My boys & I spent the day today at Berts (Avandonk) whilst the finishing touches were completed for the drive on my EQ mount. Man O Man it is a complicated set-up just to get a motor to turn at the right speed!!!
I brought everything home and now the assembly begins
It is just like a 3D jigsaw puzzle
Again I would like to thank Bert for all the work he has put into this mount and for his generosity, and his burning desire to see it completed and used. And thanks for your hospitality to me & my kids again! We always feel welcome at your place.
Here are the parts for the Drive (photo not including all the nuts, bolts, tension-springs etc)
Wish me luck as I pull out any hair I have left
And especially when I complete the assembly and turn on the program in the Laptop and click on 'START'.
Last edited by ballaratdragons; 09-01-2006 at 11:09 PM.
Yep! Certainly looks like hair pulling time to assemble that lot! You'll do it standing on your hairless head with the toucam tied behind your back mate!!
You are making me feel increasingly guilty when I go out and spend my hard earned cash on "out of the box" mounts, 'scopes and accessories. Please stop making this stuff at home - I'm getting too embarrassed at my laziness!
looks like some fun and when it is all working, gee it will be a joy to use! nothing like building somethinig yourself!!
little dragons, sometimes dad will appear pigheaded and will try and insert circle bits into square holes. let him play for a little while, tee it up with mum to drag him side to do some dishes and quickly put bits together for him. Not too much at a time, he needs to thinik he is in charge and showing you youngun's how it is done.
just play along and whilst he is do the strutting thing over the finished product, quickly whip your 8" on, steal the toucam and we will get some serious imaging done.
your old man has however nail 9 stars in the trap, so we better be sorta nice to him.
enjoy the journey with the boys ken, it will be memories like these little projects that will make your chest burst with pride and a little tear in the eye!!!
soon you will be chasing them out of the pubs in ballarat!!!
I managed to drill 1 hole today! This is going to take a while.
But I did get to do most of the painting today!!! Gloss Black! Looking Smooooooth.
It's nice to have a relaxing day tinkering with bits and pieces and finally get some paint on the parts after my drive home from Berts yesterday. I was about 1/3 the way back to Ballarat when I heard a funny noise from the car and watched the temperature rapidly rise. The battery guage was on zero and I knew this was not good.
I lost my power steering so after a fight to pull off the Freeway I found what was left of the fan belt wrapped around the fan!!!! I called the RACV (NRMA, RACQ etc) only to be told they can't get a fan belt until the next day. But he rang back 10 minutes later and said he found one in Sunbury! (a long way away).
Eventually we were on our way again. So our 2 hour drive home turned into a 5 1/2 hour adventure
My boys didn't mind though. They played cricket with a stick and a rubber ball they found beside the Freeway, and luckily there was a large area away from the road for them to enjoy their game. And they were happy that they didn't get home until 11:00pm. Quote - Jake & Harry "We got to stay up very late!"
Another story for us to remember when we think back about the construction of the EQ.
Sounds like a great idea to me to have "biodegradeable" bats and ball dispensers at all rest stops - just throw in your buck, and out pops a bat and ball, that dissapears 30 minutes later ( your times up - GONE! )
Wow, the odds on finding a rubber ball next to the freeway - well, thats astronomical
Sounds like a great idea to me to have "biodegradeable" bats and ball dispensers at all rest stops - just throw in your buck, and out pops a bat and ball, that dissapears 30 minutes later ( your times up - GONE! )
Wow, the odds on finding a rubber ball next to the freeway - well, thats astronomical
Hahaha! They found 2 rubber balls!!!! Must be a binary LOL!
And a set of tail-lights, a handbag (empty), some car engine parts, and the usual disgusting litter (food wrappers etc). What a mess it is along our highways!!!! But they had fun and didn't complain once.
I have finished the 'Drive' Jigsaw Puzzle! In 2 days!!
I ended up adding even more pieces than in the original pic. Instead of mounting all the bits together with just a frame I also enclosed the whole assembly into a steel box made of 65mm x 65mm square tube frame steel.
I have also added a fan to the back of the motor. It probably won't need it but better safe than sorry!
Now that all the cutting, drilling, tapping, etc are completed all I have to do is pull it all apart again and paint it. The rest of the mount is completed and painted and waiting for this section to get completed, painted and go on to it.
Due to the fact that this set-up runs through 2 seperate worm drives the ratio is 36,000:1 which gives a silky smooth drive with no backlash anywhere!
Pic 1. The full motor assembly & initial worm in its steel box (lot's of nice shiny bits!)
Pic 2. The motor assembly & initial worm drive attached to the mount head and main worm drive assembly.
Pic 3. The full drive assembly hooked up to Mr. Lappy and running in Stepper Drive Prog at 19.74hz.
Cool Ken! Not long to go now till your posting some toucam images...WITH TRACKING! Great for visual too obviously....no more dob bumping/hand tracking.
You, you,,,,, traitor, you!
Throw all that confligerational/contraptional/motorgearised/electrofried junk out & 'gobackto' a dob!
Hi Ken, Well done. You'll have great 'fun' taking all those lovely pics now.
Expect to see some as soon as the paint dries. L.
But it is very heavy!!!! And that is only the head and motor drive. To be added onto it there is also the 2 car wheel hubs, RA axis mount & counterweight bar, the RA axis adjustment mechanism, the counterweights, the pier, the legs, the scope cradle, the 12"scope, and the illuminated Guidescope!
Methinks it's about time for an observatory, Ken.
I can just see you getting caught in the rain, like we did last night. Boy, I've never seen 2 guys pack up their SCT's & laptops in such QT. Luckily I didn't have my dob with me. Just went to watch them image. L.
Astronomy Jigsaw Puzzle - COMPLETED!
L.
