Mach1 GTO

[Slawomir]

Hi all,

A few days ago a gentlemen from FedEx knocked at our door and he left four boxes for us...

I am yet to test the new mount in the field, but so far the mount connected to my laptop right away and everything seems to be working. Will need to tidy up the cables. Precision balancing is super easy with new gearboxes and I will probably get rid of one of the cords by controlling the mount wirelessly. Looks like I will need to learn a few new tricks, such as meridian and horizon limits, imaging past the meridian and making a pointing model. But what I am the most excited about is the prospect of superior tracking and thus accurate guiding.

As you all can probably imagine, I am VERY excited and really looking forward to a clear night.

Suavi (somehow still with two kidneys...)

P.S. I never ever thought that one day I will have one of these mounts...

[RickS]

Congrats, Suavi! I hope you haven't doomed us to six months of cloudy & wet weather :lol:

[Atmos]

Beautiful piece of new kit!
As nice as the EQ6 is it isn't until you upgrade that you realise how good good can be :lol:

P.S.
Hopefully the new mount will suck the clouds from us Southerners :P

[Camelopardalis]

Looks a beauty Suavi :thumbsup:

[RobF]

OOOOOOOooooooooo!!!!! :thumbsup: :lol:

[atalas]

Very cool Suavi!

[mountainjoo]

Congrats! Just out of interest, what made you choose this over other premium mounts in the same price bracket?

[strongmanmike]

Top mount Suavi and a great looking setup, I feel the excitement :thumbsup:

Mike

[gregbradley]

A great buy!

You'll never look back.

I use 2 things to control the mount from hitting the tripod. A free program called mount watcher and another one which is the AP timer. I set both. The Mount watcher works like a SB mount where software limits cause tracking to stop. Usually 5 degrees off the meridian.

Greg.

[Slawomir]

Thank you Rick! Just to clarify - recent heat wave is a natural phenomena due to a change in seasons...;)



Thank you Colin! Yeah, relationship with an EQ6 is not always a smooth ride (pun intended)...:lol:



Thank you!



Oh YEAH! :)



Thank you Louie!



Thank you Jerome.

It is a bit difficult to say what exactly swayed me towards this mount. It was a mix of:

-> time-proven design (Mach 1 has been around for about 10 years and it has been further refined over that time), and although no equipment is fault-free, the vast majority of Mach-1 (or any AP equipment) users are very pleased with it

-> theoretically (I have not tested that yet) it has excellent tracking out of the box (as other premium mounts) and the new gearboxes are a breeze to adjust if needed.

-> it is portable (I need to set up for each session)

-> it is a mount made by Astro-Physics



Thank you Mike! If it performs half as well as your mount I will be happy!



Thank you Greg. I must admit that it was your feedback, and from several other AP users, that influenced me to go for this mount.

I will have a look at the software you have mentioned, thank you!

I also got the APCC Pro and it has the ability to set limits that are very flexible and can be fine-tuned to one's particular set-up. Will get to that one day :)

[codemonkey]

Sooo jealous! Wanna park it in my dome? I'll even let you use it on occasion ;-)

[Slawomir]

Thanks Lee! I am happy to even share a toothbrush with a mate, but when it comes to astro gear, it is a completely different story... :lol:

However, your Avalon is an awesome mount too and it is painted in a faster colour!

[gregbradley]

Thank you Greg. I must admit that it was your feedback, and from several other AP users, that influenced me to go for this mount.

I will have a look at the software you have mentioned, thank you!

I also got the APCC Pro and it has the ability to set limits that are very flexible and can be fine-tuned to one's particular set-up. Will get to that one day :)[/QUOTE]


Ah yes I just read about the new GTO4 controller and it has compatibility with the APCC Pro and it has slew limits.

I'll have to update my AP1600 with that at some point.

