GENERAL FEEDBACK Last updated: 29 February 2008

This page is for user comments and information of a general nature or items applicable to all LXD55 and LXD75 models. If you have any comments, suggestions, questions or answers to questions posed here, e-mail them to me and I'll post them. Please use an appropriate Subject Line on your message. Thanks.

Subject:	LXD 75 Autostar
Sent:	Thursday, February 28, 2008 20:35:17
From:	Dan Dolaptchieff (starwindmarine@gmail.com)
ive been troubleshooting this with Dick for a few week.And I think we
have narrowed  it down to either the 497 hbx or the ra board. Do you
have any good used or new arround or know where I an find one?
Thanks again for all your help. Its great that Dick is so helpfull.
Dan

Subject:	LXD 75 Pier plate
Sent:	Sunday, February 24, 2008 20:43:27
From:	Stephen Olson (steve34@comcast.net)
Long time! Just finished my observatory. And as usual I did things
backwards. I never installed a pier for it. Now I want one! Of course.
Anyway. I think I have spent more than enough on this hobby and was
wondering if you have any suggestions for a pier plate that would be
cheap or free. Any suggestions?  I have the LXD75 sn8 and an AT66 on top
of that. I can get the pier in, I just don't know how to mount. Thanks
for all your wisdom.
 
Steve
 
www.theurbansky.com

And:

Thanks mike,

I have a newautostar 497 on its way,. I have a query out there for a new
board. Are the ra and dec boards interchangeable? Are the 55 and 75
boards the same also.. I heard the average time to have meade service is
3 moths. I cant wait that  long.
dan

Subject:	LXD 75 Autostar
Sent:	Tuesday, February 19, 2008 20:48:17
From:	Dan Dolaptchieff (starwindmarine@gmail.com)
Heres the latest, Ive been in contact with dick and were getting closer
but not there yet. anu Ideas? Thanks Dan
-----
I pulled of the encoder wheels an gave them a lite flat black mist coat
as reccomended in the hyper tune. One of the encoders was a little
wobbly but I straightened it out. probably a max wobble of only .030
now. The encoders are on there solid. you can turn the motor by hand
with them.

I dont know what good it would do to do a 360Deg and measure the specs
as the there is no change at all when the mount is moved the alt/az and
the dec/ra remain the same. you said the autostar would complain if
there was no change? It doesnt. The only time it does is when its
slewing below the horizon it says motor failure,overload etc.

Its slewing alot less with the -900 track adjust ,but still out of
control.When it slews(creeps) it acts like its fighting the Hbx and
moves in jerks not smooth. What does the no change in the ra/dec mean.
Is the autostar not getting the info or does it just jumble it up?Im
looking for a nother 75 for parts to swap them out. Any Ideas? will the
55 and 75 encoders swap? What is the RA % used for? I changed it but no
dice. By the way I have changed the as/ra ratio to+2.55999 and the alt/
dec ratio to -2.55999 as required when installing warp drives as the
instal requires when replacing gears with pulleys.

yes i did calibrate motors and train also.

If its a encoder problem wouldnt I see some movement in status dislpay?

thanks again dick I am sure we can figure it out together.

And:

Hi mike, when i slew its smooth. When it fites the hbx its jerky. There
is no change in the status display when slewed and the mount think I'm
below the horizon.The alt az # remain the same.

Subject:	RA shaft 
Sent:	Monday, February 18, 2008 10:19:30
From:	Roy Goderstad (roygod@bellsouth.net)
Can you tell me how to remove the ring nut on a LXD75 RA shaft. It seems
to be quite different than the LXD55. I cannot find any set screws in
the LXD75 ring nut, as the instructions on the LXD55 say there are
three. I am trying to get at the worm gear. I have already pulled the
polar scope out. I have torn up the polar scope adjuster ring getting it
out, as it had threadlock holding it in. But the next steps have me
confused. I was going to buy the DVD, but it says it was created on the
LXD55 mount, which won't help me in this area.

