Brent

15 hours ago, cloudsweeper said:

Yes Jim - life: to refer to Shakespeare again, we're all just strutting and fretting our parts on the stage before we are heard no more!  Best get the telescope out and enjoy some more simulation!  😉

Doug.

I've not been on here for a while.

Not had my scope out much for the last 4 years. Used it over the summer for a couple of nights just out of interest.

Don't think it will ever be used again and I am more than fine with that.

46 minutes ago, 1parsec said:

It could be one of the internal gears has worn on it's shaft allowing more clearance between the internal gears and increasing the backlash. If that's the case, it is going to be quite an involved fix.

Thanks. I now think this may be the biggest issue then as until PHD2 started to warn of this I had very minimal dec backlash which wasn't a problem to PHD2.
 

46 minutes ago, 1parsec said:

The thing to try first would be to have a small imbalance in the DEC axis so the 'weight' of the scope keeps the gears pressed in one direction which will take up the backlash.

Thanks for the suggestion, I've done this for a long time and last time out also tried guiding in one direction only and RA dithering only. It didn't help the calibration of course but did seem to stop the constant struggle back and forth during guiding.
I was hoping to tackle this at source (which might be beyond me by what you've said), so I will keep an eye out for a replacement drive for the time being if I can get one cheap enough. They seem to be getting rarer to find now though, so failing that an EQ6-R Pro may be on the cards.

My Meade LXD75 is extremely loud and high pitched at full slew. So bad that straight after purchase 8 years ago I immediately changed the HC setting to quiet slew and have left it there ever since. Although I wouldn't describe it as quiet myself, it's comparatively so and cuts the the noise by over half. Takes maybe three times as long to complete a 180 degree slew but I only really image so makes no difference at most twice a night.

It's still loud enough that I wouldn't slew if my neighbours window was open though because I set up only 3 feet from my house, right next to the boundary and live in a semi-detached.

An interesting read following that, thanks.

Probably not something I will ever do myself but have bookmarked it with other guides just in case!

On 07/05/2020 at 12:13, 1parsec said:

Does the motor have an integral gearbox attached ? Can you post another photo of it.

 

 

 

Sorry, been snowed under with work and didn't see this.
The only photo I have at the moment is this, don't know if it will be of any help.
I'd removed the three bolts form the right hand side to try to slide the motor out but the ferrite core (?) won't go through the housing without cutting the wires.
I didn't want to do that there and then but will do if necessary and resolder after. Thanks.

12 hours ago, KevS said:

If the motor shaft is moving longitudinally it probably indicates that  the motor shaft is slightly loose and moving through the bearings, or the bearings are moving in the housing(s); that's really nothing to worry about short term as there is no vertical or lateral play, as when the shaft is "loaded" it will all probably take it up. Although it may be worth your while investigating, if possible what is happening. If you were to reassemble the mount, ensuring that there is the absolute minimum play/backlash in each pair of spur gears all the way through the system and then carefully adjust the worm and wheel mesh you will probably solve it. Also make sure that all of the spur gear grub screws are located on the "flats" of their relative shafts.  When adjusting the worm and wheel backlash, a 1/16 of a turn on the adjustment screws can make the difference between the mount binding and running well. 

K

Thanks for that. I'd got it back together and was outside when you replied, sorry. Everything else feels good and tight so I didn't bother messing with the worm and wheel mesh as I think I managed to sort that a couple of years back, I think the issue is the motor shaft now. Everything was back to 'normal', at least I hadn't made anything worse.

Just as a test as I haven't done it properly before, I guided in one direction and dithered in RA only. Not too happy to dither long term like that but it seemed to work to keep the dec more under control. I haven't stacked anything to see if that will be noticeable yet. An EQ6 Pro purchase may be closer than I thought though!

1 hour ago, KevS said:

Is there a "grub screw" holding the spur gear to the motor shaft? There is normally a "flat" that it sits on. If the bearings are shot on the motor you will probably be able to move the gear and the shaft vertically. I would expect some apparent radial play between magnets, but not vertical or lateral play.

 

K

 

Oh, yes thanks, forgot to say that the grub screw is sat on the flat of the shaft and tight, no detectable movement at all between them. The shaft will also move in and out of the motor housing maybe by about a mm or two, so if I understand what you're saying that would indicate that the bearings have had it?

I have an old problem with massive dec backlash that PHD2 is struggling with and I'm trying to get it sorted now.

I have the motor off and have some play in the gear. After checking that the gear grub screw was tightened down on the shaft (it was), I have realised that the gear shaft turns with the gear and so the play appears to be within the motor itself 🙁

If I was to open the motor up is it likely that there would there be some way of tightening the shaft? Or has the motor had it?

From the error it looked like Python was not installed on the failing installation.

Yes, I suspect you're correct. I should have realised what the problem was sooner, as the netbook never seems to download largish files without corrupting them!

Anyway, I managed to try AT outside whilst dodging clouds and it was a partial success even though I tried my best to thwart it, lol.

After polar aligning and syncing on Betelgeuse (which I realise now I didn't need to do, that's the point!), I started Stellarium and slewed to the Horsehead, took the exposure (Alnitak was in the frame now anyway), and loaded it into AT which failed to solve three times (tried various setting changes each time).

Then, on the fourth attempt at loading the image, I mis-clicked and loaded an M42 sub I'd been testing with earlier. I noticed I'd done it straight away but couldn't get at the 'Abort' button as the log window was covering it and couldn't be moved. Then, of course, AT solved it quickly and slewed, lol.

