On Sat, Mar 29, 2025 at 06:25 PM, Mike Colyar wrote:
I disagree with the idea that a thread repair solution like a Helicoil is not effective. The approximately doubling of the screw to female thread engagement area makes for a very much stronger fastening. There are several alternative systems on the market but the Helicoil design is probably more likely to be available at any decent sized fastener store. The required inserts, insertion tool and tap is not a five and dime purchase but compared with a replacement motor it is a bargain. And fix all of them while you are at it. Be proactive.
For what it is worth, when I build apparatus for highly stressed environments such as racing cars and aviation related designs, I build thread reinforcements of some sort into the design.
Mike
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Mike,
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Where applicable Helicoil threaded? inserts are an excellent solution for many metal thread repairs.? I have used them for decades in street and track car chassis repairs and modifications as well as alloy cylinder heads, blocks etc.??
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Where applicable are the key words.?
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Chip Louie Chief Daydreamer Imagination Hardware?
Astrospheric Forecast - South Pasadena, CA?
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I disagree with the idea that a thread repair solution like a Helicoil is not effective. The approximately doubling of the screw to female thread engagement area makes for a very much stronger fastening. There are several alternative systems on the market but the Helicoil design is probably more likely to be available at any decent sized fastener store. The required inserts, insertion tool and tap is not a five and dime purchase but compared with a replacement motor it is a bargain. And fix all of them while you are at it. Be proactive.
For what it is worth, when I build apparatus for highly stressed environments such as racing cars and aviation related designs, I build thread reinforcements of some sort into the design.
Mike
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Re: Making a model with limited sky visibiltiy.
On Wed, Mar 26, 2025 at 11:50 AM, David Woolf wrote:
I have limited visibility
With the HC (L6/1.6) you can use the mount to select your stars.? Say I set the mount to CWD and Cold Start, then I want to use a visible bright star.? ?Slew the mount manually to point the OTA at the star, well generally near or I use the finder.? Press Menu->Identify and select the BSL catalogue.? That returns a list of stars sorted by how close within the list the OTA points.? This BSL-star will be the top or closest bright star that the telescope points at.? GoTo that selection and center in the eyepiece.? Enter Menu->Model->Alignment for the 1-star alignment and synchronization.
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Then I slew to another star if desired, picking good placements.? Remembering we want them separated over the extended quadrant as well as possible for a given model side because any error centering on the cross hairs magnifies as the calculated circles extend to the galactic pole.? (A bad model works exactly like a good model, in a like manner).? So, if the OTA allows, reach across the meridian without changing saddle sides (without flipping) use these stars too as needed.? Visually we need good polar alignment with a 1-star alignment per side.? Or near polar alignment (<a few degrees) with three-to-five-star alignment on a side.
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Regardless of good or a so-so alignment, as mentioned I too always synchronize on a local star near where any target resides.? Again, IDENTIFY can be used to sync and center reliably.
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Doug
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Lots of videos on FB/You Tube? on repairing plastic. I generally heat weld plastic to fill the stripped hole and reinforce with fine metal screening that either epoxied or melted in to the plastic. Drill and rethread. $4-40s are a bit light for this purpose and given the size of the structure I'd Try some 3mm screws they are 0.1133" just a bit larger than the #4"s 0.1120". 3.5mm gets you up in the same territory as #6.
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Re: Installing Gemini-2 Driver on an Android Tablet
Thanks for that, Chip, but we can't connect to the mount.? In plugging into the Ethernet Port onto the ASI Air unit, green light comes on, with other end of the cable plugged into the Gemini circuit board.... but I know that doesn't mean much.??
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The club member is putting a thread onto an ASI Air forum.? The scope is in a remote location, and we have to drive there to do anything with the circuit board.? It has L6.02 installed which is fairly recent, with V3 software flashed onto the encoders.
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I'm thinking we're close to connecting.
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Re: Installing Gemini-2 Driver on an Android Tablet
On Wed, Mar 26, 2025 at 03:36 PM, <dkfcpalfd@...> wrote:
Brendan... please read the post I gave above.? ASI Air would not allow any input into the Default Gateway data field.
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Look... I have a Losmandy mount.? This is a Losmandy forum.? But someone with familiarity connecting a Losmandy mount to the ASI Air is going to have to respond to this.
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Hi Dan,
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Sorry for the off putting PM, I took your post as a demand for an answer, my mistake.?