Subject:	Re: creep after beep suggestion
Sent:	Thursday, February 14, 2008 15:42:34
From:	Norm & Martha Fredrick (nmfredrick@comcast.net)
I forgot to add how sorry I am that someone stole your gear but glad
your insurance will cover most of it

and what a great site you have and what a service it is to the community

Thanks

Norm

Subject:	Some General Notes Over Articles On Your Site(s)
Sent:	Tuesday, February 12, 2008 21:52:24
From:	Mark Jordan (madjordainian@insightbb.com)
It had been a while since my last visit to your site(s), just read where
your LXD75 SC8 and related equipment was stolen.  That's a damn shame, I
hope your home owners at least covered the loss after a deductible or
what ever!  I have actually come across a couple of LXD75 SC8 rigs for
sale in the new year on AM & Ebay, but impossible to tell much about the
fine details such as........ did they have an original purchase receipt!
 If some one did end up buying it from an on line site or pawn shop, it
probably was not in the same condition as when it was snatched, as I'm
sure it didn't get very careful handling.

I noticed someone had possed the age old question of 8" SN or 10" SN,
which is better?  Well here's the short version of the whys & wherefores
of which one is "best".  Based on my own and the experiences of several
other SN users, it's not all about the aperature, but rather the use vs
stability. The 10" SN is an outstanding set of optics for both visual
and photographic work on it's own, but....... it is really at the top of
the LXD75 mount's capabilities all by it's self.  For purely visual
observations it still does good on the LXD as the human eye will
autonomically make the fine calcualtions anf adjustments for little
instabilities.  With just the SN10 and the necessary eyepieces the
weight factor is within the mount's ability to maintain a stability very
suitable for that visual observation, maybe some light unguided web cam
planetary work will goo fairly well due to the light weight web cam I no
extra equipment needed for guiding.  However.... when you begin to enter
the rhelm of guided long exposure astrophotography the weight of the
addons, plus the camera to accomplish a smooth long exposure guided
throw the total package weight well inexcess of the mount's
capabilities.  This results in a tempomental imaging platform, that will
have real stability problems.  Some folks have used the SN10 in a more
permanent observatory setting, with some user modifications to the
tripod or flat put it on an anchored pier, and had better stability
performance than the SN10 would normally have under the same load no
mods.

The better solution if a person plans to get into astrophotography with
their LXD75 rig is to go for the lighter weight SN8 or even SN6.  This
allows for them to have some room for their AP equipment to grow before
beginning to overload the mount and lose stability necessary to have for
good sharp images albeit with some slightly longer exposure times than
would be needed with the 10" aperature of the SN10.  Put that SN10 on a
mount in the 40 - 50 lbs weight capacity performance range and it would
be a truely impressive deep space plateform, but the 30lb capacity of
the LXD75 just simply has no room to develop the setup around the SN10
for great long exposure AP.  This is what really kind of stuns me when
it comes to Meade's new product development, a decent GEM in the 40 - 50
lbs capacity with an Autostar interface would fill a nitch longing for a
good platform.  Meade just doesn't seem to want to take full advantage
of the booming astrophotography market they played a major roll in
giving a huge boost to in recent years.  But I ramble, I have written
then a couple of times with new product suggestions from the complaints,
wishes and desires of those I have conversed with on the topic of AP for
the average cash poor individual. They seen to have fallen upon deaf
ears and wound up in file 13, or Orion intercepted them and put them to
product as they have come out in recent months with success with a few
of the ideals I sent to Meade!  But alas what the heck do I know of such
things!

CS!
Mark Jordan
http://thestardeckobservatory.com

Subject:	LXD55 mount
Sent:	Tuesday, February 12, 2008 04:50:01
From:	Colin Martin (colin@cfwmartin.co.uk)
Last night I was moving the scope manually with the motors when trying
to point the scope low down on the horizon the dec motor casing hit the
site of the mount and obviously stopped. As soon as I realised what I
had done I reversed the motor and all seemed fine.

