LX200 tripod leg dimensions changed?

[scopes]

It appears that Meade may have changed the legs on the LX200 tripod
recently.

Let me explain. I build caster assemblies to let you roll your
telescope, rather than carry it. I've made a number of sets for the
Meade LX200, and the customers have been happy. A customer who just
bought a new one discovered that the legs on his LX200 are too large
to fit--and from the pictures, the legs on his look very much like the
Synta EQ6 tripod legs.

The diameter of the largest part of the foot on the LX200 was 1.68".
If you have a pretty new LX200, and a micrometer, could you perhaps
measure the dimensions and tell me what you find? If you look at
http://www.scoperoller.com/ScopeRollerM2080.shtml, you can see the
dimensions that matter.

Clayton E. Cramer
ScopeRoller
http://www.scoperoller.com
cas...@claytoncramer.com

[Thad Floryan]

On 7/26/2009 8:05 AM, scopes wrote:
> It appears that Meade may have changed the legs on the LX200 tripod
> recently.
>
> Let me explain. I build caster assemblies to let you roll your
> telescope, rather than carry it. I've made a number of sets for the
> Meade LX200, and the customers have been happy. A customer who just
> bought a new one discovered that the legs on his LX200 are too large
> to fit--and from the pictures, the legs on his look very much like the
> Synta EQ6 tripod legs.
>
> The diameter of the largest part of the foot on the LX200 was 1.68".
> If you have a pretty new LX200, and a micrometer, could you perhaps
> measure the dimensions and tell me what you find? If you look at
> http://www.scoperoller.com/ScopeRollerM2080.shtml, you can see the
> dimensions that matter.

Meade has several LX200 tripod sizes: standard and giant field tripod.

The giant field tripod accompanies the 14" LX200 variants and also the
LXD750 (that's LXD750, NOT the LXD-75) GEM which is an LX200 Classic as
a GEM, not fork, mount.

You can see the differences here:

8" LX200: <http://thadlabs.com/PIX/LX200/>
8" LX200: <http://thadlabs.com/PIX/LX200+DS80.jpg>
14" LX200: <http://thadlabs.com/PIX/14_LX200_storage.jpg>
14" LX200: <http://thadlabs.com/PIX/14_lift_5.jpg>
LXD750+EQ6: <http://thadlabs.com/PIX/LXD750_1.jpg>
LXD750+EQ6: <http://thadlabs.com/PIX/LXD750_2.jpg>

Here's a PDF I created when I wanted to see if I could get either the
14" LX200GPS or the LXD750 mount into a SkyShed POD:

<http://thadlabs.com/FILES/lxd750_tripod.pdf>

The web page you cited above is for the 2080. Tripods for all LX200s are
larger than those for 2080s and EQ6s.

Giant Field Tripod LX200 legs are 3" diameter.
Standard LX200 tripod legs are 2" (51.0mm) diameter.
Atlas/EQ6 tripod legs are ~ 2" (50.0mm) diameter.