Re: Issues With Initial GoTos on new GM811G
Hi!
FIrst thing to check, always, in situations like this, is time
and location. Is the time correctly set, and is it really the
correct geographical location? You set this with the handcontrol,
if not connected to a computer.
Best,
Magnus
Den 2020-08-12 kl. 14:38, skrev Ryan
Weiss:
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I just received a brand new GM811G and took it outside for first
light yesterday.? After successfully polar aligning the mount with
a polemaster, I tried to goto several bright stars and each time
the mount slewed in a direction that was nearly opposite of where
it needed to point.? For example, starting from the CWT down
position, I tried to goto Altair (high in the southeast) and the
mount tried to slew so the scope would point at the ground in the
west.? I eventually had to stop the goto to prevent the scope from
crashing.? I've never seen this occur on any other equatorial
mount I have owned.
This happened multiple times from the CWT down position trying to
go to different stars.? I restarted the mount several times and
made sure that everything obvious (I think) was set correctly.?
The RA and Dec cables are plugged in correctly, mount type, lat
and longitude, date and time are all correct, polar alignment is
good, etc.??
Eventually, I disengaged the clutches and manually moved the scope
to the star I had directed the mount to goto, Arcturus.? With the
mount thinking it was at Arcturus, I retightened the clutches and
tried to goto Mizar.? In this instance, the mount reached the
correct R.A. for Mizar (I think), but went much too far to the
east in Declination.??
I spent two hours trying to get these problems fixed at a dark sky
site and ultimately gave up and headed home.? I am out of ideas on
this.? What should I check next?? Could this be something that
updating the firmware in the controller would fix?
Ryan
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Re: Issues With Initial GoTos on new GM811G
?With the mount thinking it was at Arcturus, I retightened the clutches and tried to goto Mizar.? In this instance, the mount reached the correct R.A. for Mizar (I think), but went much too far to the east in Declination.?
With new users it is hard to know whether the errors are conceptual or due to faulty implementation of issues that are understood.? And then there are errors that occur in the writing of the post which are really editing issues and unrelated to what's going on with the user or the mount but which are confusing to the readers.? On top of that there are some genuinely bizarre outcomes. This post has written has some head scratchers in it.? A mount cannot go too far east or west in declination. Declination is north south and only north south.? It cannot be anything else. I am emphasizing this because if you have conceptually confused right ascension and declination, then you will have connected your wires incorrectly.? That is you will have right ascension inputs in the dec and dec inputs in the right ascension. On top of that it is possible to understand completely and fully right ascension and dec and connect the wires opposite to what they should be in any case. This is called a brain fart. Or maybe you just wrote up your post wrong. So those are things to check. Now in the usual case when the mount seems to be working but doesn't seem to be going to where it needs to go there is confusion in the mount as to which hemisphere it is in. So it needs to be configured for northern hemisphere.? The other thing you need to do is make sure that you always make your first alignment star in the east and have time and date and location correct.? It certainly used to be the case, and I don't know if it's still true, that most equatorial pointing systems assumed an initial alignment on a star on the east side of the meridian.? ?Some systems use GPS to try to remove that issue from the user. But take a star like Vega for example in the first part of the spring and summer it is an star in the eastern part of the sky but as the summer progresses you find it in the west. If you align on the west first the pointing computer may try to make everything workwith time and date settings that are not consistent with Vega being in the West. The result is that the pointing gets turned around.? ?and if the north south hemisphere settings are not correct that is a similar problem. It will assume you are in the southern hemisphere and can see Vega in the northern part of your sky but all the pointing decisions that result from that will be ass backwards. Incidentally I had this problem with analog setting circles I had purchased a mount with southern setting circles I didn't know it. Everything came out ass backwards no computer involved. Telescopes in general and telescopes with robotic pointing systems are beautiful but complex machines with all kinds of rules many of which become second nature to the user but are difficult to master.? ?I always tell people to keep their expectations low for the first month of ownership of devices like this. Take it a step at a time. You've gotten to the point where you can put the scope on them out and get them out pointed in the right direction and you have a power supply which is making the motors work. So you have made huge progress in what I consider to be the one month break-in time for user and machine. So now the next step is to get it pointing at Bright Stars consistently.? ? The backlash adjustment is another potential source of pointing error but it would be very unusual to have it be errors as large as you are describing.? Inertia of the mount and scope may try to keep the telescope pointed still while the motors are trying to move it. The pointing system counts the movement in the servos in order to keep track of where it is.? if the servos are moving and the mount is not that is going to introduce error of varying degrees of severity. To sum up make sure your RA and dec wires are going to the right motors. Make sure you are 100% clear on which axis is declination and which is right ascension. Because even now after doing this stuff for 20 years I occasionally plug my wires into the wrong motor.Make sure your paddle control is set for northern hemisphere, assuming you are in the northern hemisphere.? Make sure time date and location are correctly set. And then make sure that your first alignment star is east of the meridian and preferably by more than a little bit.
