teoria_del_big_bang

I think the adjustable flattener is a great idea, unfortunately is cam on the market just after I bought mine otherwise I would have loved one. Steve

Do you have a filter in between flattener and camera. if so you need to add 1/3 of the filter thickness to the 11.4 mm. Steve

My flattener for my Z73 is the fixed one so that is what I have to do but I believe the adjustable one means you have done the right thing. Steve

Then yes I agree too close 🙂 Steve

I am not sure - is that the whole frame or a crop ? My eyes are not the best but all the stars look slightly elongated but in same direction (to my weary eyes anyway) Steve

Do you mean this diagram (last post on page) https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/225831-flattener-spacing/ Steve

I hope this is a solution for you to enjoy this wonderful facility 🙂 Steve

Have you had this mount from new or bought 2nd hand? Having stripped one of these down and replaced the gears myself when I also did the Rowan belt mod I would agree with the comments above it has to be connected with the worm or the gear that meshes with the worm. It could be a damaged tooth as suggested, It could be dirt but I would expect this to move around a bit and maybe be more intermittent rather than absolutely once per rev. It could also just be binding. When I put mine back together I was determined to get rid of any backlash and my first attempt looked fine to begin with absolutely could see no backlash in the worm. But when I mounted the scope and CB weights even when balanced it would bind once per rev of the worm and occasionally would miss a step of the stepper at the tight spot. I had to slacken everything off just ever so slightly. So for sure on mine I cannot totally eliminate backlash as I have to set it with zero backlash when it was tending to bind which means some slight backlash when the worm is at 180 degrees from this. Anyway what I mean to say is maybe if it is 2nd hand somebody did the same and the gears are getting very tight once per rev. If you turn the worm by hand when not under power you can feel it. The graphs tends to indicate this I think in that it hits a tight spot then loses position and PHD2 is sending correction pulses but nothing changing for a while then all of a sudden it goes but then goes too far because of the pulses that were sent and so PHD has to back-track and send opposite direction pulses. But again a broken tooth could show the same effect. Check the worm and the meshing gear as it has to be in there. You do not need a full strip down to do that is it quite easy to get to and adjust (although fiddly and time consuming because it only needs a very small adjustment each time. Look here if you haven't already done so to see how to adjust. heq5-rebuild It's basically this section: Steve

Hi, There was a very recent thread on SGL only a few weeks ago about the exact same. william-optics-zs-66-sd-flattenerreducer Upshot of it was (I think) that the flatteners are now discontinued but the OP was looking for a substitute. I would look at this thread and maybe message the OP to see if they managed to get a substitute and where from. Steve

From my understanding you add a third of the filter thickness to the train to allow for refraction inside the filter. So the distance would be 43.5 + 0.67 mm, so would be more like 44 mm. Also I think you need to put your filters as close to the camera as possible to prevent vignetting, not have the spacer in between but have the spacer the other side between the filters and the optics. At 2" probably fine where they are sorry. Like I say this is my understanding but I am sure I will be corrected if I am wrong. 🙂 Steve

That's my understanding

Again, unless I have misunderstood we are talking about a semi-circular slot here under the big bolt with the knob. So when loosened slightly the black plate can rotate to align. So again like you I wondered if there was another hole further round for the big bolt to screw into.

I know and this was after removing the scope etc. sort of a last resort if you cannot get it any other way/

I must admit I never contemplated doing this with the scope and CB weights attached but unless I am missing something one of the two top plates need to rotate more than it is doing right now. So if I have understood then one of two things have to occur to get the polar alignment. The black one cannot rotate far enough because the bolt ringed by the OP is hard up against the semi circular slot in the black plate. So to rotate any further the slot needs to be longer (not possible easily) or there needs to be another threaded hole for the thread on the bolt to go into. For the orange shiney plate to rotate any more there needs to be other threaded holes in the pier for the 3 or 4 dome headed bolts to screw into. But yes do not try that without at least removing the scope and the CB weights, if not the mount as well. The other thing that would get a very small amount of extra movement is to relieve the threads on the part of the bolt (ringed by the OP) that are in contact with the black plate to allow it to rotate that tad further.

