Quote:
Originally Posted by pmrid
Hi Steve,
that's a pretty professional-looking rig and observatory. A couple of things - the mount - looks solid and simple - make it yourself? And the Optic: I'm fascinated by the optic connection to the house and wonder if you could give us a bit more detail on how you did that and how it operates.
Peter
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Hi Peter,
Mount is very old, my father made it when I was an apprentice.
I added the RA stepper drive, the DEC stepper drive and most other
functions.
It has a mixture of manual setting circles and digital (mouse encoders).
I made my own PCBs for the Scope-drive circuit including the handpad.
The handpad can plug in at several places including local (within the dome), or via optocouplers over the fibre( inside the house or shed).
I use VNC to control K3ccdtools over an ethernet link to the house but
mostly from locally within the dome.
I have never tried LX200 over serial or ASCOM methods.
The Adelaide weather, especially during winter, is so changeable that
I can never go inside and afford to forget the dome for even 10mins
Bojan: I agree with your comments re: Mel.....a truly inspiring gentleman.
regards,
Steve B.