Another data point in the educational pursuit around DEC Arc modeling... When we last left off I found that a 1/4 crop on my 540mm system resulted in a good model, a full crop did not. Tonight I had

But it is NOT raw aluminum to raw aluminum. -Christopher Erickson Observatory engineer Waikoloa, HI 96738 www.summitkinetics.com

If it requires re-install of windows I guess I am covered. I run windows from virtual files, I have backup copies I am running windows update on one now. Then to upgrade ASCOM to 6.6, then all the

Yes, I will look into that. I mounted the setup in the afternoon and was very hot, may be something had to be retightened before the imaging run… Thank you

That's my opinion as well. I used my 1200 in an observatory for 3+ years before packing it for a move. The mating surfaces were pristine. Seven years later, they were still pristine when I unpacked

It's an aluminum to aluminum interface. I imagine that the mount would have to be in a visibly poor shape and pretty much extremely abused for the dec and RA axis to be bonded via corrosion in such a

The R.A. unit "polar fork axis" weighs around 50 lbs The Dec. axis is right around 30-32 lbs or so Not recommended to remove the Dec. axis from the R.A. axis while the counterweight shaft is still

You may have differential flexure between your guidescope and the imaging scope. Rolando

In all the years that mount has been around, I have never seen that happen. Roland

Hi Ray, thank you. I though at the model because it was the new thing put in the mix. Guiding was apparently good enough, 0,5 arcsec total rms error, but my stars are elongated. When I looked at the

Andrea, The pointing model terms don't matter for dec arc tracking. What makes you think that Dec Arc tracking performance was worse than no tracking correction in the region APPM mapped? -Ray

Hello, I am trying to build a dec arc model to work with my Mach2, but I haven't had much luck till now. I am probably making some mistakes somewhere and hope Ray and others can highlights some of

I think the issue the OP is concerned about is that the two halves might have become bonded due to the failure to put grease or antioxidant between the mating surfaces. Obviously the first step is

Sorry, I meant to write "Dec" unit. --- Mike

Dale's detailed instructions are spot-on. As I built my observatory, I shot many photos. The third photo on this page: <http://house.mdodd.com/proj_obs_scope.html> shows the dovetail fitting on the

1. Call AP and order a grease kit. It's cheap and has both types you'll need. You may also want to replace the delrin clutch plugs if your axis is rather stiff when unclutched. A baggie of those

Maybe revert back to Restore Point in Windows? Peter

Hello All, Need some advice here. My 1200 mount axes have been attached for about ten years, no oil or grease used (didn't read the manual thoroughly!). Any suggestions on how to separate them without

For sure, it's basically the last attempt I would make before reinstalling Windows. If those don't work, it's likely a problem that would take a long time to determine and reinstalling should get

Hi Bill, Yes, good idea! Hopefully that will work, but there are things that can be corrupted (or out of date) besides O/S files, like registry entries, or non-system DLLs installed by some other