|
Quick Release Gearbox Modification for Older AP1600
I have an older AP1600 mount that does not have the quick release option for the RA and Dec gears. Is Astro-Physics going to release an upgrade kit for older mounts to allow for quick un-meshing of the gears? I have a friend who has the new version of the mount, and he can easily un-mesh the gears and precisely balance the mount. In my case, even with the clutches fully loosened, there remains so much resistance to movement, that achieving a precise balance is impossible. I use an electronic fish scale to try to achieve balance, but it takes over 10# of force to get the mount to move in either direction with the clutch screws loosened. Is this normal?
Jack Huerkamp
|
|
|
|
Re: How to Re-grease a Mach1 with Auto-Adjust Motor Boxes?
fernandorivera3
Maybe someday there will be step by step videos that are in depth, explaining & showing the process of each of the mounts being re-greased, on YouTube. So we can click to view whichever mount applies to us: Mach 1, Mach 2, 900, 1100, 1200, or 1600 GTO's.
Fernando
|
|
|
|
Re: Mach2 - Elongated stars
Ray Gralak
Yanhze,
Where is ASCOM driver log? I dont use APCC, I use SGPro.The AP V2 ASCOM driver, which you must use with SGPro, comes with a log zipper utility called "AP Log Zipper". You should be able to find it from the Windows start menu by typing that name. The utility will grab the log files for X number of days in the past. If you can't find it, you probably didn't install it when you installed the AP V2 driver. In that case, just reinstall the AP V2 driver and select the option to install it. BTW, you can use APCC with SGPro. In fact, it is recommended. An APCC Pro license comes with your Mach2 mount, but you must contact A-P to get it. -Ray -----Original Message-----
|
|
|
|
Re: Problem with first startup of Mach2 -- obstruction / grinding sound
You won’t regret a decision to get a AP mount or any other product made by Astro Physics. The support is tremendous not just from Rolland but from everyone at AP.
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
On Saturday, March 6, 2021, 3:56 PM, Bill Long <bill@...> wrote:
|
|
|
|
Re: Mach2 - Elongated stars
yanzhe liu
Ray, Where is ASCOM driver log? I dont use APCC, I use SGPro. Yanzhe
On Sun, Mar 7, 2021 at 10:45 AM Ray Gralak <iogroups@...> wrote: Hi Yanzhe,
|
|
|
|
Re: Mach2 - Elongated stars
yanzhe liu
I used PHD2 drift align, it looked good. But I am not sure because each sub had ~0.01-0.02 degree field rotation, which I did not expect with good PA. I usually see big field rotation if PA is bad, but it appeared not field rotation this time. Let me dig if I can find PHD2 log.
|
|
|
|
Re: Stellarmate with Astro-Physics mount
Bill Long
The new Keypad Version coming out will let you use the keypad to build a model.
From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> on behalf of Arvind <base16@...>
Sent: Sunday, March 7, 2021 2:40 PM To: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> Subject: [ap-gto] Stellarmate with Astro-Physics mount I’m looking to see if anyone has built a pointing model with a CP4 by a sequence of GoTo, platesolve, sync (refine) through Stellarmate.
It's great that we have APCC Pro (which I'll receive with the 1100) but I'm looking for alternatives that can do the above as a blackbox and be usable through iPhone/iPad.
Thanks.
|
|
|
|
Stellarmate with Astro-Physics mount
Arvind
I’m looking to see if anyone has built a pointing model with a CP4 by a sequence of GoTo, platesolve, sync (refine) through Stellarmate.
