In case you are interested I have put up a video of the process of replacing a worm block and adjusting the camstop from beginning to end on a parmount MX.
Might be usefull to anyone else who has to do this ever or is interested in whats inside one of these.
Thanks Did u have to replace yours due to that bad PE ?
Best i've been able to get with this hot weather etc is about 9 unadjusted and 5'ish after applying pec
Watched the vid very well done
Last edited by Mighty_oz; 14-01-2012 at 05:42 PM.
Reason: updated comments
I was getting 9 or 10 peak to peak. Supposed to be less than 7 out of box without PEC.
So bisque brothers sent me another one to try. I suspect however its not this and possibly something else. I have no idea why just a hunch. Possibly RA motor. We will see as soon as I get a clear night.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mighty_oz
Thanks Did u have to replace yours due to that bad PE ?
Best i've been able to get with this hot weather etc is about 9 unadjusted and 5'ish after applying pec
Watched the vid very well done
Does your RA motor make a much louder noise than the Dec, as mine does.
Yup it sure does. My understanding is this is the feedback loop mechanism and controler keeping the motor moving at siderial rate and adjusting based on closed loop sensors.
Do you notice vibration as well from your RA motor ? When its tracking if you put both hands on the black RA cover can you feel a slight vibration ? I am told this is normal but want to verify with other owners.
Also one other question. When you trained your PEC which side of meridean did you pick a star on ? and did you tick the box saying data gathered on west ? A screenshot of your pec screen showign this check box would be helpful.
I've done both sides i think in an effort to get it down, the nights have not been kind atm, but what can u expect it's summer So i have not been to fussed as i think due to seeing etc it woun't be great ? I have saved the autoguider logs if u want to look at them ?
Just logged onto the telescope and redid the pec so u could see what i got, pretty sure they were West side.
Also had tracking on, no vibration from what i could feel, very slight on both axes (same), bit of vibration from both black worm boxes when resting hand on them.
Thanks Chris, I will take a look at this in its entirety once I get home to a better internet connection. Seems I am not the only fix it man on the SB equipment.
If your error doubles after you compute a PEC curve and program it having checked that "Data was collected when telescope was pointing West", just uncheck the box and recompute the curve and reprogram the mount. I always reboot-normal my mount after programming PEC as well. If you told me the checkbox is backwards I would not be surprised. It was certainly backwards at one time and I did complain about it, but I do think they either ignored me or told me I was an idiot. You tell me which!
I've done both sides i think in an effort to get it down, the nights have not been kind atm, but what can u expect it's summer So i have not been to fussed as i think due to seeing etc it woun't be great ? I have saved the autoguider logs if u want to look at them ?
Just logged onto the telescope and redid the pec so u could see what i got, pretty sure they were West side.
Also had tracking on, no vibration from what i could feel, very slight on both axes (same), bit of vibration from both black worm boxes when resting hand on them.
If that is your curve before pec then all is good for you as that is showing uncorrected PE of 5 arc sec peak to peak. ie 4 pixels x 1.29
raw data pec shows 4.1 to 4.1, corrected 3.3 to 3.3 not good, waiting for better nights To top that off neither my DSI II pro or the QHY5 guiders work with this mount for me, they connect but don't work properly. I've tried a 258 t-point model asa well for protrack hoping i could take 10 min + unguided images. ROFL as iff ! it's better without protrack than with !
Anyways mustn't ramble on anothers posting
Seems I am not the only fix it man on the SB equipment.
You're Mr. ME to his Mr. MX. Or he's Mini-Me and you're Dr. Evil. Take your pick. Speaking of which, I'm still very much looking forward to viewing your ME video if you'll please upload it to Youtube and post the link.
He has absolutely NOT voided the warranty. The Software Bisque warranty does not work like that. Paramounts do not come with stickers that say "no user maintainable parts inside, removing this sticker voids the warranty." They're not mass produced consumer electronic items or what have you that are meant to be thrown away and repurchased if they fail. Software Bisque do not force users to return their mounts to the factory for minor problems that can easily be repaired in the field. Their service and support is highly practical and personable.
Software Bisque also makes mount parts available for purchase and provides instructions for swapping out said parts in the field. Check the Software Bisque online store and you'll find various and sundry ME parts that have been found to fail and require replacement over the years. I expect MX parts will be added to the store eventually.
Well thats interesting in fact I couldn't find anything about warranty on there site except this
"Software Bisque warrants to the customer that the Paramount MX will be free from defects in mechanical parts (for two years) and all electrical parts (for one year) from the date of delivery. Software Bisque's limited warranty covers only those defects which are the result of normal use, and do not apply to any improper or inadequate maintenance or modification or operation outside the product's specifications."
now usually warranties I've seen go into some more length than this maybe someone could tell me if this is it or is there more, because for as long as I've been alive if you tinker with a new product you void any warranty.
Just a thought and I'm not having a go at SB just curious
Two things would concern me after spending $10000 on a mount
a) you needed to do this
b) you've voided any warranty by doing this
just doesn't makes sense to me, that aside it's a good video
Cheers
Trevor
Software Bisque happily volunteered for me to send my mount back to them. I did not want to be without if for the time so they sent me the worm block and instructions on what to do. So definately no warranty issue. Also they way these mounts are made they are so well engineered and chunky that servicing them if needed seems like a very easy activity.
As far as fact I needed to do this. Well need is probably not the right word. You may have seen some of my recent images and they are VERY sharp. The sales pitch does however indicate an out of the box PE of less than 7 arc sec peak to peak. I want to make sure I get what I paid for. Mine is around 9 from data I have gathered so we will see if new worm sorts out the issue.
Looks like it might be clear tonight so I will find out soon enough. I have this suspicion though that its not going to lower the PE. Not sure why.
Looks like it might be clear tonight so I will find out soon enough. I have this suspicion though that its not going to lower the PE. Not sure why.
Hope is does sort out your PE , but u got to wonder about the Quality control here,as this should not have gone out the door, unless it's due to some other problem unrelated to the mount.
It's the price you pay for being an early adopter of a new product - "bugs" in the system may not have been identified. At least they're standing by you.
I was initially concerned about buying a mount from OS which (at that time) didn't have an Australian distributor. Nonetheless, the RA and DEC motors can be swapped by the user - so if your RA motor fails, you could sub in the DEC motor and keep using the mount. The external computer and hand control could be easily sent back OS for service. So all the bits most likely to suffer problems can be easily detached by the user. From what I've seen in pictures, the Paramounts look like more stuff is "under the hood", but that shouldn't slow down the more confident, mechanically-minded astronomer for too long.
Hope is does sort out your PE , but u got to wonder about the Quality control here,as this should not have gone out the door, unless it's due to some other problem unrelated to the mount.
Thinking the same thing..I was contemplating replacing the NJP with an MX but this thread has convinced me to stick with Takahashi...or maybe I will look at Astro-Physics.
Thanks for that Chris , nice piece if engeneering . Now I know whats under the covers. 
