I have seen it before where bad PEC data causes all kinds of guiding grief. The manual PEC training function in the hand controller, combined with a transient user was the culprit. -Christopher Ericks

And MAKE SURE that you use a different style of connectors for the 24V power supply and 12V supply. You don't want to connect 24V to your precious camera or other 12V devices. Anderson makes powerpole

#Mach2GTO

Ah. Got it! That will be a LOT easier! I think I have some of those in my parts bins too.

Speaking as a hybrid hobbyist/professional machinist, I would add that threading can be one of the trickier machining efforts to get right. Especially when you are going to be making two different thr

Doing a drift align would be a lot less work. (Grin) -Christopher Erickson Observatory engineer Waikoloa, HI 96738 www.summitkinetics.com

Until they get over themselves and add Park3, I have given up on SkySafari too. I have been asking them for Park3 for YEARS. -Christopher Erickson Observatory engineer Waikoloa, HI 96738 www.summitkin

PUH-LEEZE ask them to add Park3 too... -Christopher Erickson Observatory engineer Waikoloa, HI 96738 www.summitkinetics.com

If I remember correctly, although I was just assisting Roland, *I* was the one who spun the axis around and tore the cable in half on the hard plastic cable guide that comes with the 1100/1600 mounts.

WARNING TO ALL REGREASERS! Consider removing any cables going through the mount before regreasing operations. If you forget and spin one of the axes more than 360 degrees, you could damage your cables

It looks like you have done a careful job with cable management but any new, temporary cable that is snagging on anything can result in the symptoms you describe. Or maybe despite your best efforts, y

Microstepping means that the steppers must always be under power. Full steps can sometimes mean you can put the motor to sleep. Especially when using worm drives off of the stepper.

#Mach2GTO

Steppers always require more power/amps than servos. Amps times volts equals watts. Watts of electricity consumed converts 1:1 to watts of heat generated. A typical AC-DC power supply is about 80-95%

#Mach2GTO

I believe that the Japanese company Kenko is the actual manufacturer of the Losmandy and older AP polar scopes.

Craig, where are you observing that seeing allows you to keep a 1 arcsecond accuracy on a single pixel for several hours? Here on Mauna Kea we frequently get sub-arcsecond seeing but we can't even kee

The CP4 has those features now. -Christopher Erickson Observatory engineer Waikoloa, HI 96738 www.summitkinetics.com

It is possible that the limited dynamic range of the webcam, in the dark observatory, is causing the sensor chip to be saturated by the comparatively-bright LED, making a red LED appear amber or white

I live by dielectric grease in connectors in observatories. -Christopher Erickson Observatory engineer Waikoloa, HI 96738 www.summitkinetics.com

YES! I would LOVE a lightweight Half-Mach to perfectly-match my Stowaway when travelling for eclipses. Use high-tech materials like titanium and/or carbon fiber to get the weight down as much as possi

Personally, I believe that we should... NEVER GIVE TELESCOPES TO SCHOOLS. GIVE TELESCOPES TO TEACHERS OR STUDENTS INSTEAD. If you give it to a school, it inevitably ends up being controlled by school

That is EXACTLY how I got my first scope! A Sears 60mm refractor on an Alt-Az mount. 50 years ago I mowed their lawn for an entire summer to get that scope.