michael8554

"What do other users use to keep it from coming unscrewed?" An image would help, as it's not clear from the descriptions whether this nut is expected to be tight enough to lock against the surface it's adjacent to. Or whether it's supposed to lock with a clearance to allow Alt to rotate with minimum slop. Michael

Very rarely do manufacturers specify torque settings for OTA and mount fixings. Try a locknut, spring washer, or Loktite on the threads. Michael

What is the light source ? What exposure, it's underexposed ? Michael

Bottletopburly is referring to the EQMOD "ASCOM PulseGuide setting", a well documented trap for the newbie. While on the subject of EQMOD, why does it take so many settings to drive an EQ mount ? The ASCOM driver for my Meade LX200GPS has about five settings. Just saying...... Michael

The P1000 focal length is "24 - 3000mm Equivalent". My reverse engineering of that is: If you took an image from a Full Frame 24mm x 36mm sensor camera with a 379mm FL lens. And cropped it to a 6.47mm x 4.5mm FOV (the P1000 sensor size) On a screen that would look like a Full Frame image taken with a 3000mm FL lens. So the P1000 actual FL is about 3 - 379mm. Michael

Hi Mark. What equipment ? My experience of Planetary yielded soft images, due to atmospherics, that responded well to advanced sharpening processing. Michael

Hi Matt 1) Gather all the cables linking equipment on the scope and attach to the scope. Attach the rest in a smooth loop to the top of a tripod leg. 2) Cals were much better, less backlash in them, accepted by PHD2. Still showing bunched steps, which is stiction that might have a bearing on the guiding results. 3) Dec Backlash Compensation is still Disabled ? Which reminds me, if the mount or any software other than PHD2 has any sort of Backlash Compensation, this should be disabled to avoid confusing PHD2. 4) None of your logs show a Guide Assistant run. This should be a daily operation after a good Cal. It will suggest settings for that night's conditions, and measure the PA error (no worse than 5arcmins is good enough). And occasionally tick the "Measure Backlash" box to get a Backlash Comp setting. 5) For test purposes run the GA for a worm period, so that the mount's PE curve can be inspected. 6) How is the scope balanced ? East-heavy might help to minimise the overshoots caused by stiction in RA. Michael

See me in my office after Prayers........ Michael

Hi Matt Overall guiding was good "RA = 0.63 arcsec, Dec = 0.41 arcsec". But the Peaks were "RA = 3.38 arcsec, Dec = -2.17arcsec". 1) The Calibration threw up a warning "Last Cal Issue = Difference," Guide rates were measured to be "Norm rates RA = 10.9"/s, Dec = 9.6"/s;" Probably due to not clearing Dec Backlash before the Cal, PHD2 had to apply 7 steps before Dec started to move. And see how the RA and Dec pulses are bunched up into pairs and triplets, possibly due to Stiction: 2) There are 2 arcsec spikes in Dec that might be due to Backlash. The log shows "Backlash comp = disabled, pulse = 932 ms" ?? 3) A few of the frequent RA spikes coincide with Dec spikes. But most are random. There aren't any significant fast spikes in the freq analysis, just the 122s one. So reasons may be due to wind, stiction, cable snags - post a image of the setup ? Michael

Oh I see you've also posted this in the "Imaging" section, what a waste of my time repeating what's already been requested....... Michael

Which software ? Image of info pages ? Michael

Were the failures the same ? For that much money I'd try to get them repaired - are there any obviously damaged components ? Also check for an underlying reason for the failures - lightning, or humid conditions, or very hot conditions, or spikes on the power supply voltage. Michael

"i took it up to 1600 and it came out like snowed out " You can get that if you take a LiveView image. Michael

Yep, for once us amateurs came to the same conclusion as the PHD2 guys, a cable snag. They suggested setting up at the same Alt and Az, to see what may be catching. Michael

That wasn't a Star Trek reference, they look like the wing-mounted engine nacelles of an airliner........... Michael

Yep, the engine nacelles are dimly lit. Michael

Pretty much covered in your Cloudy Night posts. You should implement the suggestions there first, there's no magic fix in this case. Michael

As you've already posted this on the PHD2 help site, you should try their suggestions before contacting us "amateurs". Michael

1) Not sure what you mean by your first reply 2) The hole in the adapter and pier should only be large enough for the bolt to pass through. If it's much larger then you could try a thick "Penny Washer" or "Fender Washer" to help the bolt head bite. Images of both problems would help ? Michael

"There is a lot of play before the scope moves up and then down when turning. " Do you mean that you have to turn the jack screw a lot before the mount starts to move ? Sounds like the thread in the mount is stripped or worn. "I’ve always had issues with the mount sitting properly on the Pulsar pier adapters (I’ve bought two) as it rocks when on and tightened as much as possible" Are the bolts "bottoming out" - they are too long, so can't be screwed any further ?

You should learn how to guide your current mount. To avoid the same problems with a new mount. Michael

What have you already tried ? 1) The lower locking knob unscrews and allows the tray to be removed ? 2) The upper locking knob can be released ? 3) But the shaft itself refuses to unscrew ? There's no reason for glue in that area during manufacture, but who knows. Screw two nuts onto the thread on the lower end of the shaft, and lock them together. Then try to unscrew the nut nearest the top of the shaft. As the two nuts are locked together the shaft should start to unscrew, not the nuts. Michael

My TAL-1M was given to my wife by the school she worked for. They had it for years but had never used it. I went to collect it and was presented with two stout wooden boxes stencilled with Russian writing. The steel tubing inside looked like parts for a shoulder-mounted missile launcher ! Michael

Just checking you know that the mirror has to locked up before you insert a Clip-In filter in a Full Frame DSLR. To prevent the mirror action being fouled by the filter. Michael

Okay, so I'm not sure what you want to know ? Michael