You can also put the CLS icon on the Toolbar if you wish. Tools/Preferences/Toolbars/Customize/All Other Commands
Charles
Thanks for the tips. I bought the update yesterday as that should be a very handy feature. Especially at 1am doing a meridian flip and getting everything to line up. That can take some time.
Thanks to all for participating in this discussion. I'm off to Tucson tomorrow am where amongst other things I will be doing an imaging workshop and then attending the Science and Astronomy Expo. It should be very interesting with lots of goodies to view. I also pick up my Trius! After the fun I actually have some work to do in Tucson...
Re the mount the issue stands unresolved and I was recommended by Bisques not to bring anything. They basically remain unconvinced by the data I've thus far provided and believe the problem may be in the pier or the focuser/camera mounting. When I return I will take up a friend's offer to put my mount on his pier, and after that I will put a different scope on my mount (unless my pier proves the guilty party). If the problem remains after all of this I think it just has to be in the mount! If any of you MX users would care to repeat any of the experiments I've demonstrated in this post I would be very grateful! At the very least it would demonstrate to me that the problem is isolated to my system, or is an unnoticed issue with the MX. I have no ax to grind one way or the other; I just want it solved.
I'm in Tucson at the moment but thought I'd just post a little update to this thread. At the Arizona Science and Astronomy Expo over the weekend I had the opportunity to speak directly with Dan Bisque about the issue I've been reporting in this thread. It was great to meet him and I must say that meeting him in person was completely different to any preconceived expectation I may have carried in my mind based on experiences at the SB forum. The upshot was a very productive discussion and hopefully a resolution. SB is mailing me a new RA motor which should arrive in Los Angeles shortly. I was promised a software TCS solution if somehow the motor fails to resolve the issue. I have come away from this experience very satisfied!!
BTW the Expo was fantastic and it is rapidly growing into a major astronomy event in the USA. The quality of exhibits and speakers left nothing to be desired. My own desire to buy everything that appealed however went sadly unfulfilled!
Good to hear that you have a resolution hopefully.
I too have had some success with SB after a long wait. I too was mailed a new RA motor after many many "mount hit something" messages. Finally I have run an entire night without an error, hopefully it is permanent.
Mine turned out to be a faulty encoder on the RA motor, which eventually failed completely so I couldn't even initialise the mount.
Thanks for your update. I fear had I not traveled to Tucson I would be in for a long wait for a resolution. It's interesting that you mention the encoder as this is Dan's theory about my mount as well. I heard a rumour that SB might be about to change the design of the MX motor due to these sorts of issues.
That is good news, but not an uncommon thing with EQ mounts. I remember when Losmandy moved to the Maxons. The same is true for AP. Their later 2010 models of the 1200GTO moved to the same motors as used on the 3600GTO (El Capitan!). It's the natural course of things I guess. These companies don't sit idle, which is good to see
Well done for your persistence. It seems like you are finally getting to the bottom of this elusive issue.
Still, I bet you want to get an AP mount next time! Think of how many images you missed out on taking because of all this.
Greg.
Hi Greg,
I live in Melbourne. So I haven't missed that many nights. What makes you think I want another mount? This WAS supposed to be my last mount ever!! I'm sure that, one day, something new will spark my interest, so you're probably right.
Other than the frustration of having paid for something which should be the duck's nuts and ending up with another mount which needs mucking about with, I haven't lost too much imaging time. A few half nights here and there, and a couple of full nights over the last week or two. Luckily I'm a persistent mongrel and could usually coax the mount to life and get some imaging done.
I'm looking forward to some trouble free imaging now. I have also learned heaps about the internals of the mount, I reckon I could service the PMXs in Australia now!
I don't know what you mean by saying I've missed out on imaging. For example I took this image of the Crepe Nebula just yesterday and I didn't even need a mount or a telescope!!
Yes, the nebula no longer exists. As I understand it the light has reached us first but a massive supernova shock wave has destroyed the crepe nebula and it can no longer be imaged. You are viewing the one and only picture of it in history!!!
An update. After another month + of experimenting, and a second 5 page thread at the Software Bisque forum, my mount is finally going back to SB under warranty.
The culprit may be some hysteresis I was able to identify visually by sighting on a far away target during the day and rocking the polar axis back and forth. With everything adjusted to spec as best I can the mount doesn't spring return to the same position when moved west or east. A friend tested his mount in the same way and it did not show this hysteresis. So far that is the one and only working theory. The hysteresis I measured was ca. 30 arc-sec. That equates to an extremely small mechanical motion on the order of 25 microns. Even if I pulled my mount entirely apart I highly doubt my ability to detect such a small motion.
Thanks to all that have contributed to this thread! It will be most interesting to find out what is discovered during servicing.
It would be a nice gesture of good will if once they fix it they gave you an extra counter weight or some software to allow for the annoyance factor.
Greg.
Perhaps. Whilst I feel confident in what I'm measuring and experiencing, it feels a bit like sending the car to the mechanic and having the mechanic say "I don't see any problem!" Of course that hasn't happened and I hope it doesn't but the feeling of apprehension is certainly there. It's costing them a lot of money to ship the mount!! That's good enough for me, especially if it turns out I have somehow failed to make the correct adjustments.
