N4646W

My wife acquired a Mead LXD-55 Newtonian and a large amount of accessories from a party that was overwhelmed with what they had purchased. After my Wife brought it home I can understand why.

I've scoured as much info as my feeble mind will comprehend and cleaned and checked the mirrors, the tracker, and tried to figure out all the parts. Apparently some parts of the Barlows are missing, counter weights and shaft, and some I can find no reference to. I'll get that straightened out sooner or later, I hope.

Now here is the question. The front of the OTA has an element (Glass Lens?) supporting the secondary mirror. From the Mead and Orion site I gather it is a Collector Lens? Is there a specific purpose for this, and are there any advantages or disadvantages? So far I have not been able to find any info on this.

Regards,
Ron

stepping beyond Loc: usa eastcoast

What you have is a compound ota Ron, which if the mirrors and collector plate are in good shape , you've got a nice ota. Advantage is it'll work / disadvantage the SN10" is heavy and pushes the max load limit . As far as the lxd55 mount I have a couple and I use a modified one with my in. Astrograph Imaging Newtonian. If you can get it balanced and PA and align the PS it will serve it's purpose as a GOTO for visual observing but, I just do a drift alignment and point the star leg towards Polaris . If you don't understand I'll do my best to explain.

Europa Loc: West Hills, CA

Also, you mentioned you cleaned the mirrors, normally that is a huge mistake, unless they are really, really bad, never touch the glass.

Have you looked at https://www.meade.com/media/downloads/43/LXD55_Instruction_Manual_revD.pdf

N4646W

Thank you. It is a 10". The mirrors and collector plate were in great shape. They were just coated in dust and grime, but cleaned up excellently. I made a rod and weight system for it based on the pictures in the manual. Swings well and keeps it's balance, but I still want to refine the weights. I have to find a power converter to finish checking out alignment motors. The alignment system looks to have been gone through prior to the previous owner as gear mesh looks to have been set up to eliminate backlash and there are no excessive wear marks, shavings, or dust in the lubricants.

It will probably be a couple of days before I can dig out all the accessories, but I do appreciate the offer of help. We recently moved, and a lot is still in packing boxes. But I would like to get it done as this is the first time we have been able to see the Milky-way and stars in 18 years from our property. What a treat. We did keep most of our lenses with us during the move, but the Wife has out grown the 500 and 600mm and wants more.

What does the corrector element do? I cannot find any info on it. The only thing I could find that came close is the Carsonigian (SP) scope where it appears to correct the light to a more prefocused source for the primary.

Regards,
Ron

Europa Loc: West Hills, CA

I believe this explains the use of the corrector plate, it is common on the Schmidt style telescopes. Hope this helps.

(Download)

N4646W

Oh they were beyond dirty. The previous owner stored it in a shed for one move and a garage for his next move. One of them had a dirt floor and there wasn't a plug in the 2" lens mount so the rodents had ventured inside. Also whether it was intentional or an accident it look as though it had been subjected to a lot of smoke from maybe a fire or BBQ. All sanitary now. I know they say not to touch them, but if you are patient and careful and use a lot of cotton your pretty safe. Just have to soak them long enough and rinse, soak, rinse, and use a bright beam across them to see if anything is still sticking or protruding. Pharmacy gave a weird look when I bought out half of there stock of surgical cotton balls. Will find out when it is up and running.

Regards
Ron

N4646W

Thank you. Kind of what I remembered from Physics, but that was an awful long time ago, and wasn't sure. Wife #2 made me get rid of all my reference books and google and I don't get along that well.

Regards,
Ron

N4646W

Another question for you folks. Is it worth it to put a foam strip in the opening between the mirror housing and the back ledge of the tube to keep crap out of it? I was thinking of a filter type foam as is used in small engine air cleaners, or the ones used to wrap a standard air cleaner for vehicles subjected to construction sites.

Regards,
Ron

Europa Loc: West Hills, CA

I assume you are referring to the bottom (primary) and also assume they are sealed in some manor, but I do have something over mine. I use....

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

Hi Ron! Welcome to UHH's Astronomical Forum.
Sounds like a great find, and sounds like you have the moxie to get your new telescope fully functioning again.
I sure don't see why installing some foam around the primary mirror would hurt anything, as long as it doesn't impede the mirrors cool down time. That is one of the quirks of reflectors if moved from inside storage, to the outdoors. (And one I didn't want to deal with. So I'm a refractor nut. Galileo-ian in my thinking.)

The mount lists 12 volt DC as it's power needs. I have an AC-DC converter for my Celestron mount. It, and some crummy electronics from China gave me a lot of grief initially.
So when it came back from it's second warranty repair, and every since, I have powered it with ONLY a 12 volt battery. So a deep cycle battery should do you fine for a power supply.
I use an AGM type for mine and I'm on my third year now with it. But those are the most expensive type.
But I'm the odd duck retired from 42 years of the heavy industrial electrical and Utility industry, and there is no purer source of DC power than a battery.
But I use a small hand truck to move it, it weighs some 53 pounds. And my arthritic spine isn't up to carrying it around much. It, and a 350 watt power inverter are my field power supplies. I don't use the inverter to run my laptop much, because I'm usually near a source for the laptop. This all lives in a plastic battery box from Walmart, and makes a nice portable power supply that lasts for days.
When I charge the battery, the mount is always disconnected. My assurance that the mounts electronics never see any 'dirty' power.

So that's about all I can tell you. These other guys are reflector fans, and very, very knowledgeable about them.

Most of us are imagers. I might have finally stuck my toe into the Astrophotographer's pool finally. I had a piece of crap camera initially. But now have a great camera that has upped my game a bunch. But for the last 2 years plus I've been trying to perfect my guiding and computer control. These guys have been immeasurable help and encouragement along my way.
You came to the right place! Welcome!

N4646W

That will work. Another item for my shopping list.

Regards,
Ron

Europa Loc: West Hills, CA

Should have given you the link...https://www.astrozap.com/scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=61

N4646W

Thank you. I see you also live in the PRC. I hate to admitting that, but it did use to be different, a very long time ago.

I just got into Digital. Learning my way around these new fangale gadgets. Actually quite fun not having to wait to see what you have captured. Looks like there are a couple of dark sites a few miles away from us so that info will be quite useful.

Regards,
Ron

N4646W

I appreciate that, just ordered one.

Mine has the metal cap for the front and had thought about seeing if I could find another, new or used for the back. But I think having the tube totally sealed might cause problems.

Regards,
Ron

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

I grew up in the San Fernando Valley in the 1950's-60's, so yes, it was a world apart from now. All of Callyfornia is. For the MUCH worse.

I've loved digital from the mid-1990's. One of the best things is the delete button. All the evidence of a bad picture blows out the fan as a green cloud. No picture, didn't happen!
Yep, lot's of darker nooks and crannies around.