Zwo harmonic mount pretty much confirmed

[wimvb]

The way I interprete ZWO’s statement, they can either opt to program the pe into the mount, or provide a paper copy of the pe with the mount as a certificate. The former seems quite useless if pe depends on load, position and/or balance. The other is useless either way.

( now Russell Crowe’s lesser of two weavels comes to mind)

[The Admiral]

1 hour ago, powerlord said:

your guiding has to do a fair bit of work then, guiding out 20" every 10 mins ?

I think that has been the general interpretation. It, or rather harmonic mounts in general, need short guide exposures and frequent control pulses.

Ian

[The Admiral]

I assume that you've all seen that FLO are now listing the ZWO AM5?

Ian

[The Admiral]

Well, I've bitten the bullet and ordered the AM5 and tripod! I'm not usually an early adopter and whether I've done the right thing, only time will tell, but besides the relentless cloud we've been having, I've been having trouble with my back which has prevented me from transporting all my gear from around the house and setting up, on those few clear nights, so it's time for a change to lighter gear all round. The Rainbow RST-135 does have a track record, and is lighter, but I'm not prepared to shell out that much. Even so, the AM5 costs as much as my GEM45! Still no manual available yet!

Ian

[Macroscopic]

I’ve tried to read (and understand ) about the potential pitfalls with a harmonic mount on CN and to me the largest issue will be guiding. I haven’t read all 90+ pages of the RST135 thread, however it would seem this post was the most interesting.

How will everyone else who is/may be taking the plunge be guiding?

As I’m new to AP I think I’m going to get a WO 50mm guide scope, ASI 462MC (as it’s very IR sensitive), IR pass filter and connect it up to the ASIAIR Plus.

[SimonHutch]

I’m thinking I’m going to pull the trigger and order one. For me the portability of this to use out and about at dark sky sites is a total win!

[The Admiral]

32 minutes ago, SimonHutch said:

I’m thinking I’m going to pull the trigger and order one. For me the portability of this to use out and about at dark sky sites is a total win!

So I shalln't be alone then!

Ian

[The Admiral]

Don't forget to look at the Q&A tab for the AM5 on the ZWO site. Worth a perusal. 94 questions so far!

https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/product/zwo-am5-harmonic-equatorial-mount

Not sure how different this page is.

https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/tutorials/am5-faq-35-things-you-want-to-know-about-zwo-am5-mount.html

Ian

Edited January 23, 2022 by The Admiral

[raadoo]

14 hours ago, Macroscopic said:

I’ve tried to read (and understand ) about the potential pitfalls with a harmonic mount on CN and to me the largest issue will be guiding. I haven’t read all 90+ pages of the RST135 thread, however it would seem this post was the most interesting.

How will everyone else who is/may be taking the plunge be guiding?

As I’m new to AP I think I’m going to get a WO 50mm guide scope, ASI 462MC (as it’s very IR sensitive), IR pass filter and connect it up to the ASIAIR Plus.

This is what I'm getting from my RST-135 with a 290MM Mini, 1.25" Red filter and 0.5" guide exposures, through the dinky little ZWO OAG. That silly little OAG isn't holding the 290MM quite right and I'm getting elongated stars but that doesn't seem to negatively affect the guiding. You shouldn't have any of those issues through the WO 50mm guide scope, though.

[alexbb]

1 hour ago, The Admiral said:

Don't forget to look at the Q&A tab for the AM5 on the ZWO site. Worth a perusal. 94 questions so far!

https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/product/zwo-am5-harmonic-equatorial-mount

Not sure how different this page is.

https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/tutorials/am5-faq-35-things-you-want-to-know-about-zwo-am5-mount.html

Ian

The answers 🤣

[SimonHutch]

22 hours ago, The Admiral said:

So I shalln't be alone then!

