An overall approach to fixing problems with gear

[gregbradley]

I have found an approach that I find very helpful. Sometimes if I am debugging an aspect of my gear that I am finding to be frustrating and I am not winning and progessing and other things are starting to go wrong. I find it better to withdraw from it and have a cup of tea or leave it until the next day.

Usually I have bright idea about how to handle it better during that period or I simply start fresh and I make progress whereas I was hitting a wall the night before or things were getting worse (dropping little scews or dropping the allen keys way too much whilst holding a CCD camera in the air with a ton of cables hanging off of it).

An example. The other night I was getting frustrated trying to square up my Trius camera on the Honders. Man it was elusive. Home made packers were not all the same which was making it a lot worse.
I got it to a point that seemed ok. Took a flat and there is a huge dust donut. So I need to clean the CCD window. I take off the camera and clean it. Big dust donut still there. OK maybe its on the filter. I loosen the filter retaining washer which has a tiny black screw (this is at night). Oh, the dust is on the other side of the filter. I have to remove it. The scope is pointing so the filter wants to fall out. Dangerous ground here. I loosen the tiny black screw ready to catch it with my hand whislt being careful the $300 filter does not fall to the ground. The tiny screw bounces off my hand and lands on the floor somewhere. Oh great.

I spent 15 minutes with a torch searching for that little screw. I have pavers surrounding the pier slab with gaps, there is a timber lining at the edge of the slab with a lsight gap, cables and transformers are on the floor and I cover these with foam tiles for walking and protection for gear if it ever fell. No luck.

Next morning in daytime I look. I lift up another foam tile further away, bang there is the tiny screw. Time spent - 15 seconds.

I would have had a hard time finding a match to replace that screw as its imperial being a US product and it could've made my filter wheel inoperative until I found one.

This leave it when getting frustrated and coming back fresh approach has helped a lot of times so I thought I would pass it on as sometimes this hobby is very frustrating debugging gear that won't work.

Greg

[multiweb]

Sleep on it. It is always clearer in the morning. Took me years to fix my C11. You're always learning something new. Plenty of time to fix stuff. The stars don't move that fast. :)

[glend]

Guys I feel your pain and have the same frustrations. Right now setting up my RC08 is driving me nuts. One problem turns into three interelated ones and only going back to the beginning can resolve any of them - argh! My son takes the view that astro problem solving is keeping my brain working at my old age, so maybe it has some benefit.

Marc, years to fix the C11, what perseverence! I am only a month into the RC and its a test. Your an inspiration, or incredibly subborn.

[Octane]

What, and miss a night of imaging? You're crazy! :)

H

[DIYman]

After reading Greg's post it almost makes a person think it would be better to give it all away and take up stamp collecting instead.

[rustigsmed]

haha stamp collecting sounds safer. or pretending you captured hubble data and edit the heritage data.
I'm glad its not just me.
I had countless of those moments Greg and was nearly defeated a couple of times.
that's why it is nice to comment on people's photos posted, as we are in the hobby we know how frustrating it can be - getting even a modest image finished is pretty much a miracle when you consider the issues people go through getting there!

[multiweb]

It was on and off. Lost interest a couple of times but eventually went back to it when I felt like it. It's all part of the fun tinkering with things. For the stubborn part better ask my wife :P




That's why you buy many different scopes :)

[LewisM]

Had the "Tak adapter seizure" on the first light of my (now gone) FSQ-85. Wouldn't come to focus with the extension I had, so went to unscrew it from the CAA.

Nope.

Twisted and contorted and wrenched my hands.

Nope.

Went in a rush to Bunnings JUST before they closed and got another small rubber strapwrench.

NOPE.

leave it till morning.

Woke up, grabbed it, and instantly it twisted off.

Insert Tasmanian Devil whirl and words here.

Lesson learned - ALWAYS grease Tak threads. ALWAYS.

