Aussie made 'highend' mount viable?

[netwolf]

How about an open source design with self assembly.

For controller you could use Onstep or something similar.
For mount you need a design that can come as an easy kit to assemble.

As an owner of an ancient Losmandy g11 who has many times considers selling it one thing I like is that it was quite easy to disassemble and service . Also I have been able to use Gemini, SiderealTech , AstroEq next is Onstep for Goto. The mount similar I think in many ways to Mesu is adaptable to many controller options. Some like the aesthetic finish of modern mounts but am more of a practical engineer and looks to me while important must go hand in hand with ease of self service. Especially when you consider we live on an island. Though I am not a huge fan of some new modifications from Losmandy that require mount to be sent back. Especially for people outside USA. But up until recent upgrades it has been a great mount. Sure you can buy of the shelf and get same or better results, but not seen many other mounts like my cg11 that still can be upgraded for a mount made in the 90s. And there are quite a lot of goto systems servo and stepper based that can be adapted to it. Even direct drive options.

I also like the Mesu for its sheer capacity compared to anything else in its price range.

I do understand that may not suit everyone, but some tinkering types like me.

Diego wish you best of luck , my wish list would be you make a mount that is easy for people to service themselves and adaptable to open source drive systems.

[Adox (Adriano)]

Originally Posted by toc

As a complete business no nothing, I was wondering what others might think about the chances and long term viability of a locally made High end (say 10-15k?) mount to compete with AP, 10Micron, Paramount...Yes we can import these mounts from Europe and the US, but in the case where the mount needs repair, it's a very costly exercise for shipping.

Perhaps we could crowd fund it?

In May, we (Testar Australia) are going to receive a large stock of 10 Micron mounts: GM1000, GM2000 and GM3000, many accessories, hundreds of kilos of counterweight and tripods.



I have been trained at the 10 Micron factory so most of the repairs and the support can be carried locally.


I am excited to see the new telescopes by Sidereal Trading and the prospect of a new direct drive mount is very interesting! We support Australian manufacturer and we are looking forward to working together!

[toc (Tim)]

Originally Posted by Adox

In May, we (Testar Australia) are going to receive a large stock of 10 Micron mounts: GM1000, GM2000 and GM3000, many accessories, hundreds of kilos of counterweight and tripods.



I have been trained at the 10 Micron factory so most of the repairs and the support can be carried locally.


I am excited to see the new telescopes by Sidereal Trading and the prospect of a new direct drive mount is very interesting! We support Australian manufacturer and we are looking forward to working together!

That is truly great news to hear - the fact that we can have local repair and service for 10micron mounts is a huge win for Australian astronomers.

[AdamJL]

+ both companies are awesome to deal with. Sidereal helped me in the beginning with my PoleMaster purchase and questions, and Testar have been amazing local support in Sydney for many things I bought from them, and even setup my guide-scope in store

https://www.facebook.com/TestarAustr...type=3&theater

Two great companies working together would be a big plus for us as customers

[bigjoe (JOSEPH)]

Hope it all works for Diego and Co..To have a good mount here for a good price and get it serviced here for vastly less money than sending mounts to E.G AP or Tak overseas would encourage more to buy a higher grade mount, knowing that if something goes wrong they'll be attended to here not thousands of kilometers away and at great expense..Bravo Diego.
Bigjoe

[AdamJL]

Originally Posted by Andy01

First class 'scopes can and are being made right here in Oz.

Make us some refractors, Diego!!

[bigjoe (JOSEPH)]

Originally Posted by AdamJL

Make us some refractors, Diego!!

Yes a really good 5 inch or so ED doublet doesn't have to be a triplet for doubles for me but all are nice Diego.
Bigjoe

[Peter Ward]

Humm...am I mistaken...or has this post turned into an Testar advertorial?

[jahnpahwa (JP)]

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

Humm...am I mistaken...or has this post turned into an Testar advertorial?

Yep, you're mistaken, jog on.


Adriano quoted the original post and had a response directly related to it.

[xthestreams (Paul)]

I spent 4 years living and working in Silicon Valley - the difference between here and there?

They’re willing to give it a go, when everyone here shouts “no!”.

