Avalon Linear on the way!

codemonkey (Lee) · #1 14-01-2016, 05:22 PM

Well, after the bank thinking the transaction was fraudulent and cancelling my credit card, the mount has been ordered at least, probably not quite on the way yet.

glend (Glen) · #2 14-01-2016, 05:33 PM

Congratulations Lee. A very nice piece of gear. Did you get it through Teleskop-Express? I know they offer a UPS options, so will customs clearance be handled by UPS?

codemonkey (Lee) · #3 14-01-2016, 05:42 PM

Sure did Glen, and yep, I went with UPS for shipping. If I remember correctly standard post doesn't offer tracking, and I didn't want a purchase of this magnitude, especially an international one, being freighted without that, which left me with UPS.

I believe UPS will handle the customs clearance as well, but having not done this before I'm not entirely sure how it all works.

Slawomir (Suavi) · #4 14-01-2016, 06:34 PM

Wonderful news Lee!

I am really looking forward to hearing/reading your happy feedback and to seeing perfectly round stars in your 30-minute subs

codemonkey (Lee) · #5 14-01-2016, 06:39 PM

Thanks Suavi, me too ;-)

I did just remember that my imaging laptop is up the creek (only three months old!) and has to go in for a warranty claim too. Hopefully I can get that sorted so I can start imaging soon.

Bassnut (Fred) · #6 14-01-2016, 06:54 PM

1st ive heard of Avalon. Looks very good and has some cool features!. Itll be very interesting to see how it goes for you.

jwoody (Jeremy) · #7 14-01-2016, 07:01 PM

Nice purchase, bet you can't wait!
Apparently you are 117 Km's from me here on the Gold Coast so hopefully all the bad weather that is coming your way stays clear of me

Have fun
Jeremy

glend (Glen) · #8 14-01-2016, 07:12 PM

Lee will this mount be on display at Queensland Astrofest this year?

Atmos (Colin) · #9 14-01-2016, 07:12 PM

Congratulations on the new purchase!! Looking forward to first light

I may have to pick your brain about how you go getting it into the country. I've never imported anything more than $500 but I may be on the cards in the new future

codemonkey (Lee) · #10 14-01-2016, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bassnut

1st ive heard of Avalon. Looks very good and has some cool features!. Itll be very interesting to see how it goes for you.

Yeah they're probably most well known over in Europe. I'm yet to hear a bad review, but then they're still relatively new.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jwoody

Nice purchase, bet you can't wait!
Apparently you are 117 Km's from me here on the Gold Coast so hopefully all the bad weather that is coming your way stays clear of me

Have fun
Jeremy

haha cheers mate. Given how many issues I've had over the past few months, I think I'm due for some clear skies regardless of new equipment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by glend

Lee will this mount be on display at Queensland Astrofest this year?

The camp isn't that far from me, and given that I'm not the most social of people it's never really seemed worth the effort of packing all the gear up for conditions that are probably the same as what I get at home. Every year I think maybe I'll go this year, but I've yet to do it.... but hey maybe this year

Quote:

Originally Posted by Atmos

Congratulations on the new purchase!! Looking forward to first light

I may have to pick your brain about how you go getting it into the country. I've never imported anything more than $500 but I may be on the cards in the new future

Cheers mate. Happy to share whatever I learn

Have you made a choice yet?

Slawomir (Suavi) · #11 19-01-2016, 12:12 PM

Did a bit more reading about this mount, and it certainly could be my next upgrade from AZ-EQ6. Came across this brochure with technical data: http://www.baader-planetarium.de/ava...near-Mount.pdf

I hope your mount has already reached our shores Lee!

Camelopardalis (Dunk) · #12 19-01-2016, 12:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by codemonkey

...given that I'm not the most social of people...

That doesn't seem to stop most of the other imagers staking their spot there

Looks like an interesting mount, would be good to see it

codemonkey (Lee) · #13 19-01-2016, 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slawomir

Did a bit more reading about this mount, and it certainly could be my next upgrade from AZ-EQ6. Came across this brochure with technical data: http://www.baader-planetarium.de/ava...near-Mount.pdf

I hope your mount has already reached our shores Lee!

Looks the part, that's for sure, and with no bad feedback so far it's looking like a good option.

The mount finally left Germany today ETA of next Monday, although I'm not sure how that will play out with having to pay duty etc. Be nice if I picked it up on Monday though, perfect timing for a birthday present!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Camelopardalis

That doesn't seem to stop most of the other imagers staking their spot there

Looks like an interesting mount, would be good to see it

lol. Ok, maybe this year.... ;-)

rustigsmed (Russell) · #14 19-01-2016, 01:47 PM

congrats on the new mount Lee, fingers crossed for a smooth teething (pun intended) period.

Rusty

Atmos (Colin) · #15 19-01-2016, 04:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slawomir

Did a bit more reading about this mount, and it certainly could be my next upgrade from AZ-EQ6. Came across this brochure with technical data: http://www.baader-planetarium.de/ava...near-Mount.pdf

I hope your mount has already reached our shores Lee!

