JMI Motor Drive for Lightbridge Telescopes

[netwolf]

Wow this is great finally an off the shelf solution for dobbers. Makes me want my dob back. Deano where is that dob of mine these days?? Nice for the visits to dark skies no messing with polar alignment.

http://www.jimsmobile.com/images/tnt_prototype.jpg

Regards
Fahim

[davewaldo]

ooo looks interesting... Just imagine if it hooks up to an argo navis... that would be brilliant!

[JethroB76]

Be very interesting to see how much these will be, and yes if they'll interface with an AN or similar

[netwolf]

I think this is for Alt/az tracking only. But you can use AN to still find the object and then track with this. So it will be push to and track. A simple system keeping in line with what John Dob envisaged. And hopefully not a budget breaker.


If you want Goto then look at the Siderealtechnolgy system or Servocat both will work with AN. I am going to adapt the Sitech system from siderealtechnology to my G-11 mount and once the budget recovers i will probably add the AN as the brain to this.

[JethroB76]

Yes, you're probably right Fahim.

Good to see this idea coming as an alternative to an eq platform though, much less bulk involved

[h0ughy]

hey that looks promising

[Dennis G]

Your reply of one word. Here and the address, did not produce the article. I'm interested. Where is the details, pictures, etc. that you posted for the drive?I cannot find it.
Dennis G

[sejanus]

gosh i want it. the lack of tracking is the only thing that annoys me about my lightbridge

[netwolf]

Dennis, there is not article on it yet it has not come out yet. You can go here to the vendors main page http://www.jimsmobile.com/ and you will see the "Comming soon" ad for this product. If you click on that you will get the image i have linked in my original post. My thread's intention was to merely point out to LB owners on the forums to a new accessory for there scope.

[gary]

Hi,

This thread, which discusses the ServoCAT slew and track system now being
available for the LightBridge 16, may be of interest to you -
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=31952

Best Regards

Gary Kopff
Managing Director
Wildcard Innovations Pty. Ltd.
20 Kilmory Place, Mount Kuring-Gai
NSW. 2080. Australia
Phone +61-2-9457-9049
Fax +61-2-9457-9593
sales@wildcard-innovations.com.au
http://www.wildcard-innovations.com.au

[davidpretorius]

once $$ allow it, i am going to through the 10" mirror on a eq6 with synscan and then get a 16" LB or16" GSO and move the dob driver across to it

[sejanus]

JMI emailed me and said it will be $399 usd

[White Rabbit]

Thats not bad, any idea of when it's release date is?

[h0ughy]

will that do a 16" LB as well?

[sejanus]

yep i specifically asked for the price on the 16"

no ETA though.

[Dennis G]

Thank You Netwolf.
I've viewed the JMI article and I shake my head. I made a drive that only provided right ascension and it was U/S .Have a look at the Platform and drive on my new GS Light Bucket scope. It works and I have to accept that it is bulky. I've given much thought to reducing its size and I cannot find ways of doing it, the reason for my interest in viewing the JMI article.

Dennis G

[Orion]

Is that price for the whole kit?
If so I wonder what the quality and longevity of this product will be.:shrug:

[netwolf]

Well i just spotted this on Optcorp A used AN with kit to fit LB16..
http://www.optcorp.com/product.aspx?pid=354-919-950-11645
That is a bargain.

[Satchmo]

Heres a better link to the JMI TNT system.

http://www.jimsmobile.com/buy_tnt.htm

Its basically `train n' track' without the 'brain' the DobDriver system has.

You press the speed control until it learns the required speed to follow the object in each axis, but does not do any calculation beyond that, so the rates are only going to be good for 10 minutes or so, depending on where in the sky you are pointed. The Tech 2000 Dobdriver goes beyond that in continuously recalculating new tracking rates as time goes on.

For $399 USD however , its going to be a step up than nothing for high power observation anyhow :)

[proudy]

Thanks for alerting LB owners to this product. I am going to order it right away. I use the BBox and encoders which work perfectly, plus their wheelley bars are fantastic.

