Jonny_H

Hi all,

I had another shot at M42 on the 17th Jan. The moon was out in full glory so not ideal but given the beautiful British weather you need to take advantage of any opportunity!

Not a particularly long session with just 25 x 180s lights, darks, dark flats, flats and bias.

I had/have a couple of issues. The first I have seen before whereby the stacked image had a strange oliptical vignetting. I put that down to either lighting from the moon, overcorrecting flats or a bit of both?

Also and as you can see from the images below - most of the stars are slightly elongated but with a 'blip' favouring the bottom left of the star (the best I can describe it). What could be the cause of this? Equipment used is described below:

SW Esprit 100ED, ZWO2600 MC, evoguide 50ED, ZWO120 MM, on an AZ EQ6 all controlled by an ASIAir Pro.

I look forward to your comments and advise.

Thanks,

Jonny

Another attempt from me taken yesterday evening.

25 x 180s lights, 15 x darks, dark flats, flats and bias.

I think something is wrong as I had to increase shadows to drown out a weird elliptical vignetting. Also a number of stars are slightly elongated towards the bottom left?  Anyhow, overall i am reasonably pleased with it when compared with my first ever attempt of Orion

Equipment used: SW Esprit 100ED, ZWO 2600 MC, evogude 50ed and ZWO 120 MM mini on a AZ EQ6 GT. An ASI AirPro is controlling the lot.

Hi all,

I hope everyone is well!

I have had my mount for about a year now and haven't had any issues with it at all. That said, when bringing it indoors this evening after a short session and checking it over as I normally do, I noticed that when I turn the DEC axis (manually), the counterweight bar doesn't turn perfectly straight. There seems to be a slight oliptical movement to it. I should note that the counterweights were not on the bar at the time.

I assume that this isn't anything to worry about as the bar is held by 1 screw on 1 side near the top of the bar so any slight deviation of angle I guess would cause this 'oliptical' movement. However....its in my mind now and I need to seek comfort from you lot 

1 hour ago, scotty38 said:

I'n not on my Linux machine right now but I think it's in the "Education" menu, well it is on Kubuntu, not sure about Ubuntu and Gnome. Let me look at some images of Gnome and see if I can work it out for you but I think you should be able to run Pixinsight --default-modules in a terminal.

If you move your mouse to the top left (I think) corner do you get the apps screen pop up?

Thank you.

I just rebooted and can now see the PI app within the applications folder. Perhaps I was being impatient before and just needed to wait a bit for the app to appear following installation!

7 hours ago, scotty38 said:

Assuming you extracted something like this:

 

open a terminal (command prompt) in this location and type:

sudo ./installer

You should be asked for your password and then answer yes to the install question. Should be all you need to do.

Thanks @scotty38

I have got to the stage where it has installed using your commands above (this was what several forums stated but it must have been the folder naming conventions which caused the initial issues).

However where is the actual 'exe' to open PI once it is installed? It doesn't appear in the applications menu like, for example, APP does?

Sorry for all the questions....I'm new to Linux as you've probably figured out 

Thanks @scotty38

I have got to the stage where it has installed using your commands above (this was what several forums stated but it must have been the folder naming conventions which caused the initial issues).

However where is the actual 'exe' to open PI once it is installed? It doesn't appear in the applications menu like, for example, APP does?

Sorry for all the questions....I'm new to Linux as you've probably figured out

Hi all,

Hoping someone can assist me with this.

My laptop is fairly ancient and struggles now with Windows, so i thought i would install Linux and give that a go.

I have installed pretty much all of my software including APP, however I am really struggling with PixInsight.  It seems you have to have a degree in computer coding to install it!

Ive got as far as downloading the PixInsight file and extracting it to my home directory as per the instructions, but i cannot for the life of me follow the example coding on the PixInsight website or forum to actually install it!

Any help would be gratefully appreciated.

Regards,

Jon

Hi all,

This is the first time I have tried to image the moon. A different ball game than my usual DSO stuff

Any hints and tips in how to image the moon would be gratefully appreciated.

I used my SW Esprit 100ed with ASI2600MC on a SW AZ-EQ6 GT, captured on 9th Jan between light intermittent clouds.

I used AS!3 and PI to stack and process.

Oh go on then, since others are.....

I thought I would put up my go at Horsehead Nebula taken last night (first clear night in what feels like months!).

Not a long session - only 10 x 300s lights, 10 x darks, 40 flats, dark flats and bias.

Taken with an Esprit 100ed and 2600MC Pro, guided using a SW Evoguide 50ED & 120MM mini all controlled by an ASI Air pro.

Stacked in APP and a slight tinkering in PI.

I feel cheated!!

I've spent thousands over a few years and I could have just purchased one of these!

The advertised images are much better than anything I have been able to capture...... 😉

I believe it is a M4. I used one of the screws and washers which came with the EAF.

If i can find the ZWO link which advises on this fitting i will post it on here.

2 hours ago, oymd said:

Many thanks

I managed to install it using the Takahashi bracket.

I used the 2 outermost screws on the focuser.

Your setup is interesting?

Where is that single bolt you used anchored?

It seems it is BEYOND the focuser?

