oymd

I rechecked. Grease is only in the edges and not the surfaces. I am thinking that I am doing the tightening of the lock nut wrong. There are THREE ELEMENTS: 1- The silver collar with the holes in it 2- The black lock ring 3- three grub screws. I am confused about the SILVER COLLAR and where it’s starting position should be? I think my problem is here. On reassembly, SHOULD THE SILVER COLLAR be screwed all the way clockwise? Clockwise RELEASES THE CLUTCH and exposes more of the BLACK LOCK NUT and moves the silver collar up flush with the mount Or should I assemble with the SILVER COLLAR screwed OUT COUBTERCLOCKWISE? Counterclockwise STIFFENS THE RA and covers more of the black lock nut? As you can see in the Pic, there is now a SPACE between the silver collar and the mount, which I think is WRONG? So should I try to redo with the silver collar screwed all the way UP TO THE MOUNT BODY IN THE RELEASE POSITION?

My problem is the other way around. the RA is loose and won’t lock

CIRCLIP PLIERS. THE BENT ONES

Ok. I’m ready to put everything back. I assembled the RA. IT ROTATES VERY VERY SMOOTHLY. ONLY PROBLEM IS: NO MATTER HOW TIGHT I PULL THE RA CLUTCH, it still moves with minimal force? Is that normal, since I have not assembled the DEC yet? I made sure that there was no grease on the black cardboard clutch plate? And tightened the black bottom ring and 3 grub screws VERY TIGHT?

Well, I spent the past hour using steel wool from the kitchen and copper paste to smooth the inner surface. Still would not fit. finally put the worm gear in boiling water for about 30 seconds, burnt my hands, and finally it fit!! Strange. Once it’s in place, rotates smoothly as butter.

Sorry to resurrect this thread. Yesterday I had strange behaviour in RA, so I decided to completely strip the mount. DEC and RA. I followed the video to the letter, and it was actually easy, but I am STUCK AT A PROBLEM The RA axis is pristine, no rust at all. I replaced ALL the grease everywhere with the thick brown grease. I am faced with just one problem. And it’s not on the RA. It’s on the DEC. Last time when I dismantled the DEC, I did not touch the golden brass worm gear. This time I followed the video in detail, and tried to remove the golden brass worm gear on the DEC. It’s completely stuck!! I had to go circumferentially very carefully and gently with a flat head screw driver to lift it off, and it took plenty of WD40 to get it done. THERE IS NO RUST, but it was clearly stuck. In the video I can see it’s a VERY TIGHT FIT, but he removes it with ease, and puts it back with some pressure. In my case, I tried to put it back, but it will simply not go back in place without considerable force, and still gets stuck?! Should I gently use a metal file and smooth the inner surface of the brass worm gear?? Or is it normal for it to be a VERY VERY tight fit so that it grabs the axis and forces it to rotate when the gear is rotating?

Ok, so tonight I tried something different. NO HAZE, and the sky is definitely cleaner, but NOT GREAT. I am in Bortle 7-8 I decided to image M31. I had imaged it a couple of months ago using the same imaging train with the WO Star 71, and the result was quite good. I imaged 300s subs, Gain 120 and offset 30, which is the dfault. I NEVER CHANGED those settings, and was not aware that I should change them depending on the image or filter? So tonight I decided to try with: 1- Optolong UV/IR filter 2- NO filter 3- Optolong L-eNhance, but on ANOTHER target, specifically IC1805. ALL SUBS were 180s, Gain 120, Offset 30. 1- First sub of M31 with Optolong UV/IR. ABORTED obviously 2- First sub of M31 with NO filter. ABORTED obviously. First one is stretched by NINA, and second one with stretch removed. 3- First sub of IC1805 with Optolong L-eNhance. Will continue a run of 60 subs and see what the result is.

Yes, its not the actual target that I am concerned about here. It is the quality of the image and the sky around the nebula. This is a CALIBRATED master image, processed in PI. The sky is horrendous, and the dust motes are everywhere!

The gain and offset have been the same, and I never changed them. I think it was 120 and 30, I'll check, but I never changed it in NINA, and I had imaged dozens of targets successfully over the past few months. The only thing I changed was removing the WO Star 71 scope, and replacing it with the Esprit and the UV/IR filter, as I was aiming to image M33, but it was too low. With regards to FLOODED WITH LP, what I meant was: In the IMAGING tab in NINA, just I saw the first sub come in, it was like I was imaging at dawn, or sunset. It was completely dark, but the image was just GREEN when NINA applied the debayer and autstretch to the sub preview

That was on my mind. That's why in my post I highlighted the fact it was brand new and in box, and it was clean and pristine. I am planning on imaging without it tonight. What do you think of the focus? NINA gave me a good V-Curve, but I do not have a bhatinov mask large enough to check visually.