It's great that we have APCC Pro (which I'll receive with the 1100) but I'm looking for alternatives that can do the above as a blackbox and be usable through iPhone/iPad. Thanks.
|
|
|
|
Re: Mach2 - Elongated stars
Ray Gralak
Hi Yanzhe,
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
Can you zip and post your PHD2 logs, as well as APCC/AP V2 ASCOM driver logs? There might be something useful there. -Ray
-----Original Message-----
|
|
|
|
Re: Mach2 - Elongated stars
Roland Christen
Do you have a picture of your guide chart? The Dec axis would not creep under gravity if the clutches are tight. I just checked a mount with 3 lb out of balance in Dec and see zero creep or any other guide issue. The main thing that happens when you have polar axis error in azimuth is that the guider will always be off in Dec. The guide star is constantly being pushed back towards zero when it reaches the Min Move setting, so it will always have a minimum elongation error of your Min Move setting. So, if the Min Move is set high in Dec, you will get a high error in Dec. Best practices is to zero out your Dec drift and use a low Min Move setting. In my normal settings, my Min Move is .02 seconds, which translates to 0.3 arc seconds at 1x guide rate (0.2sec x 15arc sec/sec = 0.3 arc sec).
I always check my Dec drift to make sure that it is reasonable. You can do this by turning off guide pulses to the mount while recording the drift in the two axes. I do this near the meridian with scope on the west side of the mount pointing within 1 hour of the meridian. In my camera I use MaximDL in focus mode with a crosshair and watch the slow drift of a guide star in Dec (Dec is Up-Down on my camera). If the star moves down, I turn the right hand azimuth knob which moves the star to the right on my camera image. You can also do it with PEMPro and with PHD2 by watching the graph for a few minutes. In my method, if the star moves 5 arc sec in 2 minutes the amount of adjustment in azimuth is approximately 1/2 turn of the Azimuth knob. I can usually get the drift down to less than 1 arc sec per 5 minutes. I can do this in the daytime on a star as faint as magnitude 5 using my H-a filter.
Rolando
-----Original Message-----
From: yanzhe liu <liuyanzhe@...> To: main@ap-gto.groups.io Sent: Sun, Mar 7, 2021 12:11 pm Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Mach2 - Elongated stars Roland,
I will check my mount serial number later as I just packed everything due to rain forecast.
My camera's orientation was 0/180 degree, so I assume top to bottom elongation would be DEC.
I dont have any picture of my setup, I just tore it down since it will be rainy this week. My setup is FSQ106+OAG+16803, image scale is 3.5".
I was imaging Rosetta Nebula, after it was just past meridian for 2-3 hours.
I used PHD2 drift for PA, it reported <5' PA error, I am waiting for polemaster adapter so I can confirm I get good PA next time.
DEC was out of balance because my setup was rear end heavy, if it was in balance position then I could not rotate my CCD in all directions. My guess is that the DEC balance was off by less than 1lb. In the next test, I can balance DEC to see if the issue still exists.
My suspicion is that if DEC balance is off, then DEC might creep under gravity, even PA is perfect. So you might see DEC continually drift then gets corrected by PHD2 periodically.
Yanzhe
-- Roland Christen Astro-Physics
|
|
|
|
Re: Mach2 - Elongated stars
yanzhe liu
Roland, I will check my mount serial number later as I just packed everything due to rain forecast. My camera's orientation was 0/180 degree, so I assume top to bottom elongation would be DEC. I dont have any picture of my setup, I just tore it down since it will be rainy this week. My setup is FSQ106+OAG+16803, image scale is 3.5". I was imaging Rosetta Nebula, after it was just past meridian for 2-3 hours. I used PHD2 drift for PA, it reported <5' PA error, I am waiting for polemaster adapter so I can confirm I get good PA next time. DEC was out of balance because my setup was rear end heavy, if it was in balance position then I could not rotate my CCD in all directions. My guess is that the DEC balance was off by less than 1lb. In the next test, I can balance DEC to see if the issue still exists. My suspicion is that if DEC balance is off, then DEC might creep under gravity, even PA is perfect. So you might see DEC continually drift then gets corrected by PHD2 periodically. Yanzhe
|
|
|
|
Mistake on a previous post
Roland Christen
In a previous post discussing encoders for our various mounts I posted this:
"The main difference is that the ring diameter of the 1100/1600 mounts is 100mm, the Mach2 uses a 75mm ring."
It should read the Mach2 uses 57mm not 75mm rings. (5 and 7 were swapped - dyslectic or ?) Sorry for the confusion.