There is a screw hole on the focus knob 'barrel/shaft' (not sure what terminology to use). You can see one at the bottom of the photo on the other knob. This is the one which ZWO advise to use.

On 27/12/2021 at 00:44, oymd said:

Would appreciate if someone can post a pic of the underside of their Esprit 100ED focuser showing how they fixed the ZWO's bracket?

 

I have both the ZWO standard and the ZWO Takahashi brackets.

 

I recall I read somewhere NOT to mess with the 4 screws on the underside of the focuser?

 

Many thanks

Sorry, I've only just seen this.

Here's a photo of mine. I've just used the stock bracket. It's only held on by one screw but it seems secure enough. 

I can't actually remember where I found the instructions but they were ZWO ones specifically for the Esprit 100ED.

5 hours ago, dannybgoode said:

The clutch plate was welded onto the RA mechanism though and has been slightly damaged removing it.  I think it will still be fine for now but does anyone know where to get a replacement?

I would be inclined to email Optical Vision as a starting point. They helped me out in the past with some spare parts. They may ask for some photos of the part you are after etc...

3 hours ago, dannybgoode said:

@Jonny_H - the small bearing is a 60mm outer/41mm inner and 4mm thick,  The large one is 90mm outer, 66mm inner and 4mm thick :).  The holes in the locknut are 4.5mm - a 4mm pin fits them nicely.  

Thanks @dannybgoode 

I've also tracked down the size of the worm shaft bearings too! These are allegedly 608 2Z (I believe these are the metal cover ones).

That's all of them bar the needle roller bearings which are press fitted into either end of both RA and Dec housing. It seems though that these are best left untouched apart from a clean and regrease.

Just now, dannybgoode said:

Now isn’t that just the puppy! I’ve just bought a 3’ steel bar and some M4 bolts to make a suitable tool with however I will bite the bullet and get one of those if this fails to work

It's probably prudent to note that I haven't actually used mine on the mount yet (RA locking nut) but I assume that they will do the trick. It comes with 8 different sized pins and and I'm pretty sure one of them will fit the holes on the locking nut with no issue!

As mentioned though they have saved me in a few other situations already.

I have a Facom 117.B adjustable pin wrench which is great. A little on the pricey side but they have been a lifesaver!

16 minutes ago, david_taurus83 said:

Wonder if there is actually any real benefit to those though. I'd say yes to small worm bearings and needle bearings. If it was me doing it, I just like to be thorough and do them all, that's all.

I think that is my issue. I don't believe my ocd will allow me to replace only 50% of the bearings 😂

23 minutes ago, david_taurus83 said:

Has anyone ever been brave enough to try and remove those inner bearings? 

I am yet to hear of someone who has.

To @dannybgoode's point - if you have the right tools it is possibly a straight forward job. I am thinking something like a slide hammer bearing puller and a press is needed?

19 minutes ago, dannybgoode said:

@chaxastro - @WbRaDy convinced me the service was easy enough to do and so far I’d agree. They also pointed me in the direction of this grease. Apparently it is the goto stuff (pun almost intended).

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01186U64Y/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_DFEPCKNBZ9PXN4AHE692?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

@Jonny_H - happy to measure them once I’ve cleaned them up. My mount is embarrassingly lightly used so I’m not going to change mine. Assuming I actually get some proper use out of it going forward I’ll look to change them next time I do this.

Thanks Danny - much appreciated.

It does look very straight forward. The only thing I have heard that can be a real pain is the RA locking nut. Did you manage to undo yours yet?

Thanks,

Jonny

10 hours ago, dannybgoode said:

Well I've started :). Actually considering the mount is probably closer to 8 years old much of the grease is actually OK but as can be seen from the paper some of it is loppy.

And now I've got going I want to do it all so over the next few days will get it nice and clean and re-greased

 

 

Hi Danny,

Do you know the sizes of the needle thrust bearings? I can see there are two sizes and wondered if you knew or could measure the inner and outer diameters along with the thickness?

Will you be replacing/upgrading yours or are you planning to just clean and regrease?

Thanks,

Jon

I should have read the spec of the 135E a little more closely. I didn't realise that the payload could be increased by using counterweights!

I wonder if the same rule of thumb applies to these mounts as it does for others, e.g. 2/3 of the advertised payload for imaging etc....

Good to hear all is well so far.  What sort of payload are you putting on your 135E?

Hi all,

I was doing a bit of optimistic window shopping last night, looking at things which I cannot really afford (as you do ), and I started looking at the Rainbow Robotics RST-300 mount.

It looks very interesting and uses something called a 'Strain Wave Gear'. Up to a certain weight, which I think the majority of us would fit, you do not need any counterweights. The head itself is very light but can hold a very impressive payload.

That said, at circa £8.5k for just the head, it puts it (give or take a grand or two 😛) in the firing line of some of the biggest names in the business.... 10Micron, Paramount etc...

Interested to hear other views on this. Worth it or stick with the bigger boys?

Thanks,

Jonny

Apologies if I wasn't clear before. Where I said hand controller I meant the dedicated ZWO EAF hand controller. Not the mount hand controller. 

To be honest though I don't really know what the difference is between using the dedicated ZWO EAF hand controller versus using the control commands within the ASIAir Pro EAF screen. Probably nothing at all but again wil have to let someone chime in who has one