However when I redid the autostar setup thing didn't seem quite right. 
But as it was getting quite cold I packed up for the evening.

Now doing a dummy run this morning during daylight I did the easy
alignment and when successful I told it to go back to Polaris.

It didn't, the dec was okay but the ra is out by about a quarter turn of
the mount axis.

Could the collision of the dec box effect the mount alignment some way?
I assume that I should be able to get back to the exact north setting
(Polaris)   after doing the easy alignment just by accepting the auto
star prompts during daylight hours.

Your help would be appreciated.
Regards
Colin Martin (uk)

And:

Thanks Mike, a reset,calibration,train drives did the trick
Regards
Colin

And:

if I want to put a second ota on the mount would I have to retrain etc
every time I swapped to another ota

Subject:	creep after beep suggestion
Sent:	Monday, February 11, 2008 04:25:38
From:	Norm & Martha Fredrick (nmfredrick@comcast.net)
Seeing as how this showed up after the hypertune I'd take a close look
at everything that was done in the hypertuning process starting with the
encoders...I've read that they seem to work better when they AREN"T
centered
 
Norm

Subject:	LXD75-8"SC
Sent:	Sunday, February 10, 2008 21:27:08
From:	Anthony Belkowski (abelkowski@mac.com)
Sorry to hear about your theft. Hope it all works out.

Tony Belkowski

Subject:	LXD75 8" w/ UHTC or LXD 10" without???
Sent:	Sunday, February 10, 2008 14:01:56
From:	Neil Surti (neilsurti99@yahoo.com)
Hello. Tremendous site that you have created here. Your site was
definitely helped me to commit and delve into the wonderful world of
stargazing

I have been researching telescopes for a few months now and feel that I
am ready to purchase my first scope. Like many, I consider myself to be
an amateur enthusiast with the desire to get into some astrophotography.
I've decided on 2 and trying to weigh the pros and cons for both.

The choice is between LXD75 SN-10 without the UHTC coatings and LXD 75
SN-8 with the UHTC coatings. From a local dealer and I can get either
for a similar price.

My main questions and concerns are these:

1)     How much of a difference is there between an 8" and 10" aperture
when imaging an object and for taking pictures? I would like to get into
photography at some point, but if I can image and photograph Jupiter
with Red Spot I'll be thrilled and any true DSI would be a tremendous
icing on the cake.

2)     How much does the UHTC coatings make a difference with imaging?
Is it better to go for 8" aperature with coating or 10" aperature
without coating?

3)     After reading several boards I do have some concerns about the
weight of the 10" and how sturdy the mount is, as well as, how well the
Goto motor tracks for that size scope? Several posts I've read say one
or the other: that the LXD75 mount is not sturdy enough; while other
posts state that with enough patience the mount and Goto motor works
just fine. Also, I'll be setting this scope up by myself, either in a
field about 1 minute walk from my house or in a large field about 5
minute drive. I'm not looking for a get-up-and-go scope but I don't want
to have to call up Atlas Movers every time I want to do some stargazing.
Is the 10" reasonable for one person to be able to set up?

And:

Thanks for the response. Very helpful information while i am
contemplating my choice. The telescope will be for me and my wife. My
wife is just shy of 5 feet tall and im about 6 months out from should
surgery (recovering well but still not at full strength just yet), so
the weight of the scope is definitely part of my choice. I've found the
weight of the 8" is about 50lbs, so with that and what you have written
i am starting to lean towards the 8". Thanks again for the great
response.

Subject:	Lxd75 Creep after beep and no update
Sent:	Wednesday, February 6, 2008 10:56:53
From:	Dan Dolaptchieff (starwindmarine@gmail.com)
Sorry to bother you again,
I will happily contribute to your site if you can help me. Still having
the same probs. this is my update.

I have been still having problems of creeping. I was working on it last
night. and found when i go into setup telescope/mount when I pick
polar(which this mount is) it will immediately start to do a fairly
fast creep on DEC to the west.If I pick alt/az it wont creep.But I
cannot get it to pick a star above the horizon.