10 minutes of tracking is great even for video imaging. I'm sure that with 2 motors and some creative inventiveness down the line, the 10 mins of tracking could be extended.

:thumbsup:

[Satchmo]

What they mean is 10 minutes before the object drifts out of the field of the eyepiece....due to coma you would still want to keep the planet close to the center. You may be able to use slow motions to keep it centred. The benefit of hands free high power slewing would make the product worthwhile tracking aside.

[proudy]

Thanks Mark,

Roger 10 mins in the eyepiece, not centered for 10 mins.
I've ordered it. Remote control of the LB is what we need. Moving it in Alt by hand is a pain, Az is OK. I think its a bargain at roughly $385AU.

In time they will probably offer an upgrade of the hand control that gives more time in the eyepiece.

Neil

[netwolf]

You could i suppose use this to as a base to build a Bartel Stepper system. These motors should interface quiet well with a Bartel system to give you goto. You could also use it with a Dob Driver controller. So there are upgrade options. There are also many other Stepper controller systems you could use.
WinCTC, LittleFoot Vpower, AWR, Boxdorfer, FS2 etc etc. There are many more, some you can even build yourself. Thats assuming these are Stepper motors they are using.

The new innovation coming soon should be the Direct Drive motors, which do not require any gear reduction. I know Dan Gray of Siderealtechnolgy is developing his system to be able to drive these motors. In fact I have read that the Sitech controller can infact even drive Stepper motors given the correct firmware, however that firmware as yet has not been developed. This is due to the fact that the Servo Driver circuit is actually emulated by the system, hence it could be made to emulate a driver for Servo's, Stepper, AC motors etc etc. Have a look at this.
http://www.siderealtechnology.com/DirectDrive/DirectDriveTest.html


Regards
Fahim

[White Rabbit]

So Proudy.

Did you ever end up getting this. I have a 12" LB and was thinking about getting one of these. Worth the cash???

Let us know how went with it.

Thanks
Sandy

[sasup]

OK now that Jmi tnt for lightbridge have been out for a while does anyone have a review? Maybe a Australian outlet and costing. Also will they work with the Argo? Thanks

[gary]

Hi Stacey,

Hope you are enjoying your weekend despite the overcast Sydney skies.

You can have both a TNT installed and the encoders for your Argo Navis and they
will both operate independently. Argo Navis will still keep track of where your scope
is pointing as the motors track.

We happen to be a JMI Dealer. Reciprocally, JMI are one of our dealers in the U.S.
for the Argo Navis which they sell under the name of NGC SuperMAX. However,
as a JMI Dealer in Australia, we tend to concentrate on their range of encoder
installation kits. We could always import something like this for you, however,
JMI are good people to deal with and if you order direct from them, they will
ship directly to you by FedEx, so should you decide on one, you might find
this the most convenient way to go. Be sure to watch the JMI TNT video at -
http://www.jimsmobile.com/videos/video_tnt_48Kbps.wmv

Best Regards

Gary Kopff
Managing Director
Wildcard Innovations Pty. Ltd.
20 Kilmory Place, Mount Kuring-Gai
NSW. 2080. Australia
Phone +61-2-9457-9049
Fax +61-2-9457-9593
sales@wildcard-innovations.com.au
http://www.wildcard-innovations.com.au

[sasup]

Hi gary stacey here could you pm me with the total on the argo with tracking motor??? also all the cabling. Oh sorry forgot to say I have a 12 inch lightbridge

[gary]

Hi Stacey,

Apologies, for some reason I referred to you as Trent. :)

Firstly, let me make it absolutely clear that the Argo Navis does not interface
or drive the TNT motors in any way. The two work independently.

However, I will drop you an email with some additional information that you might
find helpful.

Best Regards

Gary Kopff
Wildcard Innovations Pty Ltd

[sasup]

great ill stand by:thumbsup:

[mbaddah]

Anyone attempted some planetary shooting with this device hooked up to their lightbridge?