Market for electric vehicles when Tesla launched? Asymptotic to zero. Private, reusable space launch capability to take on NASA and Boeing? I *did* think he was dreaming!

Thank god we’ve got dreamers in this country, I for one don’t relish the idea of my grandkids having a choice between digging up dirt and serving lattes to tourists as their two career choices.

Here’s to the crazy ones. Go get ‘em Diego and Paul!

[kosborn (Kevin)]

Diego,

I wonder if you are open to "requests for features" for mount design?

I have always thought that motor drives on the alt and azimuth axes combined with a built in camera on the RA axis (and appropriate software) would make for very good automatic and accurate polar alignment. You could push a button, go inside and pour a beer, and by the time you walked back outside you could have arcsecond accurate polar alignment.

[Startrek (Martin)]

Originally Posted by kosborn

Diego,

I wonder if you are open to "requests for features" for mount design?

I have always thought that motor drives on the alt and azimuth axes combined with a built in camera on the RA axis (and appropriate software) would make for very good automatic and accurate polar alignment. You could push a button, go inside and pour a beer, and by the time you walked back outside you could have arcsecond accurate polar alignment.

Great idea !!
Long overdue in the design of quality mounts ( although you will have to pay a premium for such a luxury )
I’d be happy with just motorised Alt and Az bolts with fine threads , control box and USB port to control it from your laptop keyboard as most people use PA features in their capture software anyway

[JA]

If anyone wants motorised ALT-AZIMUTH functions on any equatorial mount, then just mount the equatorial mount to a very beefy ALT-AZIMUTH mount....

Best
JA

[AdamJL]

Originally Posted by kosborn

I have always thought that motor drives on the alt and azimuth axes combined with a built in camera on the RA axis (and appropriate software) would make for very good automatic and accurate polar alignment. You could push a button, go inside and pour a beer, and by the time you walked back outside you could have arcsecond accurate polar alignment.

100%
Still new to this hobby, and I was shocked that this part was still knobs and dials.

[Peter Ward]

Originally Posted by AdamJL

100%
Still new to this hobby, and I was shocked that this part was still knobs and dials.

For larger mounts you may have to lift over 180Kg of telescope and counterweights on the polar axis. Designing a system that can do that with arc second precision would be a challenge....

[AdamJL]

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

180Kg of telescope and counterweights

I would say that's probably the more niche part of the market.
The rest of the market could benefit from a fully automated solution.
Polar aligning and star aligning can and should be a one-button setup as the default with an option for more complex setups as just that.. an option, instead of the default complexity this hobby has forced upon everyone.

edit: just a link to a very old thread I made on this subject years ago
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...d.php?t=154402
I made that thread, then didn't buy anything. Came back last year because of Covid + boredom + interest. Learned a lot, but still generally agree with the old me as a newbie in that thread

Any company (waves at Diego!) that would like to try and create a fully automated solution "for the masses" might tap into a market that has a lot of interest, is time poor, and also has no desire to trouble shoot guiding errors, or learn the (frankly obscene) amount of jargon this hobby has

Sounds like Diego et al are after the super high end, which is cool. But that's a market that already exists. The most money to be made would be with the billions of people yet to try their hand at our hobby.

[Merlin66 (Ken)]

Let’s be honest.... if you’ve got a scope weighing in at 50kg or so, they will be mounted in an observatory and need a solid mount.
The novices market is more the EQ5/ HEQ5 and similar mounts.
There’s a hellava difference in the design and construction.
Would the novice be prepared the extra costs to give the “ bells and whistles “ mentioned?????

[Stefan Buda]

A fully automatic mount would have to be Alt-Az because such a mount, not having a polar axis, does not have to be polar aligned. It can be plonked on the ground with a roughly vertical azimuth axis and software can figure out it's position by platesolving several images taken through a small finder scope that is mounted parallel to the main instrument. That is the easy part. The difficulty comes from the need of a third computer controlled axis, to do the field derotation for imaging. Such a derotator needs to have high resolution and be backlash free - not easy or cheap to achieve.
Then you have the problem of rotating spider diffraction spikes in the subs if the scope has spider vanes.