Olly and Tom's EQ8.

[ollypenrice]

Well ahead of schedule following the unexpected release of three more mounts already in the UK, our EQ8 arrived here in south east France yesterday. Thanks to FLO on all counts. Speedy service, a link to a thread on the tripod and a general air of pleasant goodwill! Two of our guests were here working on another project so we set to and had the whole thing sorted out in a couple of hours, the mount itself taking about half an hour.

I've been doing lots of astro DIY recently so went for the easy and flexiblle solution of the standard tripod. I think this is a brilliant design, with a bevel drive to hold down the mount's centre bolt and a system whereby the weight pressing down on the centre column tends to force apart and stiffen the legs. This is really a tri-pier since the upper part is pier and doesn't collide with the scopes after the meridian, which is important. Assembly was dead easy.

The mount was much as I expected it to be, big and beefy and well up to the job. It must have Gemini origins at some level because the resemblance is clear. I'd consider this good news.

Once assembled we found quite a lot of backlash in both axes. Initial scrutiny and internet homework suggests that this may not be at the mesh of the worm and wheel but at the clutches. I hope that Skywatcher will be open and professional in advising on the adjustment of this backash from whatever source since sending EQ8s back and forth is a silly option. Besides, one never knows how this will play out in practice so before touching anything I'll wait till we've tried it under the stars. It may be fine.

Next came the mounting of the dual rig, Tom's and our Takahashi FSQ106/Atik 11000s which are the intended payload of the EQ8. I'd bought an ADM max guider as the tilt-pan adjuster to put under one of the scopes in order to facilitate alignment. Unfortunately this proved far from capable of carrying the FSQ, rather to my surprise. Maybe ADM will be able to advise before we send it back. (As ever, Steve at FLO was utterly no-nonsense and offered immediate collection and refund.) I'd like to check out that it wasn't us, though, or something we could tinker into behaving itself. Imagine looking through the scope. If you then held to top of the scope you could rock it as if to move the eyepiece from one eye to the other. It didn't move anything like that far but it did move and wouldn't resist flexure as it was.

Fortunately Yves was here working on his resident instruments and kindly offered the loan of his Robin Cassady equivalent. This is a very expensive bit of kit and no longer available since Robin Cassady retired. It works by having two thick plates separated by two large metal balls which ride in conical indentations in the plates. Tilt and pan is contrived by push-pull bolts, as you'd expect. It works very well. Somebody needs to come up with something like this because dual rigs are gaining popularity and guide rings don't cut it with larger scopes, especially short fat ones like the FSQ! Since not much movement is required I don't see this as much of a design challenge. 

I also borrowed Yves' wide side by side bar but will order a short one today.

Two Taks with heavy CCD rigs, Cassady device and a guidescope make for quite a lump. Bolted onto the EQ8, it was instantly clear that this mount would carry a third one without batting an eyelid. (Actually Yves happened to have an FSQ106 about him but we let this megalomaniac idea go past!!!!)  The whole lot felt very solid and well within its comfort zone, though the Dec baclash was easier to feel in the long side by side plate. I have a strong feeling that this is going to work.

The EQ8 has absolute encoders and at present there seems to be no way of telling it to offset the Dec position by 90 degrees in software for the use of a side by side plate. However, some net homework revealed the obvious solution of rotating the puck by 90 degrees. I felt I should have thought of that myself! I'll do it when we are set up outside and I can be sure to turn it through the right 90 degrees once I see where the mount thinks it's orientated.

Balancing this rather unweildy payload proved remakably easy though it is a two man job. It will now sit happily in any position without moving.

Here we are in the sitting room. I now need to take it to bits with the positions all marked up and put it in the observatory. Madame is showing signs of telescope intolerance and must be placated! Personally I think it makes a nice Christmas tree but there we go...

