PlaneWave L-350, Mechanical Installation Manual, Page: 28 / 32

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L-350 MECHANICAL INSTALLATION GUIDE
BALANCING: ALTITUDE/DEC
First, roughly balance the Altitude/DEC axis of
the system. If you followed the preceding guid -
ance regarding finding, marking, and placing
the center-of-mass reference, rough balance
should already be achieved. Any additional ad -
justment to balance must be made similarly:
1) Slightly loosen the bolts on the saddle’s jaw.
2) Adjust the position of the dovetail/OTA as
follows:
If the back of the telescope is heavier:
It is recommended that two people are in -
volved. Push/pull the telescope so that it slides
forward in the saddle. With care, the telescope
can be pointed slightly downward, allowing
gravity to help slide the telescope within the
saddle.
If the front of the telescope is heavier:
It is recommended that two people are in -
volved. Push/pull the telescope so that it slides
backward in the saddle. With care, the tele -
scope can be pointed upward and allowed to
slide within the saddle.
3) Retighten the saddle.
4) Check balance and repeat the above as
needed, until the Altitude/DEC axis is balanced
well enough to not settle with the brake en -
gaged.
5) Install any other instrumentation (cameras,
filter-wheels, finders, focusers, guide-scopes,
etc.) that will be part of the system, and then
rebalance.
Be sure that all planned cable-runs have been
completed (for power/com to instrumentation
and accessories) before determining final bal -
ancing. Recommendations on cable-routing
are covered later in this manual.
6) Now refine balance as needed. The process
will be identical to the process of achieving
rough-balance, except the adjustments will
be smaller. Continue refining balance until the
system does not “settle” (i.e. move without
force applied) in the Altitude/DEC axis.