Anyway, I took the second exposure, looked at it on the LCD and didn't have a clue where it was pointing

Looking in the finder it was pointing about the same distance above Alnitak as M42 is below Alnitak so I am guessing it was in the right place considering where I'd told AT it was looking

Unfortunately, as is always the case with these things, the clouds rolled in properly and I couldn't go on and correct it.

Still, at least AT talked to the mount, I just need to get the solving down better now. I'm REALLY looking forward to being able to image the same target over multiple nights without having to spend 20 minutes trying to re-frame it first!

That sorted it - getting some warnings about mkpasswd and group files needing to be rebuilt (!?!) but it solves anyway - less than a minute for both files I fed it so I'm chuffed with that.

Looking out the window I might even get to try it for real tonight, SHOCK! HORROR!  

Hmmm....after posting I checked both cygwin folders, the working one is 80mb bigger!

Copying it over now.......

Hoping someone can help me with this!

Trying to get AT working on my imaging netbook but get the following log errors (it doesn't even start looking through indices).

Thing is, I have it working and solving on another PC, installed it in exactly the same way, etc. so I'm stumped.

I've re-installed twice with no change.

2015-02-24 17:09:37,453 - astrotortilla - INFO - Connecting to camera...
2015-02-24 17:09:37,467 - astrotortilla - INFO - Exposing: 5.00 seconds
2015-02-24 17:09:41,289 - astrotortilla - INFO - Reading image from camera
2015-02-24 17:09:41,305 - astrotortilla - INFO - Solving...
2015-02-24 17:09:46,407 - astrotortilla - INFO - Reading input file 1 of 1: "/cygdrive/c/Users/Astro/Desktop/IMG_7518.JPG"...

2015-02-24 17:09:47,404 - astrotortilla - INFO - /usr/bin/env: python: No such file or directory

2015-02-24 17:09:48,122 - astrotortilla - INFO -  ioutils.c:602:run_command_get_outputs Command not found: /usr/lib/astrometry/bin/image2pnm.py --sanitized-fits-outfile /tmp/tmp.sanitized.hK2iX8 --fix-sdss --infile /cygdrive/c/Users/Astro/Desktop/IMG_7518.JPG --uncompressed-outfile /tmp/tmp.uncompressed.GUrqaO --outfile /tmp/tmp.ppm.XPL5xl --ppm

2015-02-24 17:09:48,138 - astrotortilla - INFO - augment-xylist.c:585:backtick Failed to run command: /usr/lib/astrometry/bin/image2pnm.py --sanitized-fits-outfile /tmp/tmp.sanitized.hK2iX8 --fix-sdss --infile /cygdrive/c/Users/Astro/Desktop/IMG_7518.JPG --uncompressed-outfile /tmp/tmp.uncompressed.GUrqaO --outfile /tmp/tmp.ppm.XPL5xl --ppm

2015-02-24 17:09:48,154 - astrotortilla - INFO - No solution in 6.8s

Wow, simply stunning! I would make a trip to see an 8 metre print of this.

Some lovely cases and contents here!

RIP Sir Patrick

Although I never had the pleasure of meeting him, it feels like I've lost a friend after watching him all these years.

Thanks Damo, Moonshane & umadog.

Decision made

EDIT: And Tim as well - that sentence definitely seals the deal!

The chesire EP will be more effective than a laser on its own for more reasons than one. It is very easy to think you have perfect collimation with a laser, ie, all the lights bounce off and end up where they should, but in actual fact the mirrors are all askew.

I am about to buy a collimation tool myself, but I can only afford one and I'm in two minds which to go for.

Is there anything that a well collimated laser (plus barlow) cannot do, that a cheshire can?

I have not ordered a "IR/UV blocking filter" yet though. Is it a "need to have" or "nice to have" ?

It is a definite requirement for a couple of reasons:

1. Without it, the ultraviolet and infrared parts of the spectrum are brought to different focus points which creates halos around stars and other objects (good quality reflecting scopes are the exception here I think, but using a filter still creates a slightly sharper image I think!).

2. It closes your webcam sensor off from the elements permanently, which stops dust accumulating on the sensor!

Morgans sell them for around £16 inc. p&p if I remember correctly.

Have fun with your cam, but as I say, I personally wouldn't use it until I had fitted the IR/UV filter.

look here

WcRmac - Description

Great, thanks for that - I'll be giving it a try, the difference looks to be huge!

i may even pop a vid on you tube at some point to show the modes before some says it makes no dif because rgb filters

Please do that - I, for one, would be extremely interested in seeing it

I am just more interested in imaging DSO's than planets (but would like to do both!)

The flashing itself isn't a problem. But I've tried other soldering mod jobs and have failed miserably to the extent of throwing good money away. The thread in the DIY section is great but I'm not capable enough

Sean, thanks for the Astronomiser link.

tonyh66, I know that a good DSLR is infinitely better for deep sky than the long exposure webcam but it is also more expensive to the point that I can't afford one at second hand prices

My skies are very light pollouted so I see imaging as a way of showing me the DSO's I can't readily view easily. I can't get to dark skies often enough (going back to the dark west coast of Scotland in October though, can't wait!)

I think I'll just have to give it a few more months and then try to convince the wife to let me get Dion's pre modded cam.

EDIT: My God, just re-read it and it sounds so "oh woe is me!". There are worse things not to be able to afford in this world, lol

Epic thread, loved reading it!

I'm thinking about pulling the trigger on this from Morgans, but does anybody know of anywhere I could send it to get the LX and Amp Mod done if I want to go that route in the future? (My soldering skills are worse than dire.)

I was looking at Dion's modded SPC900 on eBay but there's no way I'll be able to slide a £100 single payment past the wife!