the two mounting screws, there are only 3 or 4 small screws holding the gearmotor housing together. I bet one of the little gears in there is not meshing.
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8" LX90 ACF
ETX 105 AT
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Joseph Gillman
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/06/05
Posts: 2976
Loc: Due south of the North Pole (A...
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The LX90 is about the one meade scope I have not ever owned 
If the motor is the same as the LXD75 motor, which is possible since they both use the Autostar 497, then the WarpsCorp (the guy who makes LXD75 belt conversion kits) has detailed instructions about taking apart the motor to inspect and regrease the gears inside the motor. But I can't say for sure.
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Satisfied
member
Reged: 02/14/08
Posts: 47
Loc: Colorado
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I took the gear box on the gearmotor apart. All of the little plastic gears seem to rotate and mesh just fine, except for a little backlash, which should be expected from a plastic gear train. I think its safe to say that the problem is with the motor itself. Meade probably got a bad batch of them, causing this problem for a number of new owners. When I put my finger on the motor while its tracking, I can feel a lot of vibration.
I'm sure there is no way Meade would send me a new motor under warranty, even though that would be the logical, cost effective thing to do. It looks like its real easy to remove and replace.
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8" LX90 ACF
ETX 105 AT
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Joseph Gillman
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/06/05
Posts: 2976
Loc: Due south of the North Pole (A...
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Radio shack? Other alternatives? I'm sorry for you...
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Satisfied
member
Reged: 02/14/08
Posts: 47
Loc: Colorado
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I removed the scope from the tripod and could hear the same rattling sound coming from the AZ/RA drive. Of course, as Murphy's Law would have it, one of the tiny little allen screws is stripped so I can't remove the base cover plate.
Hmmm.....
Does anyone know if the RA motor is the same as the DEC motor?
I'm desperate enough to point the thing skyward that I just might have to turn off tracking and take some peeks before I send it in.
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8" LX90 ACF
ETX 105 AT
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Joseph Gillman
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/06/05
Posts: 2976
Loc: Due south of the North Pole (A...
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motors themselves should be the same
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rmollise
Postmaster
Reged: 07/06/07
Posts: 5323
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Quote:
As some of you may be aware, there is obviously something wrong with many of the new LX90 ACF's. I just received my second one today and it has the same problem as the first one that I just returned. While tracking, the object will flutter up and down every 10-30 seconds and you can hear a rattling sound in the right fork arm. I'm aware of others having the same issue (Weasner's LX90 website for example). I just talked to Meade customer service as well as OPT and they claim they've never heard of such a problem. I guess my options are to send the brand new scope into Meade for service, exchange this scope for a third one (which I'm convinced will have the same problem), or get a refund. How irritating!
Sorry, I just had to vent.
Whoever you talked to must either be new or out of the loop. Quite a few folks have returned scopes for this reason, including Mike Weasner who, I believe, is on his third 90. I gather that at this point, the best option is getting Meade to "repair" rather than "replace," as it's pretty evident all the new 90ACFs suffer from The Jump.
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Uncle Rod
Rod's New Book:
Choosing and Using a New CAT
Available now!
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Satisfied
member
Reged: 02/14/08
Posts: 47
Loc: Colorado
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Update: Meade has assured me that they know what the problem is and they're fixing them quickly. They've sent me a shipping label, so the scope is heading back, hopefully not for the whole summer.
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8" LX90 ACF
ETX 105 AT
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WolfgangG
member
Reged: 08/06/08
Posts: 13
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I am an owner of the 12" LX90 and i can hear some strange sounds from the declination drives too (when i remember correct, this was the same in my lx200(non gps classic) 8" scope sold ten years ago, but only in azimutal mode), but they are not periodic, but random, they come only in certain declination angles ( not recognized yet ) but the motion of the OTA can only be very, very small, because the motion of the objects ( at power of 120 )
is hardly visible ( < 5" i presume ).
do i have luck. is the error in all these scopes, but below a certain threshold for the most?