Ian

Indeed! Order in 👍🏼

[SimonHutch]

18 hours ago, alexbb said:

The answers 🤣

Thanks, we will consider! They are pretty fascinating replies 🤣 I’ve often found procrastinating about things means always waiting for the next new thing that will be coming along! Not this time…

[gorann]

Maybe this one has been noted in the thread, but if not I just had an email-ad from Artesky of another harmonic drive mount at a very reasonable price:

https://www.telescopi-artesky.it/it/artesky/harmonic-drive/5516-montatura-harmonic-drive-bh17-h-8055517139745.html

[alexbb]

Sharpstar is also working on a really small harmonic drive driven mount, Mark I. Only 2.5 Kg

[gorann]

I would not put one of these in my obsies, but very tempting for travel, once they get properly reviewed.

[wimvb]

51 minutes ago, alexbb said:

Sharpstar is also working on a really small harmonic drive driven mount, Mark I. Only 2.5 Kg

ZWO, Sharpstar, Pegasus Astro, Rainbow Astro, Artesky, and possibly Rowan Astronomy. Why suddenly the hype? Is everyone going portable all of a sudden?

[ONIKKINEN]

14 minutes ago, wimvb said:

ZWO, Sharpstar, Pegasus Astro, Rainbow Astro, Artesky, and possibly Rowan Astronomy. Why suddenly the hype? Is everyone going portable all of a sudden?

I reckon some harmonic drive manufacturer just came up with a conveniently sized and priced package that all these different manufacturers can implement on their own mounts. I find it difficult to believe that all of these would be unique in-house designs just launched at the same time.

[gorann]

I have to say that the Artesky one is really good looking but then I saw the nobs. How do you get a grip on something looking that smooth? Design over practicallity?

Reminds me of a fancy coffee machine and when I see the latitude scale I realize it is only meant for southern Europe.

Edited January 30, 2022 by gorann

[ONIKKINEN]

3 minutes ago, gorann said:

I have to say that the Artesky one is really good looking but then I saw the nobs. How do you get a grip on something looking that smooth? Design over practicallity?

Is this picture really true? Looks like the mount only goes to 50 degrees of latitude?

I was going to comment that those knobs are not really usable with thick gloves in wintertime but looks like they solved the issue by having the mount be restricted to areas around the world that do not get winter 😎.

[gorann]

4 minutes ago, ONIKKINEN said:

Is this picture really true? Looks like the mount only goes to 50 degrees of latitude?

I was going to comment that those knobs are not really usable with thick gloves in wintertime but looks like they solved the issue by having the mount be restricted to areas around the world that do not get winter 😎.

Yes, I just saw the same things and expanded a bit on my comment.😁

[Rusted]

That thing is hideously cantilevered!
Which means the C of G is well outside a typical tripod's footprint.
Shiny knobs on dinky little push screws to adjust polar altitude?
Before or after the load is mounted? 
What if somebody feels "lucky" and overloads it?
Who reads the instructions? What instructions?
Will the household insurance cover the sweeping up the Tak APO glass shards?
If an engineer was involved will he/she please to go back to school? 

[powerlord]

smooth knobs easier to CAD. Because that looks to me like a solidworks CAD render. Not a real product at this stage imho.

[johninderby]

The producd vid shows a lttle but a bit “arty” rather than informative. 

 

[Rusted]

In case you think I am being a drama queen about overhung mountings on tripods:
One of my first astronomical "dramas" was half a century ago. I still have PTSD!
I had borrowed a massive, 12" f/7, all steel, skeleton Newt on its welded steel tripod and offset, altaz, fork mount.
The whole contraption was so close to the critical tipping point that I only just saved it several times despite the huge weight.

A tripod tips along a "hinge line" between any two feet:  If the C of G falls outside that line it's usually bad news:
Tripod [triangle] shown in red: Note the very short radius to the tipping line. This is why most furniture has four legs:

 

[wimvb]

2 hours ago, powerlord said:

smooth knobs easier to CAD. Because that looks to me like a solidworks CAD render. Not a real product at this stage imho.

You think so? The chrome details did it for me. A nice change from SkyWatcher white. 😉