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Issues With Initial GoTos on new GM811G
I just received a brand new GM811G and took it outside for first light yesterday.? After successfully polar aligning the mount with a polemaster, I tried to goto several bright stars and each time the mount slewed in a direction that was nearly opposite of where it needed to point.? For example, starting from the CWT down position, I tried to goto Altair (high in the southeast) and the mount tried to slew so the scope would point at the ground in the west.? I eventually had to stop the goto to prevent the scope from crashing.? I've never seen this occur on any other equatorial mount I have owned.
This happened multiple times from the CWT down position trying to go to different stars.? I restarted the mount several times and made sure that everything obvious (I think) was set correctly.? The RA and Dec cables are plugged in correctly, mount type, lat and longitude, date and time are all correct, polar alignment is good, etc.??
Eventually, I disengaged the clutches and manually moved the scope to the star I had directed the mount to goto, Arcturus.? With the mount thinking it was at Arcturus, I retightened the clutches and tried to goto Mizar.? In this instance, the mount reached the correct R.A. for Mizar (I think), but went much too far to the east in Declination.??
I spent two hours trying to get these problems fixed at a dark sky site and ultimately gave up and headed home.? I am out of ideas on this.? What should I check next?? Could this be something that updating the firmware in the controller would fix?
Ryan
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Re: Polemaster Adapter for Titan Mounts
Donnie, I may be chiming in late here and my mount is not the Titan, but my adapter Pole Master adapter from my iOptron IEQ45 Pro fit perfectly with my older model G11. For that matter, the Tri Peer also worked like magic for the G11, as well.?
Anyway, you won`t go wrong with whatever mount you choose.
James
Speaking of the Polemaster with SharpCap... it is the best thing I've done, and I have Chip and Brian to thank for it. I generally polar align to within 1 arc minute. This is what I am running now on a GM811G. I don't think I'm limited by guiding any longer at least with this scope!? I don't know who says the Polemaster isn't good enough for astrophotography but my results seem to disprove it.
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Re: Polemaster Adapter for Titan Mounts
John,
I just responded. Thanks for the questions!
Matt
Matt:
I was looking at your article in Astronomy Tech Today magazine and was interested in finding? some answeres
-----Original Message-----
From: matt harmston < matt.harmston@...>
To: [email protected] Group Moderators < [email protected]>
Sent: Tue, Aug 11, 2020 8:36 pm
Subject: Re: [Losmandy_users_io] Polemaster Adapter for Titan Mounts
? Brian,
Thanks for the kind words. The setups in my image are:
1) Riverside Space Port (SkyShed POD), which houses a MallinCam VRC10-CF on a Celestron CGEPro.
2) 16" custom dob, push-to, built around a refigured/finished Meade Starfinder mirror.
3) 8" f/4 MallinCam Newt on?Losmandy G11G.?
