g__day
16-09-2009, 11:20 AM
I did some sugery on my mounts to improve DEC backlash again - which I think I achieved nicely - but was surprised to see some donuts in my imaging.
I checked all the gear was firmly mated (turns out the Canon DSLR -> 2" Bintel adapter (held on by only one bolt screwing into angled metal isn't the best design in the world). Next I thought I may as well I clean the optics on my SCT's (C9.25) front corrector plate. In the process of doing this I discover the front mirror assembly turns easily! This didn't sound right I thought! On examination there are no locking bolts holding this thing in place - it appears to simply screw in clockwise to hold firmly to the front corrector.
So I tightened this manually by hand until its firm again and thought next clear night I re-comimate again. Last time I did this with CCD Inspector - on a trial licence (too bad that's expired - may try it on another networked PC thought!) I love this software - but I use it maybe once a year and at $180 US its a bit pricey to justify if its a once a year - 1 hour effort.
But to the point of this post (sorry the background happenings distracted me). I purchased Bob's Knobs from Bintel just after I nailed collimination last year - and never got around to installing them. If I have to re-collimate I figure its a good time to swap the old bolts out for Bob's ones. Three questions folks:
1. Are they really that easy to instal (I just remove and replace the original bolts - one at a time)
2. The 1" long Knobs come with a 1cm white spacer (I presume these are always used just to space knobs out from the front corrector plate far enough to make adjustments easy)?
3. CCD Inspector is the best collimination software to use - there is no free ware equivalent I should consider?
Many thanks all for your thoughts!
Matt
I checked all the gear was firmly mated (turns out the Canon DSLR -> 2" Bintel adapter (held on by only one bolt screwing into angled metal isn't the best design in the world). Next I thought I may as well I clean the optics on my SCT's (C9.25) front corrector plate. In the process of doing this I discover the front mirror assembly turns easily! This didn't sound right I thought! On examination there are no locking bolts holding this thing in place - it appears to simply screw in clockwise to hold firmly to the front corrector.
So I tightened this manually by hand until its firm again and thought next clear night I re-comimate again. Last time I did this with CCD Inspector - on a trial licence (too bad that's expired - may try it on another networked PC thought!) I love this software - but I use it maybe once a year and at $180 US its a bit pricey to justify if its a once a year - 1 hour effort.
But to the point of this post (sorry the background happenings distracted me). I purchased Bob's Knobs from Bintel just after I nailed collimination last year - and never got around to installing them. If I have to re-collimate I figure its a good time to swap the old bolts out for Bob's ones. Three questions folks:
1. Are they really that easy to instal (I just remove and replace the original bolts - one at a time)
2. The 1" long Knobs come with a 1cm white spacer (I presume these are always used just to space knobs out from the front corrector plate far enough to make adjustments easy)?
3. CCD Inspector is the best collimination software to use - there is no free ware equivalent I should consider?
Many thanks all for your thoughts!
Matt