Here’s a picture of my new setup. My bank balance is lighter, and Italy’s trade balance has improved significantly!
Operationally, the Avalon Linear Fast Reverse is an EQ6. The interesting bit is that the EQ6’s worm gear has been replaced by a belt & pulley reduction drive. The manufacturer claims very accurate guiding is possible using this system. The mount is controlled using either a Synscan hand control or EQMod on the computer. As the bits to make a direct computer connection haven’t arrived I’m using the handset in pass-through mode.
I haven’t got the backend for my 60mm finder scope guider yet so I’ve got my QHY5 attached to a Canon 75-300 lens via a Geoptik adapter. I’ll need to source a lighter counterweight as the 3Kg is too much for the Zenithstar.
2 replies on “New mount”
Hi Andrew
I like the look of your new set up it looks like a very fine telescope mount.
I have just recently purchased the EQ8 and set it up in a pulsar dome.
I followed your blog re. the Pulsar dome and Poth Scope-Dome set up with Carte de Ceil and it was fine.
I am being a bit cheeky but last week I had a problem with the dome not going to the scope position set by the Carte de Ceil. I have been unable to resolve this problem to date.
What happens is that the scope goes to the target but then the dome goes to a position about 60 degrees out. On one occasion it lined up with the scope then moved. Any ideas what it could be? I have tried just about everything with respect to set up parameters to no avail.
The scope is 12 inch newtonian reflector and the aim is to end up with a remotely controlled observatory.
You will be right up on my list of Christmas cards if you solve this.
I hoped Gary at Pulsar might help but I think that was a bit much to hope for!
Regards
Dick Weatherley
There’s a couple of things to check:
1) The tick count for a complete 360 is consistent and there’s no slip. If it’s a 2.2m dome then the figures should be similar to those on my screenshots.
2) When the scope is pointing north and you slave the dome, where does it end up? Because the scope is directly over the mount there’s no effect from the various slaving parameters; the dome should be at 000. If it isn’t then there’s a problem with your home position. Find home then re-slave. Check this a couple of times and if the error is consistent, recalculate your home bearing, reset it and try the process again.
Andrew