Dek Rowan Astro

I'll look into that. The T-Pod has tapped holes on the top surface of the tripod head, so some matching clearance holes in the bottom plate of the extension would allow that to be fitted to the T-Pod and then the tube bolted to that. ATB Derek

The 4x smaller holes are just for jigging / work holding and will likely disappear on the next batch. The larger hols are actually just recesses to help in machining the 8 x M6 tapped holes. The main purpose of the tapped hols is to fit 4 x location bolts. These provide a pseudo 65mm dia location stub as per the base of the AZ100, but the screws can be removed if mounting the extension on a fixed pier or tripod that doesn't have the 'usual ' recess. The alternate set of 4 M6 hols provide a slightly smaller (cant remember the dia at the mo) for tripods with a smaller recess. ATB Derek.

There are M12 , M10 and 3/8" UNC inserts which can be changed depending on the tripod used.

It;'s called Ethafoam. ATB Derek

Hello Speedmaster, This is almost certainly due to the worm backlash setting and can easily be adjusted. Damping knobs also provide control of juddering if present. Good front to back balance also helps. How much of a 'dead zone' do you have? I usually set the mesh to have minimum backlash, (about '1/2 of a notch' rotation on the slo-motion knob) as this provides the best combination of smoothness and minimal backlash. ATB Derek.

Soz 😞

Hello R26 OT, Firmware is Alt Az only. I think in order to make the AZ100 perform well in an EQ configuration it's likely there would be some mechanical changes required effectively making it a EQ100. We may look at this at some stage but its not in our schedule at the moment. ATB Derek.

Hello SH, Here is a image of a very quick test we did the other night, bit of a rush job as the clouds were approaching. 30sec exposure using a Nikon DSLR. The star to the top left looks a little elongated, could be a double or camera tilt?, the rest of the frame looks quite good. Indications are promising, but more careful testing would be needed for before making a firm conclusion. ATB Derek.

Hello SH, We have similar kit that will be able to provide a test bed for a few test images if Stu or John don't beat us to it 🙂 ATB Derek

Hi SH, This is something we haven't tested but the mount should be capable of 30sec exposures and within the normal limits of field rotation and focal length etc. What's the typical set up you use and we'll try to duplicate and run a quick test. ATB Derek.

We'll be using alumium for the tube so there's 1/2 a ton saved already 🙂

Thanks John, that's a good starting reference.

Anyone know the weight or can weigh the SW extension? Derek.

HI LOM, The AZ100 interface can turn the motors on/off to enable the mount can be steered manually. I do this on the initial alignment, push to and simultaneous GOTO with motor on to chosen star, then motors off and centre the star precisely using slow mo to sync star1. Repeat for star 2. But, there is increased drag and you do feel the magnetic detents from the motors. The mount can be moved manually, GOTO or a combination of both with the motors on by slipping on the clutches, nudged onto position and it immediately begins to track. Sky Safari does have the jog buttons too. Ultimately with the motors fitted to the mount it is no longer a 'truly manual mount' but it's a 5 min job to simply take the belts off and the mount is returned to fully manual if so desired. Something John and Stu will be able to test to determine when, or if it's necessary and how practical the mount is using slow motion controls. ATB Derek.

Hi DL, Material is on the rack waiting for machine availability / Dave. ATB Derek.

We have material on order to produce a few to test pieces. ATB Derek.

The 'standard' AZ100 doesn't have any serial or WiFi. The encoder output is TTL quadrature. The handset would need to process that using well established methods. ATB Derek.

C'000 There's no reason why you can't use another handset or a home brew to give a readout of position assuming a correctly wired cable set and it can handle the pulse rate from the encoders. ATB Derek.

Almost anything is possible, but bespoke work is entering blank cheque territory 😉 ATB Derek. p.s I appreciated all the comments above.

Externally we call it the altitude lock, within the 4 walls of Rowan we give it the respect it deserves and call it after it's inventor 😉 I think the Nuralyzer will be a distant non memory very soon, eh Alan 😉 Derek

Hello Steve, The AZ100 motor kit will provide several 'modes' of operation:- a) The simplest being (with no DSC Sky safari or hand controller), power up the mount horizontal and pointing South, then push to any area of sky and the mount will track. b) Use Sky Safari- action a SF goto command and the mount will goto that object (we're working on the SF protocol to do this at the moment). c) Use Nexus DSC or NexusII - Serge will be providing a version of Nexus firmware that will issue the goto command from the Nexus database objects. d) Use our own handset with built in object database. Not all these above operation modes will be available initially, ( A and B, C&D later is the current plan ) but with the AZ100 controller firmware being able to be updated by the user via the AZ100 app, it's future proof. Regarding Solar tracking, this will need a relative simple mode to set the sidereal rate (King rate or a rate factor) and would be included in one of the later firmware versions. ATB Derek.

Hello John, As mentioned before, there have been several subtle changes to the design since you tested our development mounts, so your experience of the development mounts probably doesn't reflect the production AZ100. In fact we have a number of customers that have reasonably large OTAs mounted on the AZ100 and operate without counterweights. Our recommendation is to use counterweights to ensure stability of the tripod when required, not to provide smooth movement. Counterweights also help reduce the pointing error due to the tripod head flexing which can become apparent when using a DSC and high magnification. ATB Derek,

Hello SGLers Good progress with the tracking. Testing last night with push to / track and also full GOTO. We're now working on the interface with Skysafari and soon be able to send a couple of AZ100s out to the SGL testers for field (sky) trials. ATB Derek.

Hello OMO, The first few saddles didn't have the tapped holes as we didn't envisage the alt adjuster at that time, otherwise the saddles are identical. All the D and the DV saddles now have the tapped holes. If you need to fit a alt adjuster or P+T handle at any time, drop the saddle back to us and I'll do the mod. BR Derek.

Bit too early, but should be in a position to give a price indication approaching the trial stage. ATB Derek.