Lower left is Cachou, who was badly hurt recently by getting herself under a tractor, we think. Those SGLers who know her will be pleased to hear that, though she's hobbling, she's doing well and is just as nice as ever. Her hip is peramanently damaged but she's not in pain and can still trot around and get in the way!

Olly

[astronymonkey]

Hi olly, great post, but I thought you said you were banned from puting it together in the livig room.... I suppose a new pair of shoes or even a handbag are on order.

what sort of battery life do you expect to get with that sort of setup as theres a lot to move if driven all night and I suppose the backlash indicates that there is some resistance in the design anyway. Do you feel a 7ah pack would last a night or is 17 with daily charging needed?

cheers

[wxsatuser]

Now the games afoot....following with great interest.

[ollypenrice]

Hi olly, great post, but I thought you said you were banned from puting it together in the livig room.... I suppose a new pair of shoes or even a handbag are on order.

what sort of battery life do you expect to get with that sort of setup as theres a lot to move if driven all night and I suppose the backlash indicates that there is some resistance in the design anyway. Do you feel a 7ah pack would last a night or is 17 with daily charging needed?

cheers

Yes, I was pushing my luck but she saw the look on my little face when it arrived in the rain and she let me set up for test purposes!

I don't know about battery life because we have fixed onservatories here and run on the mains. Our guest sites are also mains fed for those who prefer it. I gather there's a mount (not handset) firmware upgrade which reduces current consumption but this is second hand info. 

Olly

[Earl]

Olly 3 106's is just plain greedy !!!!

Cant wait to see it LOL

Im looking forward to seeing your first light subs, proof been in the pudding.

[Dave_D]

never really been one to suffer from envy of other peoples kit but with all this eq8 malarky going on, i'm definitely getting to look like the Hulks puny brother

just out of curiosity, are you imaging the same object with both scopes and stacking them all?

[Tinker1947]

A thread to follow....

[gingergeek]

Looks wonderful Olly ! We all look forward to hearing more about the setup and seeing the fantastic images you and Tom produce.

[JamesF]

Impressive indeed.  And unlike a christmas tree, it won't drop needles or sap all over the carpet.

James

[Sp@ce_d]

Olly, Re the ADM Max Guider (or HD max?)

Not sure if my problem was in the same area of adjustment but..  I have a mini max & looking at the piccys they have similar Az adjusters. I noticed some rocking on mine & this was caused by them binding and not locking up properly, so coming loose when the temperature drops (also recheck the Alt locking nut). This allowed sideways rocking. I've found the best way is to back them off slightly & then turn back in against each other together. However its a bit hit and miss to finely align. (I also find the smaller scalloped adm knobs harder to get a good purchase on so I've even had to use grips on particular cold evenings)

Its solidly built gear but I do find the adjustment method Skywatcher employs ( I modified mine using ADM saddle)  on its version to be much smoother & quicker. Just not beefy enough for larger scopes.

Edit: Oh and meant to say.. things have to come in threes, go for the 'Triple Shooter' you know you want to..

Edited December 21, 2013 by Sp@ce_d

[swag72]

While I couldn't possibly comment on your new toy  I am nonetheless pleased to hear that Cachou is doing well after her operation :grin:

[tich]

Damn I've got my NEQ6 set up in my living room as a Christmas tree but now it looks puny after seeing this!!!

Very nice Olly.

[ollypenrice]

never really been one to suffer from envy of other peoples kit but with all this eq8 malarky going on, i'm definitely getting to look like the Hulks puny brother

just out of curiosity, are you imaging the same object with both scopes and stacking them all?

Yes, we'll double shoot the same object. We'll need to experiment with regard to how to organize the filters, though. On the one hand shooting, say, L in one and RGB in the other reduces the stacking/calibrating workload which is quite significant when you have such volumes of data. On the other hand the older camera has some columns which take time in Ps to clean up. The noise reduction when combining two cameras' data from a given filter seems to be very perceptible when compared with a stack of the same length from only one of them. So we'll probably do LRGB in both. At a thousand dollars a pop, though, we have an Astrodon 3Nm Ha in only one of them and that won't be changing!! Maybe we'll put an Astrodon 0111 in the other one day.