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rmollise
Postmaster
Reged: 07/06/07
Posts: 5323
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Quote:
I am an owner of the 12" LX90 and i can hear some strange sounds from the declination drives too (when i remember correct, this was the same in my lx200(non gps classic) 8" scope sold ten years ago, but only in azimutal mode), but they are not periodic, but random, they come only in certain declination angles ( not recognized yet ) but the motion of the OTA can only be very, very small, because the motion of the objects ( at power of 120 )
is hardly visible ( < 5" i presume ).
do i have luck. is the error in all these scopes, but below a certain threshold for the most?
Luck? I'd say not. If you're getting declination vibration on the order of 5-arc seconds, high power planetary work will be impossible. I'm afraid it sounds like you have the same problem being experienced by the other (new) LX90 owners.
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Uncle Rod
Rod's New Book:
Choosing and Using a New CAT
Available now!
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Rick Woods
Postmaster
Reged: 01/27/05
Posts: 6268
Loc: Inner Solar System
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This is so weird. Before the current troubles, the LX90 seemed like the Golden Child of the Meade line: reliable, low cost, high value.
*sigh*
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- Rick
14" LX200GPS
Dyslexics Untie!
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Joe Lalumia
Post Laureate
Reged: 01/24/07
Posts: 4136
Loc: Rockwall, Texas, USA
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The older ones are still "almost" bulletproof--
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LX90 8" LNT, SV Nighthawk & TelePOD, ETX 90, Orion XT10i, SV 80/9d, 20x80 binoculars www.texasastro.org
"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources." - Albert Einstein
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WolfgangG
member
Reged: 08/06/08
Posts: 13
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I will observe the behaviour next time, but as i am only interested in visual observing, i can live with the feature. As i said before it is not periodic, as others have experienced, but random in my case,rather small (the 5 Seconds were assumed by visual comparison with the diameter of jupiter), and does not nerve me very much. The telescope as a whole does not shake, the planet wobbles a small amount up than down or vice versa. Before i go to deepsky imaging, i will move the OTA to a GEM anyway.
Best Regards
Wolfgang Graßmann,Germay
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Kolenka
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 06/01/08
Posts: 1010
Loc: Seattle Area, WA, USA
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Quote:
This is so weird. Before the current troubles, the LX90 seemed like the Golden Child of the Meade line: reliable, low cost, high value.
*sigh*
Well, when your QC guys get changed out during a factory change, QC will suffer if you don't do it right.
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Orion XX12 / Orion 80ED OTA / AT66ED
Nagler 7T6, 9T6, 13T6, 17T4, 26T5
Canon XS, TIS DMK 31AF03, AstroTrac TT320X
Northwest Astro Photoblog
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Rick Woods
Postmaster
Reged: 01/27/05
Posts: 6268
Loc: Inner Solar System
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Quote:
I will observe the behaviour next time, but as i am only interested in visual observing, i can live with the feature.
("Feature" - I like that!)
But you might change your mind next time Mars comes around.
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- Rick
14" LX200GPS
Dyslexics Untie!
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rmollise
Postmaster
Reged: 07/06/07
Posts: 5323
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Quote:
This is so weird. Before the current troubles, the LX90 seemed like the Golden Child of the Meade line: reliable, low cost, high value.
*sigh*
That is the SAD part. Yes, the 90 had always been the Meade golden girl: problem free introduction, few returns; it just worked.
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Uncle Rod
Rod's New Book:
Choosing and Using a New CAT
Available now!
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rmollise
Postmaster
Reged: 07/06/07
Posts: 5323
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Quote:
I will observe the behaviour next time, but as i am only interested in visual observing, i can live with the feature. As i said before it is not periodic, as others have experienced, but random in my case,rather small (the 5 Seconds were assumed by visual comparison with the diameter of jupiter), and does not nerve me very much. The telescope as a whole does not shake, the planet wobbles a small amount up than down or vice versa. Before i go to deepsky imaging, i will move the OTA to a GEM anyway.