[strongmanmike]

B.A.C.S

Bradleys Astronomers Counselling Service

:D...I feel better already :thumbsup:

[LewisM]

Whereas Mike fixes his issues with an old towel and duct tape :)

[strongmanmike]

Come now Lewis, you are mistaking me for Bert :rolleyes:

...I use an old T-Shirt (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/157369825/original) :D

[gregbradley]

$50 please.:rofl:

Greg.

[LewisM]

Oh yeah, 'twas.

Bert was more like towels, cables, turnbuckles, winches, hoists and I-beams ;) :)

[LewisM]

Should that not be Greg's Research On Problematic Astrographic Scopes, AKA GROPAS ;)

[gregbradley]

Just remember Lewis when you're feeling down next time you can't collimate your scope or something... $50 will solve it!

Greg.

[Peter Ward]

There was a night when I thought I had a serious problem with my dew heater......but pressed on anyway
..after all what could possibly go wrong :)

[gregbradley]

Hmm, that looks more like a ritual sacrifice!

Greg.

[E_ri_k]

Haha, spot on Greg, I couldn't count the number of times I have gone through what you described. It always seems to happen on that perfect night.

[rustigsmed]

That is a fantastic photo Peter :lol:

[The_bluester]

I think the go away and think approach has pretty good merit. It is like the best advice for recovering a bogged 4WD. "Have a cuppa first" Lets you think a bit rather than barging in and making things worse.

But then on the other hand, a couple of months ago I set up and found no power! Turned out that the tiny little lockring on the cigarette lighter adapter for the mount had come undone allowing the positive contact, lockring, fuse and tension spring to ping away into the grass somewhere on my 100M walk from the garage to the observing spot. A couple of minutes backtracking (In the dark) and there they all were!

Can't imagine I will ever do that again.

[Slawomir]

Mike, why not a black shirt? And I think you taped it to the wrong side of the scope ;-)

[strongmanmike]

:doh:...I'll fix that straight away sir :face:...I do like navy blue though :sadeyes:

[Slawomir]

And maybe a touch of paint on the counterweights, please :P

[OzEclipse]

Greg,

Interesting thread.

Your described approach is sound.

Many years ago I read this book by Roger Von Oech
http://www.amazon.com/Whack-Side-Head-More-Creative/dp/0446404667

It deals with the psychology of creative thinking and problem solving and covers these sort of approaches. If you are interested in this topic I recommend this book. The same book is also published under the title "A kick in the seat of the pants" depending which country it was released in. They are both the same book.

I have been troubleshooting complex scientific instruments (mass spectrometers) for 30 + years. These systems use combinations of chemical dosing systems, vacuum systems,pneumatic and solenoid actuators, ion optics, high voltages, magnetic fields, electronics capable of measuring one ten billionth of an amp.

There are numerous techniques I have found useful over the years :-

If something goes wrong, did I or someone else change something just before the problem arose. That's probably what caused the problem. Look at that first.

Then in no particular order : -

1. The go away and think about it method already described.

2. Also try going away and do something completely different. Forget what you did before then come back and attack the problem from a fresh viewpoint.

3. Occam's Razor (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor) is a very powerful technique particularly in complex systems where multiple faults can cause similar symptoms.

4. Talk to someone who doesn't have expertise on that. Break the problem down into simple parts that you can explain to someone who isn't an expert. This can help clarify the problem in your own mind and let you find the root cause of the problem.

5. Talk to someone who is an expert.

6. The worst thing you can do is decide at the beginning what you think is wrong with a system based on a hunch and then go about trying to prove you are right because your ego can't take being wrong.

7. Keep an open mind particularly where the problem can be a problem caused by more than one issue compounding to create an apparently confusing symptom.



Using these techniques I have been able to diagnose systems that I am familiar with and new equipment in my labs or systems in labs other than my own that I am unfamiliar with.

Cheers

Joe Cali

[DarkKnight]

Well that put a smile on my face (sorry, it must have been traumatic).

And here's me getting frustrated because two months after hitting the 'BUY' button I still don't have an operational mount. Unfortunately I've spent most of the time in forums reading about how good the EQ6 is, when you sort out the bugs and rebuild it to the spec it should have had in the first place.