I still cannot connect the Autostar to the PC. I am using a keyspan and
a meade serial to 4 pin adapter. I have ckd the comm ports and still no
luck. I sure would like to get  this going before the new moon gets
here.Also tried the stargps with no luck either. The diagnotic tells me
the keyspan is ok. The laptop is not connected to a fax so I dont think
its fitting that. Sorry if I sound dumb.I am a boat mechanic and my 16
year old son is helping mew/ the comp stuff(hes pretty good) It was
working fine and had only been used twice last year before being torn
down to do the hyper tune and warpdrive.I also lightly coated the
encoder wheels w/ flat black and centered them.I reset the ratios as
required also.

I think the biggest problem to fix is the creep. If we can fix that.
then the connect to the autoatar should not be much. I have done
several resets. I dont think I need to do a safeload as the hbx seems
to be ok?I really appreciate your help. Should I remove the warp drive
and put the gears back in?

thanks
Dan

And:

And:

Thanks for the reply Mike,

I have tried both a 1 star and 2 star align. they both want to creep
west right after it sets on the first star. Its about 5 deg per min
creep west. I assume that the menu should be on telescope / polar
correct? When I enter that it starts a immediate fast  creep to west. If
I enter alt az no creep untill I align on a star. I am doing this
indoors to get the scope to work before I set my WO 80 on it and it gets
crunched! I have set it up on polaris outside my window..

Does this sound like a software problem. that its telling scope to turn
in the dec constantly?

The autostar has only 2 hours on it.It worked fine before the mount was
torn down. Should I try another controller?. can you send this to Dr
Clay and get his input? I have done the RA and dec Tune to the axis.If I
could get the hbx to connect to the Autostar on my laptop would the
creep after beep patch fix this or is this beyond that?

I am a pretty good mechanic and trained in electronics. My computer
skills are fair. I should be able to fix something like this!!!! Thaks
so much for your help Mike. If I had the $ i would give this to you and
go buy a Atlas EQ. Hope my house sells soon and thats what I will do.
  
Dan

And more:

I downloaded the patch for the patch fix for the lx75 creep after beep
fix and but when i drag and drop the txt file onto the patcher it
flashes a command prompt window and then closes before i can see if
anything happens. Also im wondering what to do after i have created the
patch like im supposed to. Any help is appreciated. : )

Any way mail me back when you get a chance. Im also avalible at
marluxia@sherwoodhacks.com

Thank you for your time.

And:

One down one, to go. I got the Autostar to accept the pc. It was a
wiring issue. I did a calibrate and train. and checked setup,all
correct.

It still thinks its down under. It wants to go to Sirius upside down and
then says motor overload when its upside down I give it Mizar which is
up and it says below horizon.

I think we are getting there. Just a few more to go.thanks again.
Dan

And:

From:	richard seymour (rseymour@wolfenet.com)
Dan Dolaptchieff wrote:
> I downloaded the patch for the patch fix for the lx75 creep after beep 
> fix and but when i drag and drop the txt file onto the patcher it 
> flashes a command prompt window and then closes before i can see if 
> anything happens. Also im wondering what to do after i have created the 
> patch like im supposed to. Any help is appreciated. : )

I'm not sure/aware if "the patcher" (do you mean StarMod or StarPatch?)
is a drag-and-drop application.  I always use the program's Files menu
(or the drop-down dialog box in StarPatch) to tell it what i want to
do.

If you're using the patch kit zip file i create (and post on Mike's
site) it is -not- a drag-and-drop.. once you've unzipped it into
the Ephemerides folder -and- have the proper original ROM file in
there, you double click on the kit's "ClickMe" file to create the
patched ROM file.
*or* download StarPatch from http://www.stargps.ca/starpatch.htm
and it will do -everything- (no drag and drop needed) including
fetching the proper files from Meade and the StarGps site.