Best Regards
Wolfgang Graßmann,Germay
Your choice. I wouldn't live with a scope with this problem.
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Uncle Rod
Rod's New Book:
Choosing and Using a New CAT
Available now!
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Brooklyn
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 07/24/08
Posts: 870
Loc: Central New Jersey
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Im so sorry to hear this issue about the lx90 ACFs.
I own a meade lx90 EMC, which i got in 2002. Since then it has been just short of a perfect telescope by all means.
I have NEVER heard any rattles coming from the telescope, despite having slammed it against a wall several times by accident.
I have NEVER needed to clean any of my optics, aside from a light dusting with an ear syringe.
I have never ever needed to colliminate the scope. Yes i know this might seem strange, but in all honesty i have never needed to. I have read almost all the collimination guides on the internet, and my star test at 400x or even 500x still looks like a perfect circle just as it did on day one.
I have NEVER updated the autostar software or firmware on the telescope. Heck i still didnt even buy the cable that connects autostar to a computer because why fix it if it aint broken? My year 2002 version autostar works near flawlessly in normal mode and i still havent even tried out the high precision mode.
GoTo capability is very nice, considering my telescope doesnt have any GPS, LNT, or any of that fancy stuff that the newer ones have.
All i have to do is type in the date, time, location is saved from previous observing date. I have a magnetic glass compass that i use to find true north, and i simply move the telescope down to 0 on the vertical axis. Hop over to 2 star alignment, and its all done....in under 1-2 minutes.
At first i was kinda jealous that the newer scopes have all this new LNT and gps technology, but after i realized that the difference in setup time is literally seconds - 1 minute apart, it makes no difference whatsoever.
Overall, aside from my own stupidity and noobness, the telescope is in perfect condition aside from a few scratches on the tripod legs, but who cares about that right? 
My telescope was made in california before meade started doing all of its cost cutting on QA, customer service, and before they decided to move production to mexico.
I have heard that the move to mexico is what is causing all these problems.
Weasners lx90 site has all of these problems documented, but be prepared to get horrified, as he went through 3 scopes, 2 new ones and 1 supposedly fixed, and they all still had the vibration issues.
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Meade 8.25"(209.55mm) LX-90 EMC (SCT)
Albert Einstein =>
“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.”
“If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.”
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Brooklyn
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 07/24/08
Posts: 870
Loc: Central New Jersey
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Quote:
This is so weird. Before the current troubles, the LX90 seemed like the Golden Child of the Meade line: reliable, low cost, high value.
*sigh*
you're right, a close associate of Weasner named P. Clay Sherrod has said many times that out of ALL the telescopes he has seen in the all of the years of his life as an astronomer, the LX90 was the BEST OVERALL of every telescope ever made.
This is quite a huge honor to be giving to meade, and i definitely trust Dr. P. Clay Sherrod.
If you are unaware of who he is, he does the Arkansas observatory special supercharge for all telescopes.
http://www.weasner.com/etx/techtips/tuneup_service.html
This guy, Dr. Clay sherrod was a professional working astronomer his entire life and now hes retired. So to make some spare change he goes through your entire telescope and literally supercharges ALL of the working pieces. He cleans your telescope in and out and makes sure everything is working 100% properly.
He is one of the authorities on goto telescopes and astronomy, so when i see a person who knows the ins and outs of telescopes as well as this Dr. Clay does, I definitely believe him when he says:
"I still contend that the LX90 is the best telescope ever made by anyone."
taken from this website which includes his entire emial:
http://www.weasner.com/lx90/waiting_again.html
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Meade 8.25"(209.55mm) LX-90 EMC (SCT)
Albert Einstein =>
“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.”
“If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.”
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Joseph Gillman
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/06/05
Posts: 2976
Loc: Due south of the North Pole (A...
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Quote:
I have never ever needed to colliminate the scope....
That's more of a luck thing than a "pre-Meade QC troubles" thing, even the handcrafted Celestron's of the 70s (their heyday) needed collimation once in a while.
