ASTRO-PHYSICS 1200 Manual - Page 8

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These test knobs are used at the factory for initial setting of the worm wheel/worm mesh. Their main purpose for the end

user is to give a quick visual verification of the worm drive motion (forward, reverse at 2x, 8x, and 16x). You can easily

see the rotation of these test knobs especially at 8x and 16x speeds.

Balancing Your Telescope:

For proper operation, the telescope must be adequately counterbalanced. Start by balancing the tube assembly.

1. Tighten the three R.A. axis clutch knobs.

2. Loosen the three Dec. axis clutch knobs (about ¾ to 1 turn) so that the telescope moves freely about the declination

axis. (Be careful because if your telescope is significantly out of balance, it may swing rapidly in the out of balance

direction!)

3. Position the R.A. axis so that the counterweights are in their "lowest" position i.e. the declination axis assembly is in

the meridian (this is the usual way that German equatorial are depicted, as shown in the diagram on page 2).

4. Loosen the tube mounting rings and slide the tube up and down for balancing. This is best done with the tube in the

horizontal position.

5. The scope is balanced when it stays put (does not move) with the clutches loose and movement back and forth about

the declination axis has the same feel in both directions.

6. Now, tighten the declination axis clutch knobs and position the telescope horizontal and the declination axis

horizontal. The center of the counterweights is now the same height as the middle of the tube.

7. Loosen the R.A. clutch knobs. Again, be careful, because if your scope is significantly out of balance it may swing

rapidly in the out of balance direction!

8. Move the counterweight(s) up or down to achieve balance in R.A. As mentioned before, movement back and forth

about the R.A. axis should have the same feel in both directions.

9. Try to anticipate any balance problems due to the extra weight of diagonals, heavy eyepieces, finders, solar filters,

etc. If the scope moves by itself, when the clutches are loose, then the scope is not fully counterbalanced adequately.

A small amount of imbalance is permissible and indeed desirable.

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