Er, no, it's not *that* cold here! I was just tweaking a few things on
my 10" LX200 and noticed a shiney object on the floor. Jeez.., I
recognised it as a dome nut off the tripod. After a bit of panic
wondering if the tripod was about to collapse I rapidly dismounted the
OTA and examined the tripod leg pivots. There was no immediate danger as
it happens because the screw was still in place, but further
investigation revealed 1 other nut about to drop off, and another where
the nut was secure on the screw but the screw had come loose. Clearly, a
case for remedial action.

I had a good laugh at the construction of the tripod legs: using a 1/4 x
20tpi headless socket screw running in a plain hole within an aluminium
casting is probably not one of Meade's best design ideas. Neither does
copious quantities of studlock (glue) make it any better. All that
weight of the superwedge and OTA will inevitably chew the hole up in
short order. The only real answer was to drill and ream right though
5/16" and use a SS shaft for the pivot. This was threaded 1/4" x 20 tpi
each end to accept the original nuts and extra washers on the outside.

Well, the thing seems more stable now, and I'm confident it isn't going
to collapse right away, though I'd have been happier if there was more
metal in those lugs supporting the pivot.

Moral - check your nuts are not loose, and also check for excessive wear
in the holes. Prophylactic treatment might be to replace those original
screws with 1/4" x 20 tpi bolts having about 5/16" of plain shank (screw
in from the outer edge with a washer, and 2 nuts on the inside to lock
it in place).

Chris Heapy

--
*Model Engineer Support Page*
Engineering: http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~chrish/homepage.htm
Astro Stuff: http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~chrish/lx200.htm

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