[1ponders]
31-07-2006, 06:12 PM
Talk about jagging it.
Now for those of you who have never drift aligned you probably don't get why I'm so chuffed, but for those of you who have and have experienced the curse of "What the hell is going on here !!!! :mad: :mad:" read on.
After a great week at astrofest and having decided to spend some quality family time with my lovely wife and lovely dog :P last week, I finally got round to setting up my G11 last night. I was fully prepared not to get any deep and serious imaging done as I knew I'd be spending quite some time getting the polar alignment right again.
For those of you who are not familiar with the G-11, the tripod is not what you would call collapsible friendly. To fit it in just about anything other than a pantech you need to pull the mount off the tripod and then pull the legs off the mount collar. So basically anything that was within exacting tolerances before is now a lost cause.
So the mount (in pieces) goes out to Duckadang in the trailer, get put back together again, adjusted for level out there and then drift aligned for how it is setup. np Knew I'd have to do it, Plus it gives me time to socialize :D. Bewwdifullll.
After a week, time to pack up and pull down the mount into legs, top and mount head again. Into the trailer for the bounce home. So now we are at last night. Right! Frame of mind is all important. Focused! Goal oriented and task driven. Lets get it happening.
Put legs on collar. Extend legs. Put mount head on collar. Adjust legs to level mount. Put all the electronics on. Put weights on. Whoops where did that bolt in the bottom of the mount head box come from. Damn, one of the restraining bolts for the altitude adjustment had come out. np. New I'd have to readjust it anyway :thumbsup: Telescope on. Finder on. Balance for and aft. Balance top and bottom :thumbsup: Moving along nicely.
Right, time for the meridian drift. In goes the reticle, fully expecting to have to pick the mount up to move it in azimuth (even though I've tried to get it close to the marks on the concrete as possible). Waiting, waiting, waiting. I waited over a minute and a half before that star started to move of the reticle :eyepop: :lol: Three moderate twists of the azimuth adjuster and it jumped to about 4 minutes :D
Ok, lets go to the Altitude adjustment. I know what's coming. It's going to be so far out that it will put the Az out and I'll have to start all over again. Ha! More than 30 sec before drifting. A couple of quick twists and back to Az. Fifteen minutes in K3 and I have 8 minutes of non drift in Az and another 15 gives me similar in Alt.
Talk about tinny. Should I buy a lotto ticket :lol: What a sweet night :D
Now for those of you who have never drift aligned you probably don't get why I'm so chuffed, but for those of you who have and have experienced the curse of "What the hell is going on here !!!! :mad: :mad:" read on.
After a great week at astrofest and having decided to spend some quality family time with my lovely wife and lovely dog :P last week, I finally got round to setting up my G11 last night. I was fully prepared not to get any deep and serious imaging done as I knew I'd be spending quite some time getting the polar alignment right again.
For those of you who are not familiar with the G-11, the tripod is not what you would call collapsible friendly. To fit it in just about anything other than a pantech you need to pull the mount off the tripod and then pull the legs off the mount collar. So basically anything that was within exacting tolerances before is now a lost cause.
So the mount (in pieces) goes out to Duckadang in the trailer, get put back together again, adjusted for level out there and then drift aligned for how it is setup. np Knew I'd have to do it, Plus it gives me time to socialize :D. Bewwdifullll.
After a week, time to pack up and pull down the mount into legs, top and mount head again. Into the trailer for the bounce home. So now we are at last night. Right! Frame of mind is all important. Focused! Goal oriented and task driven. Lets get it happening.
Put legs on collar. Extend legs. Put mount head on collar. Adjust legs to level mount. Put all the electronics on. Put weights on. Whoops where did that bolt in the bottom of the mount head box come from. Damn, one of the restraining bolts for the altitude adjustment had come out. np. New I'd have to readjust it anyway :thumbsup: Telescope on. Finder on. Balance for and aft. Balance top and bottom :thumbsup: Moving along nicely.
Right, time for the meridian drift. In goes the reticle, fully expecting to have to pick the mount up to move it in azimuth (even though I've tried to get it close to the marks on the concrete as possible). Waiting, waiting, waiting. I waited over a minute and a half before that star started to move of the reticle :eyepop: :lol: Three moderate twists of the azimuth adjuster and it jumped to about 4 minutes :D
Ok, lets go to the Altitude adjustment. I know what's coming. It's going to be so far out that it will put the Az out and I'll have to start all over again. Ha! More than 30 sec before drifting. A couple of quick twists and back to Az. Fifteen minutes in K3 and I have 8 minutes of non drift in Az and another 15 gives me similar in Alt.
Talk about tinny. Should I buy a lotto ticket :lol: What a sweet night :D