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Re: Will the Mach 2 support .....
Roland Christen
Yes indeed. In fact I have run it both with a model and with guiding. The model tracks a bit smoother since it's not chasing a twinkling star. But the outcome is the same.
Rolando
-----Original Message-----
From: Greg McCall <emailgregnow@...> To: main@ap-gto.groups.io Sent: Tue, Jun 1, 2021 9:08 pm Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Will the Mach 2 support ..... Hi, would that setup still be OK if you built and loaded a tracking model from APPM in place of guiding?
-- Roland Christen Astro-Physics
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Re: Mach 1 ra motor failure to move the the west.
crib409acme425
thanks Roland , I will keep this in mind. Chuck
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Re: Problems using ASI air pro and AP mounts
Kenneth Tan
Thx!
On Wed, 2 Jun 2021 at 05:53, Kevin Cook <kvc3509@...> wrote:
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Re: Question: How do I safety replace the CW shaft adapter (got it off, grease?)
W Hilmo
That was exactly how I read it the first time…
From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> On Behalf Of Roland Christen via groups.io
Sent: Tuesday, June 1, 2021 6:46 PM To: main@ap-gto.groups.io Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Question: How do I safety replace the CW shaft adapter (got it off, grease?)
WoW, you have a generous neighbor to give you a mount for free.
Rolando
-----Original Message----- 1100GTO. I got it free with the help of my neighbor, but just wanted to post that I used some lube on the insert to hopefully keep it from happening again. Yes, I do have the insert.
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Re: Problems using ASI air pro and AP mounts
Worsel
Kenneth
One advantage to using PHD2 proper versus the PHD version built into the ASIAIR is that you can post your Guide and Debug logs on the PHD2 forum https://groups.google.com/g/open-phd-guiding See How to ask for help with PHD2 The PHD2 forum cannot possibly provide insight on modifications that others make to the open source code. Bryan
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Re: Will the Mach 2 support .....
Greg McCall
Hi, would that setup still be OK if you built and loaded a tracking model from APPM in place of guiding?
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Re: Question: How do I safety replace the CW shaft adapter (got it off, grease?)
Roland Christen
WoW, you have a generous neighbor to give you a mount for free.
 Rolando
-----Original Message-----
From: Roger Howard <cargostick@...> To: main@ap-gto.groups.io Sent: Tue, Jun 1, 2021 8:39 pm Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Question: How do I safety replace the CW shaft adapter (got it off, grease?) 1100GTO. I got it free with the help of my neighbor, but just wanted to post that I used some lube on the insert to hopefully keep it from happening again. Yes, I do have the insert.
-- Roland Christen Astro-Physics
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Re: Question: How do I safety replace the CW shaft adapter (got it off, grease?)
1100GTO. I got it free with the help of my neighbor, but just wanted to post that I used some lube on the insert to hopefully keep it from happening again. Yes, I do have the insert.
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Re: Will the Mach 2 support .....
Marcelo Figueroa
What!!!, you don't have an infinite number of telescopes, what kind of world is this where you can't have an infinite number of telescopes ??? :D
Great setup, we will be watching for the results. Here we are betting on the ASI 6200. These new cameras are ridiculously sensitive.
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Re: VIDEO - Mach2 Right Ascension Belt Adjustment
Joseph Beyer
Interestingly the belt seems to be the astronomical mount equivalent as the drive belt on…Harley Davidsons. Probably no relation. The drive belts on the motorcycles have a service life of 60-100K miles. My guess is the belt on the Mach2 lives in a much kinder environment and the life span will reflect it.
On Jun 1, 2021, at 6:06 PM, M Hambrick <mhambrick563@...> wrote:
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Re: VIDEO - Mach2 Right Ascension Belt Adjustment
I am going off topic a little bit here, but many of us who started driving in the 1970's will remember the introduction of these toothed rubber timing belts in automobile engines. Prior to this the timing was always maintained with chain sprockets.