Thanks for all the encoragement, folks! I'm removing the smaller Tak mount from the intended observatory at the moment.

Olly

[narrowbandpaul]

Good post Olly,

Hope they fix the backlash issue, especially given the cost of the mount.

Glad it is living up to the hype in other areas. Certainly a mount to keep an eye on.

Paul

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Awesome-looking set-up. Why not put four Taks on there for R, G, B H-alpha, or O-III, S-II, H-alpha and whatever else you feel like

[E621Keith]

Very nice set up Olly. 

Do you know what is missing from that X'mas tree - decoration. It needs some cables and colour filters hanging off it and may be a statue of Sir Patrick Moore to go on the top. 

Awesome-looking set-up. Why not put four Taks on there for R, G, B H-alpha, or O-III, S-II, H-alpha and whatever else you feel like

Why not go all the way and build a WASP with eight FSQ.

[Zakalwe]

The clutches (at least on mine) wil barely hold the mouht in RA. Tighten the clutch and then lift the lever and reposition it to allow further tightening. Rinse and repeat.

Mine needs a couple of goes like this to get it fully cinched up. This might cure your backlash issue

[ollypenrice]

The clutches (at least on mine) wil barely hold the mouht in RA. Tighten the clutch and then lift the lever and reposition it to allow further tightening. Rinse and repeat.

Mine needs a couple of goes like this to get it fully cinched up. This might cure your backlash issue

Thanks for that. I'll give it a go, but I don't quite follow the 'reposition it' bit. What do you reposition? We need to persuade SW to give us the clutch adjusting information.

As for more Taks on the rig, it really wouldn't be impossible. Used FSQ 106N scopes do come up second hand, but sooner or later someone will realize how good they are, talk too loudly on the forums, and the price will soar.       Mine ended up costing under £2K by the time Parcel Farce had refunded the price of a new flight case. And I can promise you that it won't be flying anywhere in a hurry so no need for a case!

Olly

[Earl]

Olly I have found a new CCD for you !!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25450068

[ollypenrice]

Olly I have found a new CCD for you !!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25450068

Very decent of you Earl, dear boy, and a happy Christmas to you too! You've got my address, I take it? Think I'll need to update the netbook for processing? 

Olly

[Earl]

Very decent of you Earl, dear boy, and a happy Christmas to you too! You've got my address, I take it? Think I'll need to update the netbook for processing? 

Olly

Well some fool shot it into orbit.... might be hard to get now :|

[Xplode]

Nice setup Olly

It will be interesting how you find the mount when you get it up and running.

I should have my EQ8 running in a few days, need to make a pier to mount it in the astronomy clubs observatory first

It's highly probable that some Tak's will be used on my mount too, a friend has FC60-QB, Sky90, TSA102, FSQ106-ED, TOA150 and Mewlon 210 which needs some imaging time 

[Steve Ward]

Hi Olly ,

The clutch levers Zak referred to have a re-positionable handle , lift the lever arm and the head disengages allowing it to be turned independent of the bolt and then slipped back down again allowing further tightening.

I assume the lever fouls some part of the mount preventing full 360 rotation without this adjustment.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

If you are going to use that GAIA CCD, maybe you could get computing time on Zeus, my nifty little compute server (nothing too fancy, just a 2U rack server with 64 cores and 512 GB RAM (and 6 TB disk). Chews through a 870 Mpixel image in 11 seconds for multi-scale processing)

[Xplode]

Olly will need a larger scope to use the Gaia CCD, it has a total of 106 CCD's with a size of 6cm x 4.7cm each, resolution is 4500x1966 pixels.

Total size of the array is around 0.5m x 1m with a total of 938 MP.

Total area of the array is 2.8m2