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Kolenka
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 06/01/08
Posts: 1010
Loc: Seattle Area, WA, USA
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They could have moved the factory to Indiana and still have QC issues if their old QC staff aren't on hand to train the new guys. It just comes down to poor transitions, in my opinion. Where the factory is isn't the source of the woes, the fact that the employees are likely undertrained is the issue.
I wound up buying An LX200 ACF instead partly because of this issue. So far the mechanics are solid. Just need to address an issue with the wrong collimation screws sent with the mounting rings, and possibly an issue with the Autostar handbox display. Minor and nagging issue that have been around for awhile but don't destroy my use of the scope.
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Orion XX12 / Orion 80ED OTA / AT66ED
Nagler 7T6, 9T6, 13T6, 17T4, 26T5
Canon XS, TIS DMK 31AF03, AstroTrac TT320X
Northwest Astro Photoblog
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Brooklyn
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 07/24/08
Posts: 870
Loc: Central New Jersey
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Quote:
They could have moved the factory to Indiana and still have QC issues if their old QC staff aren't on hand to train the new guys. It just comes down to poor transitions, in my opinion. Where the factory is isn't the source of the woes, the fact that the employees are likely undertrained is the issue.
I wound up buying An LX200 ACF instead partly because of this issue. So far the mechanics are solid. Just need to address an issue with the wrong collimation screws sent with the mounting rings, and possibly an issue with the Autostar handbox display. Minor and nagging issue that have been around for awhile but don't destroy my use of the scope.
Yes but think of the language barrier! Its probably very difficult to explain things to a staff of mexican workers whos english is only a secondary language taught at school.
Weasner went through 3 different lx90 acfs, all 3 were broken....this tells me that they had no idea how to FIX that problem, even tho there were a plethora of complaints.
Even after they replaced the entire dec motor on weasners lx90, it STILL had the vibration issues.
There is a REASON meade chose to move to mexico. That reason is simply because they will save millions maybe 100s of millions by having mexican workers, in a mexican built facility.
All this money saving surely has an impact on quality.
The less you pay, the less you get (generally). This rule works for big companies as well as individual customers.
Edited by Joad (08/07/08 09:12 PM)
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Joad
Wordsmith
Reged: 03/22/05
Posts: 13619
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Well, the RCX (now the ACF 400), which really gave Meade quality control fits, was manufactured in Irvine, California.
And we have a policy on Cloudy Nights not to conduct derogatory commentary on other, non-U.S. countries. We have an international roster of users here, and everyone must feel comfortable on the site.
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12.5 inch Portaball + Osypowski platform
LX10
Oberwerk BT100 45° binocular
Orion binoviewer + ScopeStuff extender (so it focuses at f/4.9)
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Brooklyn
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 07/24/08
Posts: 870
Loc: Central New Jersey
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I apologize if that is how it sounded, that was never my intention or personal view. I am a supporter of the idea that internet forums operate better with the increasing number of international members from everywhere on the globe.
My intent was simply to point out a theory that i had heard in other places as a possible cause of the problem. It isn't about the country where it is moved to, as any relocation introduces a transition period where things may go wrong.
On the bright side, I have heard newer reports. They say ever since they found out the reason for this vibration problem, they started working on fixing the unsold telescopes in stock, and replaced certain mechanisms on their production line.
I did not hear of any recalls for the already shipped telescopes, so if anyone has a problem definitely send your scope back to Meade.
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Meade 8.25"(209.55mm) LX-90 EMC (SCT)
Albert Einstein =>
“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.”
“If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.”
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Kolenka
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 06/01/08
Posts: 1010
Loc: Seattle Area, WA, USA
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"You get what you pay for" only works when a dollar has the same value everywhere. Since this isn't the case in the US by itself when talking about land and cost of living, we can throw that out the window when it comes to labor.
The failure is in the transition, you are right. But it may not just be the language barrier. If a company assumes that scripts are equivilent to training, they are wrong. Employees need a little hand-holding to get into the groove of things and recognize when something subtle is wrong. Looks to me like that is the case here.