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Here is what I think is going on.? The reason you cannot put anything into the Default Gateway IP fields is the ASIAIR is probably already in the normal default router mode and doesn't need a Default Gateway because the ASIAIR IS the Default Gateway and is serving packets.? So whatever the ASIAIR's IP address is is the Default Gateway to the devices that are connecting using the ASIAIR's Wi-Fi SSID.? Does that make more sense?? ??
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Chip Louie Chief Daydreamer Imagination Hardware?
Astrospheric Forecast - South Pasadena, CA?
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On Fri, Mar 28, 2025 at 07:11 AM, Michael A. Covington wrote:
Could you repair plastic threads by putting a bit of plastic cement
(glue) into the threads, letting it harden, and then letting the screw
cut new threads into it?
The gearboxes are a slightly soft plastic so regular plastic glue that melts the plastic to form a bond probably won't work.? The heavy dental floss does work and you can adjust how much you use to get a tight mechanical connection.? I wouldn't count on it as a permanent solution but it seems to work pretty well.? I like the plain stuff but if you like a minty fresh mount pickup the mint flavored stuff.? ?
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Chip Louie Chief Daydreamer Imagination Hardware?
Astrospheric Forecast - South Pasadena, CA?
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On Fri, Mar 28, 2025 at 05:05 AM, <davidrico13@...> wrote:
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Not very effective in most plastics especially a thin plastic part like this.? The best route I have found is to replace the gearboxes with a new one.? Or alternatively use common thread adhesive or a piece of thick dental floss on the hole as the standard fastener is screwed in, (it can take two lengths in the hole for the threads to get good purchase) as an emergency fix while you wait for new gearboxes.? The gearboxes are pretty durable if you are careful when staring the fasteners but they tend to be sort of a wear item for those who disassemble their mounts often.? Stock a spare.? ?
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Chip Louie Chief Daydreamer Imagination Hardware?
Astrospheric Forecast - South Pasadena, CA?
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Could you repair plastic threads by putting a bit of plastic cement (glue) into the threads, letting it harden, and then letting the screw cut new threads into it?
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David. ?
The motors are held against the Plastic gearbox by UNC 4-40 screws. ?Constant removing, reinstalling or over tightening of these screws damage the plastic threads. ?Easiest fix is to replace the gearbox and be aware of this issue.?
A better fix would be trying plastic welding the gearbox or adding some type of nutsert inter the rear of the gearbox front plate. ? Which means splitting the gearbox and working out a way to try fit a small thin plated tapped to suit or one of those plastic nut inserts. ? Something that doesn¡¯t interfere with the gears. ? Then use M2 long screws to reassemble and secure the gearbox together.?
One user, a while back cut a hole in the rear of their gearbox so they can see and adjust the pinion mesh better. ?Which I think was a good idea if you disassemble and repair the Gearbox?
FWIW
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CHEERS
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Brendan
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On Thu, Mar 27, 2025 at 09:33 PM, David Woolf wrote:
The RA Motor on my G-11 is so loose that I have to slap it back into position in order for it to engage the gears.? I don't see any way to "tighten" it so it doesn't wobble in and out of the housing.? I fear I damaged something by incorrectly transporting the mount sitting on the motor.? Does anyone know the correct fix for that?? Photo shows the motor in the "out" position.?
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Hi David, you probably stripped the thread that the motors screws screw into. That's not hard to do, these threads are plastic.
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You can try to repair the threads with some adhesive (something that's designed to bind metal and plastic), use a slightly larger diameter screw, or do what I did. I used the other screws that go into the metal cover, unscrewed them, put a fairly wide, rust-proof washer on them, then screwed them back in. The washers press on the front lip of the motor, keeping it pressed into the gearbox and stopping it from moving. And these screw into metal, so are much harder to strip :) YMMV.
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The RA Motor on my G-11 is so loose that I have to slap it back into position in order for it to engage the gears.? I don't see any way to "tighten" it so it doesn't wobble in and out of the housing.? I fear I damaged something by incorrectly transporting the mount sitting on the motor.? Does anyone know the correct fix for that?? Photo shows the motor in the "out" position.?
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Re: Gemini II Hand Control issues
On Wed, Mar 26, 2025 at 08:55 AM, David Woolf wrote:
Also on the hand control topic, I'm in Michigan and it doesn't seem to like the cold climate at all.? I've never had it fail altogether, but I have to press the buttons several times to get them to operate.? ?Is that just the nature of the beast?? Does using a stylus help?? ?Sometimes when I tap repeatedly, it starts talking to me in German.? Alles gut.? Ich kann ein bisschen Deutsch.?