In the Mach2 the special ring carriers were machined into the housing, and the wiring is simpler and does not require the extra crossover boxes that the 1100 mount needs to adapt the encoder rings. Making the Mach2 mount encoder-only allowed significant savings. It eliminated the expensive DC servo motor-encoder that is required on our Mach1 and 1100/1600 mounts.
Rolando
-- Roland Christen Astro-Physics
|
|
|
|
Re: Mach2 - Elongated stars
yanzhe liu
My setup is FSQ106+OAG+16803. The same setup has been used for a while with a different mount, so it is unlikely the collimation or fan issue. Yanzhe
On Sun, Mar 7, 2021 at 8:25 AM Ray Gralak <iogroups@...> wrote: > One issue bothering me is that I got slightly elongated stars across the entire image (15min Ha sub).
|
|
|
|
Re: Mach2 - Elongated stars
Roland Christen
Couple of questions:
1 - what's the mount's serial number
2 - which axis is the elongation
3 - which direction was the scope pointing (RA-Dec)
4 - what scope and focal length or what is the arc sec per pixel.
5 - do you have a picture of your setup?
One comment about balance - it should be easy for you to completely balance the scope with the clutches loose. Can you estimate how many lb out of balance your scope is in Dec? Normally i would not think this would have any effect, but doesn't hurt to check this.
Roland Christen
Astro-Physics Inc.
-----Original Message-----
From: yanzhe liu <liuyanzhe@...> To: main@ap-gto.groups.io Sent: Sun, Mar 7, 2021 12:44 am Subject: [ap-gto] Mach2 - Elongated stars Testing new mach2 for a couple of nights. It works great out of the box and I am very pleased.
One issue bothering me is that I got slightly elongated stars across the entire image (15min Ha sub).
The exact same telescope/CCD were used with another mount and stars were round, I am wondering what I should check (I think there was due to some setup issue, but I could not figure it out).
- Used OAG for guiding, so there should not be any flexure.
- CCD orientation was 0/180 degree. The stars were elongated top to bottom.
- I did polar alignment with PHD2 drift align. PA error should be < 5'. The field rotation of each sub is ~0.01 degree, much larger than the other system (but elongated stars do not look like field rotation, they were same across the image)
- Both RA and DEC guiding curves looked smooth, had similar RMS. DEC correction was mainly to one direction.
- DEC balance was slightly off, camera heavy. Is Mach2 DEC sensitive to this? Will the guiding/image be affected?
I dont think any of the above is of particular concern, except DEC balance. Any comment/help is appreciated.
-- Roland Christen Astro-Physics
|
|
|
|
Re: Mach2 - Elongated stars
Roland Christen
Take a short exposure (1 sec or less) of a bright star inside, outside and at focus. I was shooting the other day when the temperature was dropping rapidly after sunset and got heat plumes for about 1 hour in my 160 refractor. Made the stars look oval during that time. I could easily see the heat plumes when the star was defocused. Things like this should be checked when you start off in your imaging run. After about 2 hours the stars were perfectly round during my focus runs.
Rolando
-----Original Message-----
From: Ray Gralak <iogroups@...> To: main@ap-gto.groups.io Sent: Sun, Mar 7, 2021 10:24 am Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Mach2 - Elongated stars > One issue bothering me is that I got slightly elongated stars across the entire image (15min Ha sub).