Good evening everyone. Had been away from my rig on travels abroad since 22nd November. My Esprit was stored in a cupboard in a warm room inside the house, surrounded with desiccants, and a plastic bag including 5 desiccant pouches tied with a rubber band on the flatteners side. Yesterday was my first night imaging. (This is NOT in the UK) No clouds, temps were around 18C. There was some haze. Do not know how to describe it really. Sky was clear, but visually I could not see plenty of stars. I am yet to configure the EAF properly on the Esprit. The BACKLASH setting is driving me crazy. Anyways, after I think I got the autofocus set properly in NINA, and got a V curve, I attempted M42. At 120s, all the subs were just FLOODED with light and overexposed. Tried M45, and again, anything over 120 seconds was just flooded with GREEN. So, I tried M42 at 60s. I imaged 60x60s. 294MC Pro, with the Optolong UV/IR 2" filter (brand new and just taken out of its wrapping for this imaging session) The first images coming in showed HORRENDOUS DUST and LP Undid the imaging train, and everything VISUALLY looked fine. Used my Giottas air blower on EVRYTHING, and redid M42. Less motes, but still plenty! Took flats and Dark Flats with my Geoptik Flat panel. WBPP in PI, and the result is TERRIBLE?? What's going on here? Flats seem to be infective? And the result is terrible. At the very least, is the FOCUS good? Attached is the processed image in PI, as well as raw Master Light, and Master Flat, as well as M42 imaged in early November with same exact rig and from same location, except with WO Star 71. masterFlat_BIN-1_FILTER-NoFilter_CFA.xisf masterLight_BIN-1_EXPOSURE-60.00s_FILTER-60s_RGB.xisf

Yes, agreed. It was unfortunate that I left the mount overnight in the garden, and even more unfortunate that the water incident was followed by a 40 day period of non use. A perfect recipe for rust! Very careless and silly on my part.

Thanks Wim Yes of course, it was silly of me to even ask that question. I reassembled with the bearing plate sandwiched between the 2 washer plates! With regards to the encoder, I do not see any markings at all? Even on my image? How does it work? I thought the encoder would have some kind of clear markings or grooves to tell whatever is scanning it some kind of positional information. And since I’ve dismantled and re constructed the mount tonight, do I need to do some kind of reset in software in EQMOD? Or just simply carry on like nothing happened?

I would like to start by thanking everyone on this thread! You have helped me immensely. I think I also missed quoting @AstroKeith So, I disassembled the mount tonight. There was a large amount of RUST and the Dec axis was frozen at the part just above the clutch. There was a fair amount of rust on the OUTSIDE OF THE CW BAR HOUSING and the INSIDE OF THE OPENING WHERE THE CW HOUSING EXITS THE MOUNT. Now, you might ask, why the heck is there so much rust centered on the most dependant part it the mount? I now can deduce what exactly happened? Back in November last year, on my LAST imaging session, I left the mount outside in the garden to complete about 5 hours on the Rosette. I planned to wake up early BEFORE the sprinklers came on in the garden at about 6am. I did wake up on time, but I just missed the sprinklers by about 30 seconds. There was very light water on the BOTTOM of the mount and tripod, but I managed to carry it back onto the porch away from the water. I used my endoscope then to check inside the mount, and I could not see any water ingress, so did not really bother. On looking on the OUTSIDE of the mount, there was some moist and damp at the area of the clutch. I was travelling back to London in 48 hours, and had no plans to image again. I used a hair blow dryer for about 20 minutes on the clutch area, and also wrapped it with a dew heater band for about 24 hours on maximum setting. I travelled the next day, and COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT THE INCIDENT till I saw the rust tonight!!! There must have been some ingress at the clutch area, and it had a full 40 days or so to rust happily until I tried to balance the Esprit a couple of days ago! I never gave the sprinklers incident a second thought, and I believed I got away with it! Anyways, the reason that there was a few degrees of rotation, and then a KNOCK, is that there was rust seizing some kind of bearing on the INSIDE of the opening at the BOTTOM of the mount where the counter weight bar exits the mount. Tonght I could rotate it with my hand about a 10th of a full rotation either way, and then it would grind to a halt. I spend a good 4-5 hours brushing all the surfaces showing rust with a scotch brite sponge and a toothbrush with PLENTY of WD40 Everything was smooth and clean at the end As advised, I used White Lithium grease on all surfaces, and indeed, everything is smooth as butter now. Connected the mount in NINA, and slewed in all directions, sorted out the backlash and no binding to report. Will try an imaging session tomorrow. THANK YOU EVERYONE Especially, thanks @wimvb

@wimvb Can I please check. Is this the final correct sequence at the bottom? Bearing, then 2 smooth rings then clutch?

I’ve brushed it well. It’s rolling freely. What is this ring btw? is this the encoder ring? are these markers encoders or rust marks?

Done.

That’s just one part. When I’m done I’ll update

When I’m back in London for sure. Im currently abroad, so no option but to use these.

LAST QUESTION DO I GREASE THESE THREE RINGS? THE ONE WITH THE BEARINGS IS COVERED IN RUST. I’LL TRY TO CKEAN IT WITH WD40 AND A TOOTHBRUSH

And then TWO OF THESE ABOVE EACH OTHER THEN THE CLUTCH?

THIS ONE GOES FIRST: Right?

Ok. I’ll use white lithium grease. I think I forgot the sequence of the BOTTOM RINGS just above the clutch. THERE ARE THREE. ONE HAS SMALL BALLS AND BEARINGS AND TWO ARE SMOOTH. AM I RIGHT AT: THE ONE WITH BEARINGS GOES FIRST ON TOP THEN THE TWO SMOOTH ONES, THEN THE CLUTCH, THEN THE LOCKING RING?

RUST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m mid way through! I think I’ve found the problem. when putting the things back, can I use COPPER GREASE I have for my bikes, or white lithium grease? Nit sure what the shiny encoder ring is?