Belt driven engine timing got a really bad rap in the US, and deservedly so because the US carmakers chose to introduce this concept on the really cheap cars like the Chevy Vega, Ford pinto, etc. The life expectancy of these timing belts was supposed to be about 30,000 miles. I was working as an auto mechanic in those days, and our shop saw a lot of cars come in with engines that had to be almost completely rebuilt because the timing belts broke while the cars were going down the road at 55 mph. In the late 1980's a new type of hydrogenated nitrile rubber was introduced onto the market that was designed for use in hot, oily environments, and most of the timing belts were converted over to this new polymer. I think that Kevlar also showed up at about the same time. Now, most timing belts will last at least 100,000 miles. Mike
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Re: Will the Mach 2 support .....
Thanks for showing us this imaging setup Roland, and yes, please share your results including your guiding graphs.
Mike
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Re: Back Focus Troubles
#Absolute_Encoders
Hi Andrew
I will try to throw my two cents worth into this discussion, and hopefully will not confuse you even more. First, If the filters are said to add 1mm of backfocus, I would interpret this to mean that they will add to the total backfocus length so that instead of 85 mm your backfocus will be 86 mm. Second: To your question about why the backfocus specification matters I would say that unless you are using a telecompressor or field flattener in your imaging train then the backfocus probably doesn't matter (as much) because as you stated, you will adjust the focuser until the image is in focus, and that is as good as you will get. Take a look at the drawing below. You will see that there are actually two backfocus dimensions; dimensions X and Y. If you are using a telecompressor or field flattener, dimension X from the back of the compressor or flattener is critical and will determine whether you get pinpoint stars across the whole image, or if they are points in the middle and elongated at the corners. Just about every field corrector or compressor on the market will have a specification for the total backfocus, and if you have filters you will have to account for them in determining what the actual backfocus is. As Dale has said, it is better to be a little bit undersize and to make up any difference using shims. Once you have assembled your imaging train, the distance from the rear of the corrector to the sensor is fixed, but it will still be necessary to adjust the focuser to reach focus. If you are not using a field flattener, then dimension Y is really what you are interested in because it will give you an idea of how far out the focuser has to be racked to achieve focus. You may decide that if you have to rack your focuser a long way that it is better to add an extension to your imaging train. In the sketch below you can see that I have to rack out the focuser on my Stowaway about 2-1/2". I am considering adding 2" thread-on extension in front of the flattener so that I do not have to rack the focuser out so far. The worst case scenario is if you can not rack your focuser in far enough to reach focus. I hope this helps. Mike 
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Re: Question: How do I safety replace the CW shaft adapter (got it off, grease?)
Roland Christen
What mount, and do you have the steel insert?
Putting some ice on the cwt shaft will cause it to shrink slightly and it might come free that way.
Rolando
-----Original Message-----
From: Roger Howard <cargostick@...> To: main@ap-gto.groups.io Sent: Tue, Jun 1, 2021 6:12 pm Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Question: How do I safety replace the CW shaft adapter (got it off, grease?) I have to chime in here for posterity. I just got my mount a few months ago with the new CW shaft and the Delrin spacer installed and just had my manhood called into question trying to remove the counterweight shaft. After about 20 minutes I had to call my neighbor to help me get the thing removed. I have now placed a few drops of Hoppes #9 firearm lubricant on the threads and I will report back here at a later time if this doesn't help. Next I'm going to try one of those ninja claw training devices from the back of a comic book to improve my grip strength :)
-- Roland Christen Astro-Physics
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Re: VIDEO - Mach2 Right Ascension Belt Adjustment
Roland Christen
That seems to be more than strong enough for the application. It's overkill for sure. It is designed for significant power transmission, so should never stretch or wear out.
Rolando
-----Original Message-----
From: M Hambrick <mhambrick563@...> To: main@ap-gto.groups.io Sent: Tue, Jun 1, 2021 6:34 pm Subject: Re: [ap-gto] VIDEO - Mach2 Right Ascension Belt Adjustment Another great video Tony.
Like you, I have always been impressed to see how A-P machines so many of their parts from solid aluminum bar stock. That cogged belt is also impressive. The part number indicates that it is a 3 mm pitch belt. What is the width ? I am guessing that it is at least 3/8" wide. That seems to be more than strong enough for the application. Mike -- Roland Christen Astro-Physics
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Will the Mach 2 support .....