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Orion XX12 / Orion 80ED OTA / AT66ED
Nagler 7T6, 9T6, 13T6, 17T4, 26T5
Canon XS, TIS DMK 31AF03, AstroTrac TT320X
Northwest Astro Photoblog
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Brooklyn
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 07/24/08
Posts: 870
Loc: Central New Jersey
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Quote:
"You get what you pay for" only works when a dollar has the same value everywhere. Since this isn't the case in the US by itself when talking about land and cost of living, we can throw that out the window when it comes to labor.
The failure is in the transition, you are right. But it may not just be the language barrier. If a company assumes that scripts are equivilent to training, they are wrong. Employees need a little hand-holding to get into the groove of things and recognize when something subtle is wrong. Looks to me like that is the case here.
All we can do now is hope they learn from this mix up and never have it happen again.
I'm very surprised how understanding many customers are. Even after going through 5-6 months of a frustrating back and forth, with a product that continually came back with the same mechanical issues, people were still willing to do plenty of business with Meade in the future.
The main sentiments Ive heard are that people are willing to go through these stretched out repair periods simply to let Meade better themselves in the future. It certainly goes against the regular consumer trend of "you mess up once, I will never talk to you again."
Meade is really lucky that it has such a loyal fan base.
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Meade 8.25"(209.55mm) LX-90 EMC (SCT)
Albert Einstein =>
“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.”
“If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.”
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Joe Lalumia
Post Laureate
Reged: 01/24/07
Posts: 4136
Loc: Rockwall, Texas, USA
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I second some of these posts above-- my LX90 8" LNT has worked perfectly since day one! The gotos are EXCELLENT! after normal alignment. Never one bit of trouble-- and it is used regularly at public observing events.
The scope tracks an object (even planets) for HOURS !! I also believe the old Classic LX90 and the LNT - were their most reliable telescopes.
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LX90 8" LNT, SV Nighthawk & TelePOD, ETX 90, Orion XT10i, SV 80/9d, 20x80 binoculars www.texasastro.org
"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources." - Albert Einstein
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Satisfied
member
Reged: 02/14/08
Posts: 47
Loc: Colorado
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My LX90 is still being repaired. It was fixed once, but failed QC, so it went back to the service department. Meade cannot tell me how much longer it will take, but customer service promised it would be perfect once I receive it.
We will see.
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8" LX90 ACF
ETX 105 AT
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WolfgangG
member
Reged: 08/06/08
Posts: 13
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Back again.
I am still worried about the rattling of my scopes declination motor, though the visual effect isn't that big.
I wonder how this sound comes about.
When i touch the holder of the worm i can feel the vibrations. But how can this come apart? The motor certainly can only spin left or right, or it may oscillate rapidly forth and back. Spinning left or right certainly does not make the gear drive vibrate. In fast motion the velocity is much higher.
So the motor must oscillate, maybe it gets to much forth back command in alternation.(The whole thing look very much like a violation of momentum conservation ;-))
To send the scope back to meade from germany is out of question, ( so i havent contacted my local dealer yet)
it would take months ( maybe years ) the get a repaired one.
So i am thinking about fixing the error myself.
May be some stuff of dampening material may be placed
besides the pivot spring, that pushes back the Worm at the gears.
What do you think?
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Satisfied
member
Reged: 02/14/08
Posts: 47
Loc: Colorado
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WOOO HOOO!
I finally got my LX 90 ACF back from Meade. It only took 3+ months, but it seems that the vibration problem has been fixed!
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8" LX90 ACF
ETX 105 AT
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DarthNebula
member
Reged: 10/27/08
Posts: 50
Loc: Ontario, Canada
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Has this problem now been fixed in the current LX90 line or are people still seeing it?
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rmollise
Postmaster
Reged: 07/06/07
Posts: 5323
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Quote:
Has this problem now been fixed in the current LX90 line or are people still seeing it?
