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Meade 127ED and LXD600

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#126 starman876

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Posted 25 January 2025 - 12:29 PM

I had a few of the meade ED scopes and they were all good.  The 178ED was the best.  



#127 deSitter

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Posted 25 January 2025 - 12:40 PM

The optics were good on my 5" ED and had a yellow cast.

Hmm. I never noticed any odd color. I will look next time it meets the Moon.

 

-drl



#128 RichA

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Posted 25 January 2025 - 03:36 PM

Okay, I took the RA motor, worm block, and Pcb out, pulled the insulation on the motor leads back and attached a 9 volt battery with aligator clips and an on-off switch to it.  The motor "twitches" but doesn't turn.  This regarless of which side I attach the positive and negative sides of the battery to.  What does this mean?  With the power off, I can turn the manual slow motion knob and turn the motor.  Based on folks' cautions, I haven't tried to turn the knob when the motor is powered on.

 

What should I do next?  Is it safe to assume that the windings are okay?

 

-Tim.

Amazing.  Aluminum machined blocks mated to a $3.00 slot-car motor. 


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#129 deSitter

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Posted 26 January 2025 - 01:15 AM

Amazing.  Aluminum machined blocks mated to a $3.00 slot-car motor. 

I know, it's totally awesome that it works so well - when it does work!

 

When I was a kid, motors were my favorite electric thing. The magic of voltage and magnetism. At least my mount makes sort of the same sound as a slot car, because it more or less is :)

 

-drl



#130 tim53

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Posted 26 January 2025 - 05:37 PM

I still haven't taken the wires to the motor off and tried to power it by itself, but I'm betting the motor is shorted, or partly so.  I was able to get it spinning a couple times, but it was easy to stop by touching the encoder disk with VERY light finger pressure.  I wish there was an over the counter replacement motor out there, but if Dave's right, it's not a plain slot car motor.  

 

It's raining today (good thing, the fires will probably be out by now), and I'm not sure when I'll have time for this puppy.  I am tempted to adapt some goto kit to it, but have other projects taking priority. 

 

-Tim.



#131 deSitter

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Posted 26 January 2025 - 10:12 PM

I still haven't taken the wires to the motor off and tried to power it by itself, but I'm betting the motor is shorted, or partly so.  I was able to get it spinning a couple times, but it was easy to stop by touching the encoder disk with VERY light finger pressure.  I wish there was an over the counter replacement motor out there, but if Dave's right, it's not a plain slot car motor.  

 

It's raining today (good thing, the fires will probably be out by now), and I'm not sure when I'll have time for this puppy.  I am tempted to adapt some goto kit to it, but have other projects taking priority. 

 

-Tim.

I bought an OnStep kit and a 1/2 to experiment with a couple of mounts in case reworking the LXD650 becomes necessary. Should be here soon. I think it will be fun.

 

-drl



#132 tim53

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Posted 27 January 2025 - 03:29 PM

I bought an OnStep kit and a 1/2 to experiment with a couple of mounts in case reworking the LXD650 becomes necessary. Should be here soon. I think it will be fun.

 

-drl

I'd like to know more about these.  Especially how big a mount can they drive?  My Tak EM-500 has a rather old Sitech goto kit on it, and it's only compatible with windows computers.  I'd rather run something on a Mac, or even run via Skysafari on an iphone.  

 

Which kit did you order for the LXD650?

 

-Tim.



#133 photoracer18

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Posted 27 January 2025 - 06:46 PM

When Meade hand selected a 152ED/APO OTA for star-party use for us at Hands On Optics I elected to mount it on my Celestron CI-700 instead of dealing with all the issues that the Meade mounts had.  I sometimes had a many as 4 refractors mounted on that.

But the name Mabuchi brings back some old memories. Slot car building and racing before I started real racing at 18. During the winter in the 60's when most racing stopped a lot of real racers would meet at the big multi-track indoor slot car facility across from the University of New Mexico and race run-what-you-brung that did not conform to any current regulations. Most were replicas of existing current USAC wingless sprint cars. Chassis made of piano wire and so few turns on the motor windings the motors only lasted a few weeks or so. My younger brother was a whiz at making motors. I raced and built the cars. Guys like the Unser brothers, Cliff Odom and others. They had a high banked 12 lane twisted oval. Also had a slot car drag strip where we built and raced both 1/24 scale replica racers and no rules cars powered by everything from gas powered RC aircraft engines to J2 rocket motors. Used to have some of my old cars up until the 80's or so.