Just like it says (near the bottom) of the patch kit's ReadMe file.

have fun
--dick

And:

Thanks Mike, Hope you got some good viewing in at Oracle.I will try
that.Is there a place in your site that explains all the menu features
and how to use them.I didnt know you you could do what you just
recommended. I did set the ratios as recc in warp drive to +2.559 
and-2.559.

I had picked the closest city Hilo Hi. Would it be a good idea to get
the gps for it?

As for polar alignment isnt that just done thru the polar scope?

Thanks again for the help. Also Dick's as well
Aloha
Dan

And:

T know my lat/long. thanks.

Subject:	Re: one of the tech articles on your page
Sent:	Wednesday, February 6, 2008 08:17:39
From:	Ken Neusaenger (ken800@gmail.com)
Thanks for the feedback.  I'm assuming, then, what he is saying, is to
visually get polaris in the polar scope (obviously aligned to the gem
previously), eyeball the alignment of the weight bar to kochab (normal
up/down/left/right -- not looking through the finder) and then peer into
the finder and align polaris on the small circle.  Since it is a
refractor, it will, in fact, move in the opposite direction and be
correct since the image is inverted.  I'll be trying it this evening. 
My problem was that I was thinking in terms of moving the scope
"correctly" as in countering for the inverted image through the polar
finder.

Thanks again,

Ken

Subject:	one of the tech articles on your page
Sent:	Tuesday, February 5, 2008 07:30:37
From:	Ken Neusaenger (ken800@gmail.com)
There is a tech article on your page entitled "Polar Alignment Accurate
and Easy".  I'm confused by this article as it seems to be opposite of
what it should be.  The celestial north pole is always between polaris
and kochab is it not?  This article states to point the weight bar
toward kochab (in line with Polaris) and then use the knobs on the mount
to move polaris into the small circle in the finder scope.  If we do
this, it puts the crosshair in the finder on a target that is outside of
Polaris/Kochab which seems wrong to me.  The crosshair in the polar
finder is ideally supposed to be placed exactly on the CNP, isn't it? 
Forgive my confusion, but I am at a loss here as I can't see it any
other way.

He doesn't really state clearly in the text about which way the weight
bar should be pointed but in the picture it is clearly intended that the
weight bar be pointed at kochab where I would think it needs to be just
the opposite.  What am I missing here?

From:	Mark Jordan (madjordainian@insightbb.com)
I've been through this several times before and it always turns out the
person asking these questions has not yet tried to put it to practice,
or tried to make unnecessary corrections to incorrect conclusions of
problems and did it wrong.  When done right it works and works well, the
better the PAS is collimated to the R.A center axis the better the
resulting alignment. Usually good enough for short exposure photography
on a well tuned and PEC corrected/trained mount.

1.) The point of aligning Polaris and Kochab up on the alignment bar is
to establish a straight line between Polaris & Kochab.  The NCP will be
between Polaris & Kochab, but this issue is not addressed in any details
in the article, as it really has little relevance to the steps as
outlined.  The whole point as mentioned for aligning Polaris and Kochab
is to establish the correct "clock position" for the polar scope to be
set in to use it to closely polar align the mount.  Once the correct
clock position is established then the position of the NCP comes to
importance in it's relation to Polaris only........... Kochab has done
it's job by being the second point along the straight line used to put
your PAS reticule in the proper clock position.  This is why the Polar
Scope reticule is lined up to the CW bar as described in the
article...... so everything is aligned to the straight line established
by using the CW bar as your straight edge. Another highly important step
to this method working well is to be sure the PAS is well collimated
(aligned to the center R.A. axis ) for accuracy.

2.) Remember, and this is a simple thing often overlooked when folks
start to try to analyze the method.......... The PAS is a simple
refractor.. the view through it is reversed.

3.) People should really try using the method first, try it first if
they didn't get it right then we'll figure out what they did wrong.  It
works and works well when it is done right, I have received numerous
messages from folks who have used it with great success as well as my
own experiences with it, as it is listed on my website as well.  Maybe
I'm not the best writer of articles and have not conveyed all of the
small details.  I find in my experiences from 15 years of instructing
in-services and simple procedures going into to much fine detail often
looses the simple message and causes folks to skip through, missing the
more important information or message.