Apparently it has not been fixed. Mike Weasner received is _third_ 90 and it still displayed the problem. Read the (sad) story here. Good part? Meade and his dealer did the right thing.
http://www.weasner.com/lx90/lx90-3a.html
--------------------
Uncle Rod
Rod's New Book:
Choosing and Using a New CAT
Available now!
Edited by rmollise (12/05/08 10:03 AM)
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DarthNebula
member
Reged: 10/27/08
Posts: 50
Loc: Ontario, Canada
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WOW...that,s terrible....I have been back and forth trying to decide between the LX90 12" ACF and the CPC 1100. After reading all this....I am going for CPC 1100. I would lose it having to go through what Mike did. That is sad for a product priced as these telescopes are. Good thing Meade finally righted his situation. Still does not give any perspective buyers confidence.
DT>
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Kenn1
super member
Reged: 09/28/06
Posts: 158
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I stumbled onto this post just browsing this forum.
I will try to describe an issue that I had when I bought my LX90 about 5 yrs ago.
The scope was making some vibratory noise from the right arm. It also was not moving smoothly (Dec) when I would slew it at slower speeds.
Long story short, The large ring gear was rubbing, but just barely, against the right fork arms INNER plastic cover.
I had to literally cut/sand a portion of the plastic cover to keep it from rubbing on the large Dec gear.
It was difficult to diagnose, and after enlarging the inner plastic cover that was rubbing the gear, it worked perfectly.
Thats the short version of an issue I had.
Wanted to put it out there, in case it could be helpful.
Ken
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ETX 70
Orion Skyquest 4.5" Dob
LX 90 8" SCT
Meade LPI
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WolfgangG
member
Reged: 08/06/08
Posts: 13
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Dear Mister Mollis,
when i first read your answer, you where Mister Nobody
to me.Now as i did own some of your books the situation has changed. Certainly you don't want me to commit suicide because of the scopes error
There had been an oportunity to get the error fixed
by meade germany, but i did not take it because
i had not time to do so.
The wanted to ship the scope to them and i insisted to transport it myself.
So i have to be patient. Nevertheless, a good GEM ( GCE or CG11 ) might be the best solution but cost a lot of money.
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rmollise
Postmaster
Reged: 07/06/07
Posts: 5323
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Quote:
Dear Mister Mollis,
when i first read your answer, you where Mister Nobody
to me.Now as i did own some of your books the situation has changed. Certainly you don't want me to commit suicide because of the scopes error
Well, don't do that. I have never seen the telescope worthy of suicide. Well almost never. There was once a 10-inch LX6 that made its new owner want to jump over a cliff, but that is another story for another day. 
My advice? If you have a problem with a new scope, get it fixed pronto. You will be sorry later, when the scope is out of warranty, if you do not. 
--------------------
Uncle Rod
Rod's New Book:
Choosing and Using a New CAT
Available now!
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Bamccoy
member
Reged: 03/27/09
Posts: 44
Loc: Frederick, MD
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I’m new to the forum and wanted to share some info.
I received my new LX-90 8” a couple of weeks ago and the few nice nights have proved it a good buy. I almost didn’t buy the Meade when I stumbled on all the vibration issues.
I checked with several large dealers and they said Meade had corrected the issues but never disclosed the root cause to Dealers or customers. I liked the small Meade better than the CPC 800 but that’s just me. So far I’ve had no vibration issues and everything has been very smooth at every different elevation while tracking. Just thought I’d throw it out there for anyone on the fence like I was.
I also read posts talking about how hard the bigger scopes were to get centered. I’m not sure when but the new tripod has a spring that keeps the mounting bolt elevated making mounting / centering the scope a breeze. It springs into place if you don’t quite have it centered but at least you hear it going up into the bottom of the mount.
Bill
--------------------
Bill
LX90-ACF 8"
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Nick Cook
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 01/28/06
Posts: 1239
Loc: Somerset, England
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Welcome to CN Bill and good news on your experience. That's a nice scope you have there.