Can you describe your imaging setup? (Telescope, camera, image scale, etc.) Is it possible the issue is optical (collimation) or caused by vibrations from the camera's fan? -Ray > -----Original Message----- > From: main@ap-gto.groups.io [mailto:main@ap-gto.groups.io] On Behalf Of yanzhe liu > Sent: Saturday, March 6, 2021 10:44 PM > To: main@ap-gto.groups.io > Subject: [ap-gto] Mach2 - Elongated stars > > Testing new mach2 for a couple of nights. It works great out of the box and I am very pleased. > > One issue bothering me is that I got slightly elongated stars across the entire image (15min Ha sub). > The exact same telescope/CCD were used with another mount and stars were round, I am wondering what I should > check (I think there was due to some setup issue, but I could not figure it out). > - Used OAG for guiding, so there should not be any flexure. > - CCD orientation was 0/180 degree. The stars were elongated top to bottom. > - I did polar alignment with PHD2 drift align. PA error should be < 5'. The field rotation of each sub is ~0.01 degree, > much larger than the other system (but elongated stars do not look like field rotation, they were same across the > image) > - Both RA and DEC guiding curves looked smooth, had similar RMS. DEC correction was mainly to one direction. > - DEC balance was slightly off, camera heavy. Is Mach2 DEC sensitive to this? Will the guiding/image be affected? > > I dont think any of the above is of particular concern, except DEC balance. Any comment/help is appreciated. > -- Roland Christen Astro-Physics
|
|
|
|
Re: Mach2 - Elongated stars
Roland Christen
If your guiding was spot on, then the mount is working correctly. It is not a balance or setup issue. Balance would not cause oval stars. The mount would be suspect if one axis had rms guide values that were twice as high as the other axis.
Dec correction mainly in one direction means your polar alignment in azimuth was off. You can see that if you turn correction off and let the mount drift in Dec.
Elongated stars top to bottom ? you did not specify if that was RA or Dec.
Rolando
-----Original Message-----
From: yanzhe liu <liuyanzhe@...> To: main@ap-gto.groups.io Sent: Sun, Mar 7, 2021 12:44 am Subject: [ap-gto] Mach2 - Elongated stars Testing new mach2 for a couple of nights. It works great out of the box and I am very pleased.
One issue bothering me is that I got slightly elongated stars across the entire image (15min Ha sub).
The exact same telescope/CCD were used with another mount and stars were round, I am wondering what I should check (I think there was due to some setup issue, but I could not figure it out).
- Used OAG for guiding, so there should not be any flexure.
- CCD orientation was 0/180 degree. The stars were elongated top to bottom.
- I did polar alignment with PHD2 drift align. PA error should be < 5'. The field rotation of each sub is ~0.01 degree, much larger than the other system (but elongated stars do not look like field rotation, they were same across the image)
- Both RA and DEC guiding curves looked smooth, had similar RMS. DEC correction was mainly to one direction.
- DEC balance was slightly off, camera heavy. Is Mach2 DEC sensitive to this? Will the guiding/image be affected?
I dont think any of the above is of particular concern, except DEC balance. Any comment/help is appreciated.
-- Roland Christen Astro-Physics
|
|
|
|
Re: Mach2 - Elongated stars
Ray Gralak
One issue bothering me is that I got slightly elongated stars across the entire image (15min Ha sub).Can you describe your imaging setup? (Telescope, camera, image scale, etc.) Is it possible the issue is optical (collimation) or caused by vibrations from the camera's fan? -Ray -----Original Message-----
|
|
|
|
Re: New Mach2
#Mach2GTO
David Johnson
I’ve only had the mount six days, but I’ve been able to use it every night, so that’s kind of the equivalent of maybe three months of experience under normal conditions around here. Looks like I may have two more nights before the dream ends. To be fair, it did cloud up last night some after midnight, but there’s not a cloud in the sky right now.
|
|
|
|
Re: PoleMaster Adapter for Mach2
Bill Long
Yep that looks like the right one!
From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> on behalf of Pete Mumbower <pmumbower@...>
Sent: Sunday, March 7, 2021 5:40 AM To: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> Subject: Re: [ap-gto] PoleMaster Adapter for Mach2 This got my curious since I ordered from OPT the PoleMaster Adapter for my soon coming 1100GTO(same adapter I believe). It arrived a couple months ago and I never bothered to open it, so I just did and it looks like this (box and all). Looks to be correct.
|
|
|
|
Re: New Mach2
#Mach2GTO
Bill Long
Lucky guy.
I have been under cloud cover since late November with no signs of improvement anytime soon....
From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> on behalf of annaski@... <annaski@...>
Sent: Sunday, March 7, 2021 6:32 AM To: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> Subject: Re: [ap-gto] New Mach2 #Mach2GTO My Mach2 brought 2 months of clouds (well it finally let up up last night, and tonight promises to be good as well).
|
|
|