I assume you mean right ascension "seconds"? That's the distance in RA a star would travel in a sidereal second. A sidereal second is 1/(24*60*60) of a sidereal day, which is about 23 hours and 56

Hi Karsten I have a GTOCP4 as well, and had the same error. I believe in an earlier post they mentioned that particular update is not for our model (maybe for the GTOCP5?) -- Brian Brian

Hello Howard, I updated our 3600GTO's GTOCP4 earlier today from VCP4-P02-08 to VCP4-P02-15 using the USB/Serial Utilities Tool (VSU-08). Loading both firmware files (VCPx-P02-15.pt2 / .pt1) was

I use furniture spray wax on the threads every now and then. I keep it in my car as I use it to clean the inside and even bugs on the front of the cars bumper and hood. I let it set a minute or

I have guided on the sun with LuSol - and firecapture. You don't need to be perfect like you do for deep sky. Having the image move around a little is not an issue, I usually keep the guiding to 10

Eric With the likely image scale on a 5m scope, I think 'precise guiding' is open to interpretation. Bryan

HI Carl, I'm not a mechanical engineer so, I'm probably using the incorrect terms like cross threading. I think the correct terms should be seizing or galling. After reading quite a bit of info

The fact that the screwing went fine first then resisting then fine again and repeating this pattern is not consistent with cross threading. Besides as I had read the below thread before hand, and I

I have an AP 1200 GTO from July 2009 delivery & a few months ago I replaced it's original counterweight shaft adapter for the brand new one with the stainless steel insert. Of course when I threaded

I agree with Cytan that a bronze insert would be ideal, but I also agree that stainless is better than aluminum. All it takes is one slipup with the aluminum threads and they are toast. As for your

>>>the whole point of setting a shift rate in the mount itself is to accomplish the opposite (less corrections by the guiding system). The way it is working now is substantially worse than leaving the

Hi Tan, ( <-- I hope I got this right :') ) Seizing and cold welding are very different things. Yes seizing is common, but to me it is with any metal, not just steel. The lower the thread pitch is and

Thanks all ... @Ray: I've read the help guide and the link, but I still don't understand what the "seconds" (numerator) refers to: in one possible interpretation it's 15x the value of another possible

Hi Carl, The mechanical engineers and techs that I work with have extensive knowledge of stainless steel. We work with stainless steel everyday because it is used for high vacuum. Stainless steel

Hi, I just wanted to give you guys an update. My shaft is seized solid to the insert and the thread is visibly damaged (look at the first thread on the first post). Unfortunately nothing works. I must

It is an 1100 mount with a CP4 controller. And it does not have encoders. I do my best with polar alignment, balancing and levelling of the mount. I was given the impression that APCC with the JPL

Yes we can. You can see the rotation of the sun over a day's imaging. I have done that kind of animation before.

Hi Woody, That may be true; I've never experimented that way. On the other hand, when used carefully WD40 is marvelous stuff. I was a research scientist in a NASA funded biology lab for nearly twenty

Here’s a fun thing to do with the original WD-40 that will prevent you from ever using it again on delicate things or locks – or anything other than what it was originally designed for – rust

What you are asking is a lot for a non-encoder mount, especially one with an older GTOCP3. As I'm sure you are well aware, everything is more difficult at such a long focal length. Polar alignment