AP products are just the best and I predict you will be happy as a pig in s...
for many years to come with this mount.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Those photos of your new mount are astro porn...my NJP is indeed incredible in the raw tracking department, in fact, probably unsurpassed by any other traditional worm and wheel driven mount out there...but your March1 smashes it in the looks department :love: :evil2:

Mike

[g__day]

Great choice I'd say! Congrats

[Slawomir]

Thank you gents. I have not had a chance to take any images with the new babe yet, only managed two very short sessions before clouds rolled in, but can already confirm that tracking is extremely smooth when comparing to my hypertuned AZEQ6.

Greg, I think you can set customised meridian and horizon limits in APCC with GTO3 as well. Pro version adds the ability of creating a pointing model.

[gregbradley]

Thanks Suavi.

Greg.

[Slawomir]

Hi all,

I have managed another short test run last night. I am still getting used to new software and the mount, but having fun nonetheless.
Having used EQ3, HEQ5 and AZEQ6 for astrophotography (yes- EQ3 as well!) I am really impressed with smooth tracking and repeatable PE. I have not done guiding nor have I tried the PE correction curve that was recorded by AP at the factory; I was only looking at tracking errors and playing with PemPro.

To illustrate the improvement over my hypertuned AZEQ6, I have attached PE curves for AZEQ6 and Mach1. Software was different in both cases and the curves are represented differently, but nonetheless the overall improvement can be noticed easily. Both y-axes are in arc seconds. It was not the total PE error that bothered me with my AZEQ6, which was quite low anyway, but it was rapid moment to moment error that was hard to correct.

[Atmos]

I have no idea what my EQ6 94 HEQ5 have as an overall PE but they're both quite jaggered which is what made me want to upgrade. It could be a 50" PE for all I care as long as it is smooth!

Looks very nice Suavi!

[glend]

Colin my NEQ6 has improved substantially with the Rowan Belt Drive and new guide parametres advice from the Metaguide author. Its all in the tuning imho.

[Atmos]

I did fiddle with mine a little and have to agree, fiddling with belt tension was helpful. My biggest bug bear was that on some nights I could do 1800s subs all night and not drop one, a week later the next time I set up I could be doing 150s and end up ditching 50% of the nights data.

[Slawomir]

That was my experience exactly. I needed to babysit the mount a whole night to get good data. Some subs were awesome while others were not usable. I clearly lacked skills to tune my hypertuned AZEQ6 well enough :shrug:

[Atmos]

Gremlins!!

[Camelopardalis]

Are you sure it's not the seeing? The only nights I have much trouble guiding are the nights it probably isn't worth imaging on anyhow :shrug:

[Slawomir]

Another update: in spite of my very limited computer skills, I managed to connect the mount to my laptop wirelessly. That is new to me and uber cool, and also one less cable to worry about!

[Atmos]

That's cool :D

[gregbradley]

That is good. Obviously that is a feature of the GTO 4 system. Its now on the wishlist!

Greg.

[Slawomir]

I am reporting that I went back to using a cable to connect the mount, as I was getting frequent timeout errors when running the mount through a house wifi network. The mount appeared to perform normally in spite of those errors, but I prefer to be on a safe side.

I suspect that my $300 laptop from Office Works might be a tad too slow for a fast wifi connection, in particular when running SGP, APCC, PHD2, Cartes du Ciel, PemPro, APPM...or maybe it is the house modem? :shrug: I doubt it is a problem with CP4.

Anyway, no timeout errors with an Ethernet cable. The mount can also connect via a usb (checked - no probs with this one) or serial port.

[Slawomir]

Another quick update.

After following steps in PemPro got PA pretty close within 10 minutes - good news. I hope I will be able to also utilise a pointing model in the near future.

Still experimenting with different settings in PHD2. Attached is an example of about 10 minutes of guiding, both axes are in arcseconds.

Thank you for following my journey with the new mount.
Suavi

[Atmos]

That's some really nice tracking Suavi! That mount looks like a real performer!

[gregbradley]

Impressive graph.

If you set up on the same spot each night and mark where the tripod feet sit you can save each night setup time.

Greg.

[Slawomir]

Thanks you Colin. Guiding is definitely better than with my AZEQ6, so I am happy.


This is exactly what I did :) so last night I only needed to very slightly adjust the mount and it took me only 10 minutes to PA.