Roland Christen
Hello AstroNuts,
We get this question many times, "will the Mach2 support my scope, camera etc." I can't really answer specific setups since I don't have infinite variety of scopes at my disposal. However, to give you some idea I am presently testing two scopes piggybacked on the Mach2.
Here is my present setup. I am using it to test
various optics, cameras and field flatteners. It consists of a 160EDF
refractor with QTCC and a full frame ZWO 6200 color camera, which provides a very
wide field. On top rides an oldie but excellent 130 EDF refractor with
2.7" focuser, 67PF562 Flattener and my QSI 683WSG camera, Lodestar
off-axis guider and an 8x50 Baader finder for good measure. Both scopes
sit in rings that are attached to dovetail plates. When you add up all
the parts, the whole shebang weighs close to 70 lb with the weight
centered about 9 inches from the top of the Dec axis. I have
approximately 75lb worth of counterweight which includes the weight of
the standard Mach2 cwt bar and the shorter extension.
Is
it stable and does it slew, track and guide effortlessly? Yes on all
counts. It does need to be closely balanced, but not ridiculously so.
Using MaximDL6, in poor seeing i get on the order of 0.4 arc sec rms
guiding. In good to excellent seeing I get 0.1 to 0.15 arc sec rms
guiding. My guide exposure is between 2 and 5 seconds with 1.5 seconds
between exposures. Best guiding seems to be when the exposures are 4 to 5
seconds, and I get very few excursions that are larger than 0.5 arc sec
pk.
By the way, I don't usually guide with one scope and image with another. In this case I am guiding with the lighter weight 130EDF and I am getting perfect round stars with the 160 below. The 160 is shooting at 960mm focal length with a 3.75 micron/pixel camera, 0.8 arc sec per pixel. ZWO 6200 camera. resolution with this camera in medium seeing has yielded 1.4 arc sec FWHM stars in a 5 minute exposure.
I will be shooting tonight if the weather holds, and I can record some guide graphs for anyone interested. Seeing is supposed to be good (4 out of 5) but transparency will be poor. I'm doing a shootout between the CMOS camera with 3.75 micron pixels and my older QSI683 CCD camera with 5.4 micron pixels. Which camera records images faster? Which has better contrast? Any bets on the winner?
Rolando
 -- Roland Christen Astro-Physics
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Re: VIDEO - Mach2 Right Ascension Belt Adjustment
Another great video Tony.
Like you, I have always been impressed to see how A-P machines so many of their parts from solid aluminum bar stock. That cogged belt is also impressive. The part number indicates that it is a 3 mm pitch belt. What is the width ? I am guessing that it is at least 3/8" wide. That seems to be more than strong enough for the application. Mike
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Re: Question: How do I safety replace the CW shaft adapter (got it off, grease?)
I have to chime in here for posterity. I just got my mount a few months ago with the new CW shaft and the Delrin spacer installed and just had my manhood called into question trying to remove the counterweight shaft. After about 20 minutes I had to call my neighbor to help me get the thing removed. I have now placed a few drops of Hoppes #9 firearm lubricant on the threads and I will report back here at a later time if this doesn't help. Next I'm going to try one of those ninja claw training devices from the back of a comic book to improve my grip strength :)
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Re: Problems using ASI air pro and AP mounts
Kevin Cook
Ken - One thing I discovered about the ASIAIR version of PhD guiding is that you have to set the guiding rate to 1X in TWO places - on the AP hand controller keypad (or on AP mount software if using that) and on the ASIAIR pull-out tab (it pulls out to the left from the right-side vertical control panel). This ASIAIR pull-out tab is the same one you use to select your target and direct a GOTO. The guiding rate needs to be set at 1X in both places or the guiding is all over the place. Kevin
On Tue, Jun 1, 2021 at 2:32 PM Kenneth Tan <ktanhs@...> wrote:
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Re: Problems using ASI air pro and AP mounts
Kenneth Tan
Hmm I wonder if there is something wrong with my setup. I use a 250 mm fl guide scope with an ASI 1290 cam as guidecam
On Wed, 2 Jun 2021 at 05:29, marsh.family <marsh.family@...> wrote:
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