LX200 Advice (Case, Dew Shield & Mounting)

I just purchased a used 10” LX200 Classic and need advice on a few items:

Homemade Case for OTA / Fork
I have the original foam, but was hoping to make something a little smaller. I would prefer a hard case, but soft-sided would also be okay. I have seen several plastic tool boxes / totes, but not sure how well they’ll work.

Homemade Dew Shield
I was planning to purchase a FlexiShield, but to my surprise, the shipping to Hawaii cost more than the item.

Mounting Fork to Tripod
Is there a trick to mounting the fork to the tripod? The problem I’m having is trying to align the bolt with the threading under the base of the fork.

Any comments and / or suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, Paul

Paul Shin said:

I just purchased a used 10” LX200 Classic and need advice on a few items:

Homemade Case for OTA / Fork
I have the original foam, but was hoping to make something a little smaller. I would prefer a hard case, but soft-sided would also be okay. I have seen several plastic tool boxes / totes, but not sure how well they’ll work.

Homemade Dew Shield
I was planning to purchase a FlexiShield, but to my surprise, the shipping to Hawaii cost more than the item.

Mounting Fork to Tripod
Is there a trick to mounting the fork to the tripod? The problem I’m having is trying to align the bolt with the threading under the base of the fork.

Any comments and / or suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, Paul

Well, for a start I can recommend REFLECTIX to make a dew sheild. It comes in a $25 roll around here, at a home improvement store. It's sold as insulation of sorts.

for a case, look at JMI. While not cheap, there cases are extraordinary.

Paul Shin said:

I just purchased a used 10? LX200 Classic and need advice on a few items:

Homemade Case for OTA / Fork
I have the original foam, but was hoping to make something a little smaller. I would prefer a hard case, but soft-sided would also be okay. I have seen several plastic tool boxes / totes, but not sure how well they?ll work.

Homemade Dew Shield
I was planning to purchase a FlexiShield, but to my surprise, the shipping to Hawaii cost more than the item.

Mounting Fork to Tripod
Is there a trick to mounting the fork to the tripod? The problem I?m having is trying to align the bolt with the threading under the base of the fork.

Any comments and / or suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, Paul

I can help with the dew shield. Sporting goods store for yoga mat or sleeping bag mat. Pretty cheap, I used contact cement to permamently make a tube which will slide on the end of the scope. It could be made to unroll by using velcro, but I never got around to trying that.

The tripod bolt/mounting problem can be solved with a springy-thingy. Scopestuff sells one but they are easy to make. I probably told you this before in another post, but if you haven't seen the MAPUG website you need to. Everything you ever wanted to know about LX200 classics. Look in the topical archive. It's chock full of mods and repair info and homemade projects all geared toward the LX200.

http://www.mapug-astronomy.net/

The LX200 classic was around for a number of years and if it's been asked it's in the archive.

I just purchased a rolling lockable plastic box with a handle from Northern Tool, for $69. The Meade factory foam for my 8" LX90 fit inside the box almost perfect leaving a few inches for other items.

For a time I used heavy duty black poster board with velcro glued on, rolled into a tube as a dewshield.

I mounted my Telrad dead center on the tube on my LX90.......works fine.....left the finder scope as it came from Meade..... off to the right side of the tube. The LNT module takes up the left side of my LX90.

and there is a "self centering" accessory you can buy to make the scope JUMP RIGHT ON the tripod! Ha. here is a link to one of several centering plates:
http://www.optcorp.com/product.aspx?pid=7091

Hope this helps you.

Paul,

I know you've gotten plenty of info on the dewshield already, but the following is a description of the Astrozap Flexible Dewshield I have for my 10" Classic LX200:

The shield's overall dimensions are 39.5" X 15". It has a 2" strip of Velcro along one 15" edge and a 2" mating Velcro piece along the opposite edge (be sure the Velcro pieces are on opposing faces of course!) There's a 37.5" X 2" strip of seating foam (same kind of foam that's on the OTA cover) along the bottom edge of the interior face. Lastly, the interior face of the shield is covered with flocking wherever there isn't already Velcro or seating foam.

Hope that makes sense!

Chris