Peterson Engineering - Mounting Assistant™

The Mounting Assistant is a super-compact 8-1/2" X 10-1/4" mounting plate designed to simplify
attachment of Meade's LX200-ACF, LX200GPS, LX400, LX200 Classic and LX90 telescopes being used in the
Alt-azimuth mode with Meade's Standard Field Tripod, Giant Field Tripod or Ultra Stable Tripod.  It
fits the 7" MCT as well as the 8", 10", 12" and 14" LX400 and SCT.  

With this mounting system, you first, "square" the tripod using hardware supplied to insure that the
legs are properly positioned.  Then you simply place the rounded end of the telescope base against the
three yellow positioning fingers and lower the telescope until it sits upon the base.  Instead of
wobbling the telescope sits firmly upon the plate and perfectly aligned over the tripod mounting screw.
 Simply raise the mounting screw and turn to engage.

This design solves 7 major problems inherent in competitive mounting plates, which are typically
larger and permit the temporary storage of eyepieces. 

1) Our experience (in the North-East U.S.) is that eyepiece lenses stored on oversized mounting plate
eyepiece trays rapidly collect dew, rendering them unusable without being dried off.  Even in dry
conditions, upright eyepieces seem to have an affinity for collecting cigarette ashes, dust and debris
carried on the breeze.

2) We also found that large competitive plates protrude excessively, interfering with observing
objects at the zenith.  Your neck hits the plate long before your eye reaches the eyepiece.  Our
smaller plates allow easy access to the eyepiece, even when viewing directly overhead.  

3) The Mounting Assistant's compact size permits convenient storage of your tripod in a tight space
such as a closet or a vehicle without removal of the mounting plate.

4) To better accommodate SCT owners, a wing nut and washer (not shown) are included with the Mounting
Assistant system to simplify "squaring" Meade's Standard Field Tripod and Giant Field Tripod before
placing the scope on the mounting plate.  This simple procedure has been shown to be 100% effective -
the scope mounts 100% of the time first time every time.  At present this is the only mounting plate
known to provide this additional feature.

5) The Mounting Assistant is the lightest weight mounting aid available.  For Meade's lightweight
standard field tripod weight isn't a concern, but every ounce saved makes a difference if you have the
heavy giant field tripod.  While most mounting systems on the market are single plate designs, there
are some costly and heavy 2 plate systems on the market. These systems require bolting an extra part to
the base of your scope, increasing the weight of what is already the heaviest component in your
system.

6) One of the key points overlooked by astronomers looking for a mounting device is the high cost of
shipping a large heavy metal plate.  The Mounting Assistant is small enough and light enough to fit
into the postal service's Priority Mail Flat Rate envelope.  Delivery is only 2 to 3 days within the US
for only $5.  It also fits the Global Priority Mail flat rate envelope, so rapid delivery to Canada and
Mexico is only $8, and for most of the other countries throughout the world is only $9.00! 

7) There have been a number of incidents where the cables from the scope base to the focuser and/or
the control box have snagged on large competitive mounting plates when the scope was slewing, causing
wiring to be ripped out and destroyed.  For obvious reasons there are no reported instances where this
has happened with the super-compact Mounting Assistant.

The Mounting Assistant is fabricated from alloy 6061T6 aircraft aluminum, and finished with black
anodize.  The mounting guide posts are steel covered with vinyl so as to prevent marring the telescope
base.  The hardware for attaching to the tripod is included.