Regards,
Nick
--------------------
Meade 14" RCX + Astro Physics 0.75 Reducer (27TVPH)
Meade 5000 ED80 APO (Guider/widefield)+ WO 0.8 Reducer
William Optics Zenithstar 66 Petzal
SBig STL11000M + AO-L + 3" Pyxis Rotator + 3" PDF Focuser
Canon 20Da + IDAS Filter
Pulsar 9ft Dome
www.nick-cook.net
www.cavebear.co.uk
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brianb11213
Post Laureate
Reged: 02/25/09
Posts: 3312
Loc: 55.215N 6.554W
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Quote:
So far I’ve had no vibration issues and everything has been very smooth at every different elevation while tracking.
That's the experience I've had with my LX90 8" purchased Dec 2007 and worked fairly hard (about as hard as is possible with the amount of cloud cover we get here.)
Quote:
I also read posts talking about how hard the bigger scopes were to get centered. I’m not sure when but the new tripod has a spring that keeps the mounting bolt elevated making mounting / centering the scope a breeze. It springs into place if you don’t quite have it centered but at least you hear it going up into the bottom of the mount.
Yeah, that's my experience too. The only "wriggle" I've had is on a couple of occasions when unmounting the scope I've been sure I've undone the bolt, yet the tripod has come too when I've tried to lift the mount off. I think you have to lift straight, if you pull at an angle the tripod seems to "grab".
Incidentally lifting the mounting onto the tripod is a lot more positive with my LX90 than it is with the CPC1100 I've got in the last month (aperture fever  ) Not only is the location more positive with the LX, on the CPC you have to rotate the mount until it clicks into place then do up three bolts which are a lot more fiddly than the single, very positive, bolt on the LX90 tripod. The CPC makes me considerably more nervous as the spring loaded pin which you depend on for location isn't anything like as positive as the Meade's spring loaded blot. Not dropped it yet, though - I suppose there may be a first (and last) time!
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kjay
newbie
Reged: 07/03/09
Posts: 1
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Look for a cold solder joint or a corroded connector on the Dec motor. I swapped one of the motors in my old classic and the new one runs just fine. The problem was lack of light in the encoder system. Don't ask how I know, because the warranty police will pull my certificate on my new '90!
KJay
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WolfgangG
member
Reged: 08/06/08
Posts: 13
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Finally i 'fixed'  the declination vibrations in a very unusual way.I deforked the Lx90, bought a used G11 and i am now looking for the mount adapter arriving TOMORROW! 
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Hermit
super member
Reged: 10/26/08
Posts: 135
Loc: Northern California
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I bought my 8" LX90 back in October last year, and wrestled with the vibration thing. I decided to go through the scope myself rather than suffer the return cycle(s) that others had described. Bottom line is that I found no one problem to account for the bumping . . . the drive system just seems slightly too weak for the task, and would intermittently stop, then lurch forward at times.
So I did a few things to increase its power and decrease the load. I hooked up each motor to a single AA cell overnight off the scope to break in the motors. I ran the worms on the ring gears for hours to wear in the gears a bit, then cleaned and applied high quality grease, and ran them some more, and re-cleaned. I adjusted the worm play and spring tension to optimal. I found that the ring gears are slightly out of round, and figured a way to mark the high spot and tension the clutches with that spot over the worm to even out the roundness. And I religeously balance the scope.
This kind of stuff is not for everyone, but is quality entertainment for me on a cloudy night. I'm trying my hand with astrophotography on a wedge now, and so far things are going smoothly for an inexpensive fork scope. Err . . . were going smoothly until I dropped the controller last night . . . ouch.
Best,
Rob Crockett
--------------------
Meade LX90 LNT 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain
Standard Wedge, LX90 fork, LX200 tripod
Alan Gee II telecompressor f/5.6
Baader short 1.5cm T-adapter/T-ring
Astronomik CLS-CCD clip filter
Self modified Canon XSi with Baader UV/IR filter.
Meade Model 277 60mm refractor with Orion SSAG
Losmandy V-dovetails for balance and guide scope.
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