I have a purpose built Aurora flatfield generator but had issues with that. Maybe my own making I am not sure, just one of them things that when you get it to work you leave it. It is too bright driven direct from 12V if I use a cheap dimmer these work by switching the current on and off very fast to reduce the effective voltage whilst still giving 12V pulses then I suffer from banding on the flats. Now maybe if I stack enough of them it will cancel out the banding as the bands will not all line up but I just never liked it. Needed around 4 sheets of white printer paper to get brightness somewhere near at 12V input. If I used most 12V power supplies also got some banding, again due I suspected to the switched mode nature rather than the old transformer type, again maybe okay when stacked I never tried that. In the end used 4 sheets of paper as well as the white plastic diffuser and always use a 12V battery for the supply to make sure it is smooth DC supply and not a chopped supply. Steve

Steve

Now everybody will be wearing a badge with Kev on it 🙂 Steve Kev

Or can you get a drill into the slot to drill another hole and tap it to give a second tapped hole further on than the existing one ?

It is not ideal but you could get somebody with a lathe to "neck" the bolt. Similar to below. This would give you a little bit extra movement. So the thread is the same size but the top section that is slightly longer than the thickness of the plate with the slot in it is narrower which might give another 1/2 degree of movement (maybe ??). Otherwise you need the slot in the plate making longer in one direction.

Is the issue that the bolt going vertically down (with the knob on it and ringed in your 2nd picture) hits the edge of a semi circular slot in the mount base ? Or am I misunderstanding? And do you know how far you are out? Steve

Hi, I know it works but issue I had was that I was connecting my desktop with dual screen to my laptop with one screen and could only duplicate the laptops one screen whereas with remote desktop you can use multiple screens it is not just a mirror image of what can be seen on the laptop. So I was wondering what the reasons for not using remote desktop was, are there advantages to using TeamViewer, if it is better for some reason then I am very interested. Thanks Steve

Sorry @masjstovel I do not mean to hijack to thread but can I ask @carastro and @tooth_dr if you find advantages to Teamviewer as opposed to the Windows built in Remote Desktop? I have used Teamviewer in the past but had issues displaying on two screens of my desktop so reverted back to Remote Desktop. Is is something to do with file transfer you found better? Steve

You mean splash-proof extension-cord or 12adaptor? The extension-cord is IP44 standard, so thats splash-proof with lids on it. I will definately look into the 12V 5A. plug size is 5.5mm x 2.1mm right? I've found several of these. I just meant to have a splashproof box with lid in which you have your 240V plugs like the UK one shown in the link. I think what Carole has suggested is perfect. It was just that a 240V reel as you showed is not good to leave out all night as in the morning it will be we through with dew forming on it so will be dangerous to you. Yes the 12V socket for the camera cooling is 5.5mm x 2.1mm centre positive. The recommendation is actually to use a 3A to 5A supply but the camera specification states the cooling is 2A maximum at 12V so you should have plenty in hand to run a dew band or two and an auto-focus unit later with a 5A supply, Also do not forget not all will probably be running at the same time to the maximum current. What do you mean by this? I'm sorry, my english isnt 100% Never apologize for your English. Your English is excellent and if I had to carry out this conversation in Norwegian then I would be very embarrassed . I just meant that the camera cooling takes up to 2A so do not use a real cheap cable that sometimes have really thin cables, use a good quality cable. This was my intention yes. I don't understand the solution with the HUB - can you explain how this would be? Wouldn't the HUB need to be connected back to the computer inside, and the cable-length still be a problem? Or you mean something like the ASIAIR? Sorry I think I have just confused you here. I was just really asking the question how you were going to get the 3 USB cables back to your computer indoors so I understood what you were intending to do. The current plan is to use a Bahtinov (my friend is 3D-printing one as there are so few astrogear-suppliers in Norway), and just go back and forth between scope and computer until i'm satisfied. Further down the line i will maybe go for an auto-focuser with software, but for now i feel i must start up with the equipment i have provided. The need for more gear never stops in this business I've learned All I can add is that this is how I stared off. I did have a little further to walk 10M usb cables used instead of 5 M but I found this method really frustrating and difficult to achieve good focus. I did manage better with 2 people and had my wife shouting out which way to go but it was no easy. But without an auto focuser the only other way is to have the screen next to you whilst you focus. If you have a laptop then this is easily done but if you only have a desktop or tower then this is probably not possible. When I had a very similar setup using a tower computer I borrowed my wifes tablet and whilst focussing used team viewer that Carole mentioned to temporarily get a display that mimicked my desktop next to the mount. It worked like a treat. Took 5 minutes to focus with the Bahtinov then stopped teamviewer and went back to my tower, and the wife had her tablet back. Also a good idea to just recheck the focus just before starting the imaging session as can change slightly in the minutes taken to get on target and frame your target etc with a few test shots and with the tablet it so quick and easy. But if you are walking back and forth then you probably will not bother as it is too much trouble just for a very fine adjustment.

Many thanks to all who have replied the help is much appreciated. Steve

Yes, sorry I will ensure this is enabled next session (if the clouds do ever go) Steve