"Pizza Pan Tripod Tray"
What's a pizza pan tray?   Well it is a device to help you put the LX 200 on it's tripod.  The tripod has a bolt coming out of the center of the base.  The LX 200 mount has a hole in the bottom that this bolt screws into.  Only problem is that you are holding a 40-60 pound scope out at arms length trying to set it down so that this bolt you can no longer see goes into the hole you can't see located  in the bottom of the base.   To perform this operation I usually had to resort to considerable harsh language and strained several back muscles.

It would have been really nice if Meade would have used a pointed/rounded bolt and tapered the hole slightly so that once you got the scope close to the correct position, the bolt would self center, but they did not.  This device (and there are many variations on the basic idea) fits over the tripod head an has some guides so that when the scope base fits against the guides, the hole is centered over the bolt.  I made mine out of thin 1/8" laminated wood and three corners cut from 2x4's.  You can also cut holes on the "pan" to hold eyepieces. 
Here is the assembled tray setting in a deck chair.  The light tan device in front of the measuring stick is the guide I made for cutting circles with a router. 

The guide is made from a piece of the same 1/8" material that the tray is made from.  The router is mounted with the cutting blade passing through the 1-1/2 " hole.  You then attach the guide to your work piece with a small wood screw at the appropriate radius.   To cut the circle, just start the router and move it carefully in a circle.  Clamp your work piece onto a steady table over a piece of scrap so you can cut all of the way through into the scrap wood without cutting your work table.  Cut the large diameter circle first.

If you are not use to working with routers, ask someone who is to make the cut for you as this can be a tricky and dangerous process. 
This shows the finished tray.  To locate the guides, I just placed the tray and scope on the tripod and then set the guides in place so that they touched the side of the base.  I then marked their location with a pencil, removed the scope and attached them with wood glue and small  air nailer. 

To use the tray you just set the tray on the tripod as shown in the photo and then position the scope base against the guides.  At that point the bolt just goes into the hole.

It really does work!
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