If you have a soldering gun like a Weller 100 to 250 watter , take a
chunk of nr 12 awg copper wire , make a 2 or 3 coil with turns large
enough to pass the threaded rod thru , and remove the Weller normal
tip and put the two ends of the coil you just made in the holes where
the tip goes , tighten the nuts , pull the switch and you will have a
fine demagnetizer... just run the rod thru the coil a few times and
remove it before releasing the tip... Hank


-----Original Message-----
Date: Sunday, December 19, 1999 5:45 PM
Subject: [M]: RE: Compass on equatorial wedge


>Dear Bill
>Yes I had exactly the same problem. What has happened is that some
kind soul
>somewhere, sometime has dropped the large threaded rod that holds the
>compass to the wedge and thru the spreader bar. I replaced mine and
the
>problem went away. You could try to demagnetise your by heating and
then
>cooling or by randomly banging the end with a hammer while waving it
all
>over the place. If that doesnt work it could at least appease the
rain and
>cloud gods to bugger off for a while.
>Regards, Allan
>
>
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>Sent: Monday, December 20, 1999 10:58 AM
>Subject: [M]: Compass on equatorial wedge
>
>
>I'm a newcomer to this list and to amateur astronomy, having just
>purchased a 12" LX200. My question for other members of the group is
>about the compass that fits into the black knob used to mount the
>equatorial wedge to the tripod. Last night I set the telescope up
with
>the wedge for the first time and tried to use the compass to orient
the
>tripod to Polaris. In my backyard this is somewhat difficult as trees
>block
>the view of surrounding stars. Much to my surprise, the compass
appeared
>to be pointing not to magnetic north but approximately 75 degrees
East
>of north. I tried another handheld compass and sure enough, North was

>right where I had always believed it to be, but not where the Meade
>compass was pointing. I removed the compass from the knob and held it
>away from the tripod and the needle swung
>around to the correct position. The compass appears to be influenced
by
>ferrous
>metal in either the tripod legs or possibly the bolts that connect
the
>legs to the top of the tripod. This condition makes the compass
>essentially useless when mounted in the black knob. Has anyone
>experienced this problem or communicated with Meade about it.
>
>Bill Nicoll
>
>
>

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