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Gotta semi agree with Fred here.
While it looks good, its a long way from useable ( for a mount )
Reading the tolerances etc
"after correction" its 10arcsec position accuracy, so the quoted encoder resolution doeasnt appear to directly be useable.
I cant tell from the specs but i'm pretty sure the encoder is just a std unit, ie its absolute position is "calculated" by keeping track of a quadrature pulsetrain, vs having a true absolute encoder.
Must be used indoors, no moisture, thermally stable environment.
Holding torque is pretty low and it would appear to lose alignment if bumped.
Dont get me wrong, I like the idea of direct drives or harmonic drives,
but a good worm drive with a precision encoder ( preferably absolute )
on the output shaft will still achieve the same end, for a lot lower cost.
IMHO, the biggest gains for astro work will come when precision encoders become cheaper.
And even then, this still doesnt address refraction, flexure, other misalignments downstream of the axle etc etc,
Andrew
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