On Sun, Aug 25, 2024 at 07:04 AM, Ed Harp wrote:
I appreciate your help.?
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So by spirit level, I would guess you mean the "CWD" position the mount knows after a cold start. I've gotten to doing things this way: set up the mount and ota, balance then level the mount base spirit levels, then the two in the RA and dec, then cold start the mount. I think of this as "home" for this mount.
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I am happy this mount worked out. It was frustrating at first. I wanted something made in this way (here, small company) that I could use with the air sometimes and finally after a bit of fuss (maybe a bad motor) I get very good guiding and reliable results.
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I like the tripod attachment design enough to make it my standard for all of my mounts and have scared up adapters where needed and adapted a Berlebach tripod to this as well. I still use the heavy Losamandy tripod, but it's a beast. You can see a large black steel knob under the tripod top plate. The one flaw I see in the Losmandy tripod design is you cannot roughly rotate the mount. I am used to having this with other mounts. So the Losmandy base plate is attached to the Berlebach with a big 1/2" bolt so that I can rotate the mount a bit if find I am off by say 5 degrees when I go to polar align. Mechanically I am fairly certain it will be reliable.
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I LOVE my Berlebach Planet!? But I wouldn't want to ruin the black finish by rotating the MA on top to get your mount aligned! You can cut a circle out of a thin sheet of polyethylene to protect the base and make rotation easier.?
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Chip Louie Chief Daydreamer Imagination Hardware?
Astrospheric Forecast - South Pasadena, CA?