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#134 deSitter

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Posted 27 January 2025 - 08:58 PM

I'd like to know more about these.  Especially how big a mount can they drive?  My Tak EM-500 has a rather old Sitech goto kit on it, and it's only compatible with windows computers.  I'd rather run something on a Mac, or even run via Skysafari on an iphone.  

 

Which kit did you order for the LXD650?

 

-Tim.

They are not for that mount, which works perfectly as of now. They are for my EQ3-2 and an LXD75 rework that was put out by Bresser some years ago which had crippling weaknesses in the firmware and handbox, which in turn made it far less capable than the original Autostar incarnation (same motors though - backup for mine!). That mount is known as the EXOS2-GT version 1. Version 2 seems to already use a similar approach as OnStep and for all I know, is based on it.

 

But refitting the LXD650 should be easy. The Terrans kits use beefy stepper motors that are directly connected via pulleys and belts to the existing worm gear. You just have to make room for them. With all the electronics removed, there would be plenty of room inside the RA and DEC housing for the motors. Just a matter of fashioning a strong support, and there are any number of surfaces to use.

 

-drl


Edited by deSitter, 27 January 2025 - 08:59 PM.

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#135 pairofdocs

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Posted 27 January 2025 - 10:06 PM

Go to the OnStep showcase webpage for LXD650 conversion


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#136 deSitter

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Posted 27 January 2025 - 11:38 PM

Go to the OnStep showcase webpage for LXD650 conversion

This guy put NEMA 14 motors inside the existing space of an LXD600 but there are no available details. There is an LXD650 conversion that is rather rough and ready. Those are the only ones I know. The 750 will have a lot more internal space. If I got a 750 I would probably save the electronics as backup for the 650 and roll my own idea-wise.

 

https://onstep.group...n/message/25625

 

-drl


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#137 hjd1964

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Posted 28 January 2025 - 11:30 AM

This guy put NEMA 14 motors inside the existing space of an LXD600 but there are no available details. There is an LXD650 conversion that is rather rough and ready. Those are the only ones I know. The 750 will have a lot more internal space. If I got a 750 I would probably save the electronics as backup for the 650 and roll my own idea-wise.

 

https://onstep.group...n/message/25625

 

-drl

These are such nice old mounts, it's good to keep them out of the trash heap...

 

On Groups.io the free account limits storage and automatically deletes old images, I had them in my email though so I added them back for now...

 

https://onstep.group...n/message/25618



#138 deSitter

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Posted 28 January 2025 - 11:40 AM

These are such nice old mounts, it's good to keep them out of the trash heap...

 

On Groups.io the free account limits storage and automatically deletes old images, I had them in my email though so I added them back for now...

 

https://onstep.group...n/message/25618

Outstanding! That guy's website seems to be history. But this is still great info, thanks!

 

-drl



#139 starman876

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Posted 28 January 2025 - 11:49 AM

https://onstep.group...wiki/8960/72949

 

here is more info on the circuit board


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#140 starman876

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Posted 28 January 2025 - 11:51 AM

this also means the LXD700 and 750  can be converted with some thing more reliable.  The 600, 650, 700 and 750 all use the same circuitry and mechanics.  


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#141 deSitter

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Posted 30 January 2025 - 07:25 PM

I'd like to know more about these.  Especially how big a mount can they drive?  My Tak EM-500 has a rather old Sitech goto kit on it, and it's only compatible with windows computers.  I'd rather run something on a Mac, or even run via Skysafari on an iphone.  

 

Which kit did you order for the LXD650?

 

-Tim.

Terrans Industry kits arrived - very impressed. Metal cases, DIN plug type connectors, big beefy stepper motors. Hand controller is very legible despite being about the size of a cigarette pack. App seems well laid out and comprehensive. This is a winner.

 

-drl


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