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[DallasEddie]

I just bought a 8" Mead + Tripod + equatorial wedge

$350
No controller (was looking for one luckily did not find one) and with the board probably junk???

Ok

My preliminary work on Meade de-fork is the spacing from hex head screw to screw ~13" or 330mm.

Dovetail Mounting Plate

330 or 336 or 400mm

336 and 400 Dovetail are easy to find, 330 zip.

Dovetail Clamp

Easy buy and they are low cost $.

So

Total to De-Fork and Dovetail mount on Meade again with a Meade 8" Classic that has very good or great optics.

Meade 8 may have better optics than a new Celestron 8 Se or even the newest Celestron Eveolution 8 but, I haven't seen any optical comparison of the 3 tubes.

$55

Mount this on the Dovetail Meade on eq wedge and I'm golden.

but

I saw a deal Celestron 8se mount and tripod for $400 so it would be nice to slap my Meade 8" on a motorize go to Celestron mount (Meade tripod is better than Celestron 8).

and

I'm sure there has been 100s if not 1000s of SN guys/gals that have been there done this.

Question?

Any other low cost $ way to de-fork and mount my Meade 8" Classic? 

Edited by DallasEddie, 28 October 2023 - 05:08 PM.

[DallasEddie]

Meade 8" Classic De-Fork

 

1. Loosen slowly bump out the 6 Button Head Cap Screws from the Meade 8" tube

2. Loosen the 2 fork Cylindrical Socket Head Cap Screws

3. With one fork loose fully remove all 6 Button Head Cap Screws

 

Meade 8" tube should lift out of forks with out any scratches

 

Immediately Replace all 6

 

8-32 x 1/4" Button Head Cap Screws Alloy Thermal Black Oxide 

with 

8-32 x 1/4" Cylindrical Socket Head Cap Screws Thermal Black Oxide

 

Why?

 

Original Meade Button Head Cap Screws are installed with thread lock and button head screws if stripped are next to impossible to remove.

Edited by DallasEddie, 14 April 2024 - 04:01 PM.