Really looking forward to seeing what this mount can achieve!

Slawomir (Suavi) · #16 19-01-2016, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Atmos

Really looking forward to seeing what this mount can achieve!

Colin, I know that Sara Wager has been using Linear FR mount, and her photos are pretty good IMO: https://www.astrobin.com/users/swag72/

codemonkey (Lee) · #17 19-01-2016, 08:46 PM

When I was asking on SGL for reasons not to buy the Linear, Sara said "It is after all just an EQ6 in red clothes!!!" and, essentially, that I'll not get much better tracking than I do with the EQ6. Having said that she also owns one and swears by it. Not meaning any offence to her, but I'm not sure she understands the significance of it being 100% belt driven, with no worm/gears used.

Anyway, I know the EQ6 can do what I need it to do when it's playing nice, it's the constant fiddling I find myself doing with it to try and get it to play nice that's my issue with them.

I would suggest though, bearing in mind that I've not used the Avalon yet, if you happen to have an EQ6/AZ-EQ6 that's playing nice consistently, reports in the field (i.e from Sara) suggest that your tracking is unlikely to be significantly improved, so it may not be worth the significant upgrade cost. Might not be. I'll find out shortly whether it's worth it to me :-)

AndrewJ · #18 19-01-2016, 09:37 PM

Gday Lee

Re

Quote:

Not meaning any offence to her, but I'm not sure she understands the significance of it being 100% belt driven, with no worm/gears used.

Belts dont mean "better tracking", just that they are more responsive to guide commands, are quiet, and have virtually no backlash/gear meshing issues.

If you ref the blurb in the Linear pdf, you will see

Quote:

It must be stressed that the LineAR mount requires an autoguider

Based on some data i saw from an early unit in the US, the unguided tracking can have quite a large PE, and much of it ( appeared to be ) tied to the teeth on the belts. It was easily guided out as it was quite smooth, but there is no way to say its "better" at tracking than a good worm.
After playing with my AZEQ5, i must say i now appreciate the effects of belt tension on how well a belt drive works, much more than before????

Andrew
Be interested to see yr unguided error plots when you get it.

codemonkey (Lee) · #19 19-01-2016, 09:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndrewJ

Gday Lee

Re

Belts dont mean "better tracking", just that they are more responsive to guide commands, are quiet, and have virtually no backlash/gear meshing issues.

If you ref the blurb in the Linear pdf, you will see

Based on some data i saw from an early unit in the US, the unguided tracking can have quite a large PE, and much of it ( appeared to be ) tied to the teeth on the belts. It was easily guided out as it was quite smooth, but there is no way to say its "better" at tracking than a good worm.
After playing with my AZEQ5, i must say i now appreciate the effects of belt tension on how well a belt drive works, much more than before????

Andrew
Be interested to see yr unguided error plots when you get it.

Cheers Andrew. Wasn't meant to imply that the worm was inherently inferior when it comes to tracking, just pointing out that there's no possibility for backlash, which has been a cause for significant frustration for me. In fact, I meant to imply that if yours is working well, you probably won't see much benefit from this, as per reports from people who've owned the mount.

10 Micron are proving what can be done with a worm. It's just a PITA to tweak on SW mounts. I believe the Paramounts also have spring loaded worms to reduce backlash, and probably make adjustment significantly easier I would imagine.

I'd be interested to see more about this early model in the US, as I didn't chance upon it in my research into these.

Unguided PE isn't really a factor for me, what matters most is the shape of it and whether it can be guided out, and by all reports it does very well here. I have no intention of ever running this mount unguided, and indeed as you've pointed out, its own documentation state that it needs to be guided.

I was specifically trying to find people who might have had issues with the mount because I did have some concerns about the toothed belts, but I was unable to find any reports of issues, nor anyone with anything bad to say about the mount (other than it's expensive) when I asked about it.

AndrewJ · #20 19-01-2016, 10:44 PM

Gday Lee

Quote:

Wasn't meant to imply that the worm was inherently inferior when it comes to tracking

No probs there. Its always an electro mechanical tradeoff, and no one system is better than another, esp when cost / benefit tradeoffs cut in.
Ie encoders and direct drive are useless unless the software is designed to suit the whole system, but many believe a mount with direct encoders is "inherently better"
Same with belts, they have pros and cons.

I will need to ask if the user is happy for early data to be posted, as he was testing very early versions of the firmwares as well, so part of it is not a fair test, esp when RA drift cuts in.
That said, the mechanical effects of the toothed belts were immediately obvious, as definite "ripple" in the tracking.
Some of the worst tests showed over 100 arcsec of PE, but as the final output gear is only 66 teeth, this equates to about a 22 minute period, and as noted, it was relatively smooth, so easily guided.
I know based on my recent grief with my AZEQ5, that belt tension can have a huge effect on how well a belt drive tracks, and maybe the later Avalon units have a better tensioning system. Dunno, but a few unguided tests will show that up pretty quickly.

Andrew