Warming up the mount.

[adamsp123]

This might seem an odd statement but I have found my autoguiding seems to work better on my Atlux mount if I give it a good "warm up".

So I slew to an object near meridian (the vixen mounts "start" with the OTA horizontal) back to home position, do this 3 or 4 times, it then looks to me to autoguide much smoother.

I found this by accident...Vega (focus/align) then straight to ring nebula the guiding was a bit "frantic"

Another time slewing a few time across the sky to get good alignment followed by a target the guiding was smoother.

Maybe this reduces stiction and gets the motors warmed up....

[Bizibilder]

I suspect you're right - gets that old grease stirred to a nicety!!

[Whippy]

I've never tried this Pete, but I do notice that it does take 5 mins or so for PHD to settle down once it's up and running. I don't notice enough to see my first sub ruined though .

Tony..

[adamsp123]

I've never tried this Pete, but I do notice that it does take 5 mins or so for PHD to settle down once it's up and running. I don't notice enough to see my first sub ruined though .

Tony..

Yes PHD does need time to settle, the hysteresis lowering the tendency for PHD to overdo the corrections plus any backlash, but it seems to settle a might quicker with a good warm up.... on my mount at least.

[Bizibilder]

On giving this a bit of thought it does make some sense. When a scope is in perfect (or at least very good) balance the load on the drive gearboxes is very low. Therefore it could take quite a bit of movement to take up ALL the slack in the system, including pushing the grease out of the way, so the gears could become truly in "metal to metal" mesh.

As a clockmaker (another hobby) it is surprising just how heavy a weight is needed to make a movement "go" when, on setting it up, the whole thing will "coast" with no load for quite a while from the gentlest of "pushes". Not the same mechanics, I know, but I think there is something in the idea of allowing the mount to "have a run" before setting it to work.