Help me get started to auto guide...please

[RobF (Rob)]

Ah Alex, it sounds like you're well and truely on the "dark side" now!
You realise your conversations with others will now forever be how to get guiding and imaging perfection. Glad to hear its beginning to come together for you.

[glend (Glen)]

Originally Posted by xelasnave

I have noticed a bit of " play" in DEC which sounds like movevement in the straight cut gears.
I have not noticed it before, it may have been there, but I can't think why it should be so. Is it what is called back lash.

Put everything back and with luck on my side polar seemed perfect.
Only got one shot before the sky went misty ...
May pull down DEC and have a look..

Alex

Alex, have a look at the play in the worm end bearings. They are adjustable, you can screw them in to eliminate back and forth movement of the worm.

[LewisM]

Originally Posted by Merlin66

I use the Lodestar cable "clamp" from TS....never let me down in the past six years or so.
https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop...onnectors.html

May be cheaper than a new cable...

Nope, new cable is $19.95 from Peter Tan.

[xelasnave]

Well I pulled the DEC down again.
The only way I could see to fix it was to move the motor closer and thereby getting a deeper engagement with the straight gears.
This worked very well, there is the slightest slop, which may not be further fixable...I had the gears meshed very tight...but I am not pulling it down again today.

Nearly finished the cement pier frame and reinforcing, I will complete it before putting the box, observatory, together.
Got it all figured should be simple.
Alex

[xelasnave]

I am still not happy with the mount...
there is still the slightest movement in dec.
All I can think is to put valve grinding paste in the gears and see where the high spots are and take them out and hone each one.

It is mechanical so I doubt if you can get it perfect.

Anyways it is keeping me active...and somehow I can cope better being in Sydney. At the moment I am back to getting the thing to align... I am sure the only way I get it aligned is by playing with it for so long eventualy I hit the sweet spot by sheer chance and then it is perfect aligned...

Its so much like moto cross you spend so much time getting the machine to work efficiently and yet so little time actually driving the beast...well its that way for me...maybe others have no problems.

And like moto cross it is strange we spend so much effort to do the same thing over and over and delight in the improvements we make to the machine...we are strange things us humans.

And the focuser...poor design...I need to build a new one...there are only four bearings in the standard focuser and the focuser axle actually acts also as a bearing...not right ..not good...need more bearings..to me its obvious....and the t ring..its slaps around...it is going to get a bath in fiber glass resin ..no slop after that.

alex

[xelasnave]

Originally Posted by RobF

Ah Alex, it sounds like you're well and truely on the "dark side" now!
You realise your conversations with others will now forever be how to get guiding and imaging perfection. Glad to hear its beginning to come together for you.

Thank you Rob.
I would like to think others will gain confidence from the fact a mug like me can move forward.

I tend to get obsessive unfortunately, its a personality thing, but I am happy so far.

I just want everthing to work perfectly.

All the little gaps I hate.

I like blueprinting..which is to make something work like the engineer laid out in his plans.

Take out the burrs and stuff that should not be there.

I have given this mount the treatement but still room to improve...it needs to be in a temprature controlled room for a start..how can we fix things when the tempratures changes and makes everything different...maybe I should just get a better mount...but still I would want it to be more perfect...so the problem is not the equipment its me and my obsessive approach to the simple things...thats why I live alone I guess.


But of course mass production sees little imperfections to the original design...and the eq 6 is not bad but everything could be bigger better and ....well there you go..thats my problem.. I have to be content with what it will do..actually just getting to that point is a major undertaking for me...but the irony is..by using short exposures you really do not have to have it perfect.

alex

[xelasnave]

Originally Posted by glend

Alex, have a look at the play in the worm end bearings. They are adjustable, you can screw them in to eliminate back and forth movement of the worm.

Thanks Glen.
I will see what their role is next time I pull the thing down.
I am getting rather fast at it now...I wonder how short a time you could get to pull down a mount...I think I could do it in maybe 15 minutes... anyways I will try and set a record next time. All I need is allen keys set up in a small cordless screwdriver.

alex