CS! Mike,

Mark Jordan

Subject:	lxd55 mount
Sent:	Monday, February 4, 2008 11:49:36
From:	marcel (marcel.king@ntlworld.com)
excellent website, thank you for all your help and advice on the site, i
have a question though i have stripped my lxd55 mount to hypertune and i
noticed inside they are all fitted with brass bush's do you know if it
is possible to replace these with bearings like the lxd75 mount has.
 
many thanks
  
m king

And:

many thanks for your help.

m king

Subject:	LXD75-SN-8 First Light
Sent:	Thursday, January 31, 2008 16:56:30
From:	Jerry Hailey (jerry3672@lexcominc.net)
I got "First Light"! Well I got "First Cloud" on night one. That gave me
a chance to calibrate motors, and train drive.

First Light of Meade LXD75 with Schmidt-Newtonian 8 inch. I did not take
the time on the first night out to get polar north exactly perfect. I
wanted to just look at what I could and enjoy the scope. I set it up
roughly to polar north by getting Polaris centered in the finder scope.
It was also centered in the 26mm eyepiece, after all, last night I had
plenty of time to align the finder scope and train the drives on a far
away radio antenna. I did a two star easy align, both stars were in the
finder scope and just on the edge of the 26mm eyepiece. My first target
was Mars. It came up dead center of the eyepiece. I played around with
my 9.5mm Orion ED-2 (85X) eyepiece and a 3x Barlow (255X). I couldn't
get the Orion eyepiece to focus with or with out the Barlow. The Meade
4000 26mm (31X) was very clear and also clear with the 3x Barlow (93x).
My wife and Kids were ready to eat, so I left the scope tracking Mars.
One hour later Mars was still in the eyepiece at 31X. It wasn't
centered, but not too bad for a quick setup. I then slewed to Rigel,
once again, right in the center of the eyepiece. My next task was to
find Comet Holmes. I went to Algol. I needed to center slightly, then I
held down the enter key, and did a sync to Algol. I then went to where
the Comet should be. I think I may have seen it, but I'm not sure. This
made me want to sit and study the stars around the area and compare to
what is on the Autostar software. I have concluded that I need to get my
camera setup so I can take photos of what I see, and then look at star
charts or the Autostar software. This is about the time that I realized
that the 25 degree weather was going to win for the night. Time to go
sit by the fire.

My impression of the LXD75-SN-8 is that this is a very nice scope and
mount. The motors are silent at 1x speed. The ETX-80-BB that I had made
a high pitch noise at 1x speed. The goto much more acurate that the
ETX-80BB. This is the scope for me. Maybe it's not fair for me to
compair the ETX80-BB to the LXD75, after all, you get what you pay for.
The LXD was a couple of bucks more. Okay, maybe more than a couple.
 
Jerry

Subject:	LXD75 aluminum spur gears??
Sent:	Thursday, January 31, 2008 11:24:04
From:	James Sarte (sarte@un.org)
I recently acquired a new LXD75.  I've noticed that both Dec and RA spur
gears are entirely aluminum now instead of a brass/aluminum combination.
What are your thoughts on this?  Could this reduce the mounts potential
to carry heavier payloads?

Best regards,
-----------------------------------------------------------------
James Sarte

And:

Thanks for the quick reply.  Something tells me I should have
cannibalized the RA and DEC spurs from my old LXD55 before I sold it for
parts.  I was quite surprised to see aluminum used for both gear trains.
I guess I will keep a close eye on it.  Surprisingly enough however,
the new LXD75 seems to be well adjusted out of the box.  No apparent
binding in the RA and DEC axis', and gear mesh wasn't bad for the spurs.
I did have to adjust the RA mesh a little though.  OTA used is a 4",
1000mm FL refractor.  Weight is around 10 lbs.

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