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The HC is temperature sensitive for sure.? Have you tried to use an app on your phone like Sky Safari to control the GOTO of the mount?? ?Works great for this.?
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Chip Louie Chief Daydreamer Imagination Hardware?
Astrospheric Forecast - South Pasadena, CA?
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Re: Gemini II Hand Control issues
On Wed, Mar 26, 2025 at 05:13 PM, Joe Rubey wrote:
I'm fairly certain Jupiter is in the night sky currently, at least early, mid evening :-)
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I'm fairly certain this is true if you live in the right place.? ?Not sure where the OP is located but in Saginaw by the time it gets to be almost dark Jupiter is an hour away from being out of view.? Most folks are just getting setup about that time.??
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Chip Louie Chief Daydreamer Imagination Hardware?
Astrospheric Forecast - South Pasadena, CA?
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Re: Installing Gemini-2 Driver on an Android Tablet
On Tue, Mar 25, 2025 at 11:50 AM, <dkfcpalfd@...> wrote:
I belong to an astronomy club, and we have a Losmandy Titan mount, running L6.01 Gemini 2.? I connect the mount via Ethernet to my laptop PC.??
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One of our club members would like to do some plate solving with the mount, by connecting his ASI Air device to the mount via Ethernet, and accessing the ASI Air app using his Android tablet.
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He's been to the Gemini 2 driver download page, and he's having problem downloading/installing the driver onto his Android tablet.
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Does anyone know if an Android driver exists to make these wireless people happy?
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Please sign you posts with your name or at least a handle.??
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Unlike most folks here replying I am an ASIAIR user and Losmandy Gemini user as well as an L6 beta team contributor.? I have been using the ASIAIR system since 2020.??
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The ASIAIR is a free standing astro imaging hardware and software system that is made up of a dedicated hardware controller that can only be used with ZWO peripherals and many popular mount control systems.? There are no Windows drivers to load and none is available and non needed, the ASIAIR control app and UI interface is only available for Android and ios based devices.?
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Do this: update to the latest Gemini 2 firmware versions namely: MU 6.12 and HC 1.64 using GFU or the manual ftp method.? You should have also programed your Gemini 2 PIC controllers with the latest v3 code.? Update your ASIAIR app to the latest version found on the ZWO website.? The ASIAIR app will automatically update your ASIAIR controller hardware's firmware id it is behind on firmware versions.??
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The ASIAIR Wi-Fi native mode is as a standard router, it creates its own network and can route packets and Wi-Fi with its own SSID.? You use your phone's WI-FI and connect to whatever SSID you assigned or the default if you didn't.? Go to the menu and configure the ASIAIR to use a fixed IP address, use the standard 192.168.1.1 for a freestanding router which is what the ASIAIR's normal default Wi-FI mode is from the factory.? ?
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If you don't already use static IP addressing set your Gemini to use a fixed static IP address on the same network as the ASIAIR by unselecting the DHCP check box and setting the IP and netmask appropriately.? If the Gemini is already using static IP addressing change the ASIAIR networking IP address and netmask information to put the AIR on the same network as the Gemini.??
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Write that Gemini IP address down as that is what you will use to get into the Gemini's web interface.? The only way into the ASIAIR that you should be using is through the ASIAIR's app.? Do not try to get into the ASIAIR directly using a browser or other terminal app.??
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Fire up the ASIAIR app and then just connect to the ASIAIR UI and configure the app to use the Losmandy mount.? Be sure to set the Losmandy specific network settings to use UTP and the matching ports etc copied over from the Gemini.?
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Now off you go.??
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Chip Louie Chief Daydreamer Imagination Hardware?
Astrospheric Forecast - South Pasadena, CA?
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Re: Gemini II Hand Control issues
I'm fairly certain Jupiter is in the night sky currently, at least early, mid evening :-)
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Re: Installing Gemini-2 Driver on an Android Tablet
Brendan... please read the post I gave above.? ASI Air would not allow any input into the Default Gateway data field.
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Look... I have a Losmandy mount.? This is a Losmandy forum.? But someone with familiarity connecting a Losmandy mount to the ASI Air is going to have to respond to this.
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Re: Installing Gemini-2 Driver on an Android Tablet
Default gateway is usually same as primary DNS ¡.which is your router IP address
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Brendan
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Re: Installing Gemini-2 Driver on an Android Tablet
Thanks for that.? We did try USB, and I think we're close on Ethernet connection if we just get by on the Default Gateway input.
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Chip Louie
Paul Kanevsky
David Woolf
Joe Rubey