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Automating a 2.1 metre Pulsar Dome. Phase Two- Motorised Shutter
By
sloz1664, in DIY Observatories
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By skybadger
Hi all
I am finally getting to the point of having a working dome and shutter driver from an electronics point of view:
I have alpaca controllers and drivers for both, sensor switches in place for the shutter travel, encoder for the dome rotation, relay latch for unlocking the shutter, motor drivers for the opening motor.
I've also put in place a bicycle-wire based winch system to raise and lower the lower shutter on an endless rope system.
What's missing is this:
When winching, the lower shutter rises on the rails up the slot and under the lower shutter to a certain point and then brings the upper shutter with it by virtue of pressing under the bottom edge.
When the lower shutter raises to a certain point on the cycle, gravity takes over, the top part of the shutter unhooks from the lower part and slides down the back of the dome with a a crash into the buffers.
I'd really rather that didn't happen, since the buffers and the dome they are attached to wont last long doing that regularly.
I tried putting shock cord elastic between the two so the larger upper part couldnt run away but the lengths are wrong and wouldnt allow the shutters to close properly with the right length to prevent or at least dampen runaway.
What I am looking for is ideas to prevent this happening in a reliable way so the dome automation can do its job, night after night.
What I find is writing about the problem also helps me think about it, so hope this is useful.
The winch system:
The bicycle wire system has rollers on the inside of the shutter rail that guide the wire that is pulling the shutter up , which is fastened to the lower edge of the lower shutter. The wire goes up to the top of the dome, round a pulley and then back again, this time inside bicycle wire guide tube which mean I can more or less run it where I like with a small amount of give. In this case it runs back along the rail down to the winch. The wire wraps around the winch about 3 or 4 times and then fastens on the shutter again.
Ideas:
Something to make the upper shutter stick to the driven lower shutter on the way up and come apart on the way down ...
Something to dampen the crashing of the shutter into the buffer...
hope this stirs your creative engineering juices.
Mike
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By ACross
I have a steel pier for sale. This was purchased along with a pulsar dome and believe it is an older Pulsar model. The pier sat in a yard, exposed to the elements for a few years before I purchased it so there is some surface rust and flaking paint but will clean up nicely. £250 and buyer will need to collect from Suffolk.
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By Ursa Jaffa
Hi,
I'm after some advice on dome slaving. I have a Pulsar 2.2 metre with the dome rotation kit (and two equipment bays) arriving at the end of November and I'd like to slave it to the hand controller rather than buy Maxim DL, SGP etc.
Is this possible? My mount is a CGX-L with the standard handset. I use SharpCap Pro to capture images and I am not looking to change my setup drastically nor spend anymore money at this point given what the observatory has cost me.
Thanks in advance!
Adam
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By hughgilhespie
Hi,
I need to lift off the dome of my 2.2 metre Pulsar observatory so I can smooth out the joints between the 4 sections. They are causing problems when the dome is rotated. When I bought the dome it was installed by Pulsar so I have no experience of lifting the dome on or off the walls. My plan is to use 4 Acrow props to do the lifting so I can do it as a one man operation. I assume that it is best to place the props outside the dome and lift using the edge of the dome. Can I ask anyone with experience of these Pulsar domes if this is the right way and are there any snags?
Thanks, Hugh
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