I remember with my previous mount the lowest RMS error I got on a few occasions was 0.42", but such nice guiding never lasted and usually RMS error was between 0.6-0.8". So it is encouraging to see that with my Mach1 I am now getting about half of previous mount's RMS errors.

But what I also like is a non-existent/negligible backlash with Mach1, so repositioning on the same target on the following night was quick and accurate at first attempt to within 3pixels, while with my AZEQ6 it often took SGP quite a few corrections to centre on the target being imaged over several nights.

[Camelopardalis]

Beautiful tracking Suavi :thumbsup: so long as the seeing is up to it I can get my EQ6 down to about 0.4". It'd be interesting to hear how much you think the star sharpness is benefitting from the better tracking.

[Slawomir]

Thank you Dunk. Your EQ6 guiding at 0.4" is doing awesome job and it is certainly a keeper :thumbsup:

So far, after initial excitement has settled a bit, I have not noticed a massive improvement in star sharpness in Ha, perhaps because so far I have been imaging pretty low above the horizon :question:

What I have noticed though is that guiding is far more consistent and star position oscillates tightly around the central position on a graph in PHD2, so it gives me confidence that I am getting the best data I can possibly acquire with my scope and from my location.

[Atmos]

I imagine that most of the time there isn't likely to be a huge increase in star sharpness as even when you're getting 0.6-0.8" RMS, it is below seeing conditions/your imaging resolution anyway. As you say, you know that you're imaging at sky/camera conditions now and not whatever the EQ6 decides to do on the night.
When I think you'll benefit most from is the random spikes that are inherent to the cheaper mounts due to less than perfect machining. Or it'll be increased stiffness when there is a breeze.

[Slawomir]

You are totally right Colin. I also like how SGP accurately centres on the target on the first go with the new mount and calibration in PHD2 is now swift.

[Camelopardalis]

I think consistency and ease of achieving it are what you're paying for, on top of the beauty of the end product and engineering involved in getting there :thumbsup:

I might need to tighten my worms and see if I can reduce the backlash a little, but other than that, it'll have to do :D

[Slawomir]

Dunk, if your mount is guiding well I would resist tinkering with it :lol:

What do you do when you got a new mount and there is a cloud layer blocking most of the stars? You recheck your mounts tracking! :rofl:

PemPro recorded six worm cycles before clouds got too thick and completely blocked the stars. The PA was a bit off but it is reassuring to see smooth tracking and PE within the specs.

[mountainjoo]

Great tracking there, PE both smooth and with low P2P. Gotta be happy with that. Thanks for posting!

[Camelopardalis]

You're right I'm sure, Suavi...but there's always the nagging doubt with a mainstream mount of "what if?" ;) would be nice to knock those occasional random spikes on the head.

Was clear last night and looking promising again for tonight, and as beautiful as those tracking plots are so get that mount imaging, we want to see stars :P

[Slawomir]

Thank you Jerome!

Dunk, it was clouded over our place for a few hours after the sunset and I could not wait longer for clear skies - need to be conscious at work! :lol:

As for the stars - there is a quick test image in the Deep Space section: http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=150608

[Logieberra]

Go nuts. Get the new 1600 gear boxes too :)

[Logieberra]

Congrats Suavi and welcome to the AP club! Run with the factory installed PE curve for now. In time, the PE will reduce as the gears break in! At least that was the case with my 1600. Capture and apply a new curve at that time :)

[Slawomir]

Thank you Logan. Really happy to join the AP club, even if I am bringing their smallest mount to the table :lol:

As for the PE reducing over time, I will take it as an encouragement to use the mount a lot! :) At the moment BOM forecasts a clear night for Bris Vegas this Saturday, so hopefully I could do an all-nighter :prey:

[Atmos]

Clear skies, what are they?

[Slawomir]

Just to refresh your memory of clear skies Colin - a photo of myself from a few years ago when I used to live a life of a happy nomad...https://www.alltravels.com/australia/queensland/forrest-beach/photos/current-photo-35028660

[Atmos]

Those clouds, they have a strange blue hue. Down here they're grey or black, must be the lack of daylight savings ;)