The Losmandy rests atop a dolley that I built for use before the POD and its pad were in place. Living in rural Iowa, gravel and uneven ground is the norm. Thus, I used 10" pneumatic tires from Harbor Freight affixed to a triangular key-shaped base with a single deck and secondary reinforcing?layer of 3/4" baltic birch (leftover from the dob build). The deck is affixed via ratchet strap to the bottom of the tripod to make a single unit.? The wheels and 3/4" threaded levelers are mounted to blocks each composed of 4 layers of ply. All adjoining layers were glued and then screwed for mechanical and adhesive bonding.? As Arun indicated, the mig-welded T-levelers are key components, as are their push-pull lock nuts (which have a handle welded to them as well...no tools!!!). There's some play with such coarse threads.? You might note the chunky look to the tripod legs. I added 50lbs of velcro leg weights to each leg to drop the center of gravity for safe passage over the rough gravel. I had the 10" and a piggyback 80mm for awhile, so lowered COG was critical.
Thanks,
Matt
On Tue, Aug 11, 2020 at 11:08 AM Brian Valente < bvalente@...> wrote:
Matt that's a cool pic
can you describe the setups you have there?
Donnie,
If you are so inclined, you can build a cart for the G11G (or any mount and tripod, for that matter). This makes for a portable observatory setup. Plug it in to a power source and computer, polar align, and do your star alignments. Literally, when I use this instead of my Obs, setup and teardown take less than 10 min with no strain.? Forgive the bad pic, but you get the idea.
Matt
On Tue, Aug 11, 2020, 10:45 AM Donnie < zerodb@...> wrote: I will look into the G11G and GM811G. And thank you all for the great replies. I really appreciate it.
--
Brian?
Brian Valente
portfolio
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Re: Polemaster Adapter for Titan Mounts
Matt:
I was looking at your article in Astronomy Tech Today magazine and was interested in finding? some answeres
John Hobbs
hobbs_john@...
-----Original Message-----
From: matt harmston <matt.harmston@...>
To: [email protected] Group Moderators < [email protected]>
Sent: Tue, Aug 11, 2020 8:36 pm
Subject: Re: [Losmandy_users_io] Polemaster Adapter for Titan Mounts
? Brian,
Thanks for the kind words. The setups in my image are:
1) Riverside Space Port (SkyShed POD), which houses a MallinCam VRC10-CF on a Celestron CGEPro.
2) 16" custom dob, push-to, built around a refigured/finished Meade Starfinder mirror.
3) 8" f/4 MallinCam Newt on?Losmandy G11G.?
The Losmandy rests atop a dolley that I built for use before the POD and its pad were in place. Living in rural Iowa, gravel and uneven ground is the norm. Thus, I used 10" pneumatic tires from Harbor Freight affixed to a triangular key-shaped base with a single deck and secondary reinforcing?layer of 3/4" baltic birch (leftover from the dob build). The deck is affixed via ratchet strap to the bottom of the tripod to make a single unit.? The wheels and 3/4" threaded levelers are mounted to blocks each composed of 4 layers of ply. All adjoining layers were glued and then screwed for mechanical and adhesive bonding.? As Arun indicated, the mig-welded T-levelers are key components, as are their push-pull lock nuts (which have a handle welded to them as well...no tools!!!). There's some play with such coarse threads.? You might note the chunky look to the tripod legs. I added 50lbs of velcro leg weights to each leg to drop the center of gravity for safe passage over the rough gravel. I had the 10" and a piggyback 80mm for awhile, so lowered COG was critical.
Thanks,
Matt
On Tue, Aug 11, 2020 at 11:08 AM Brian Valente < bvalente@...> wrote:
Matt that's a cool pic
can you describe the setups you have there?
Donnie,
If you are so inclined, you can build a cart for the G11G (or any mount and tripod, for that matter). This makes for a portable observatory setup. Plug it in to a power source and computer, polar align, and do your star alignments. Literally, when I use this instead of my Obs, setup and teardown take less than 10 min with no strain.? Forgive the bad pic, but you get the idea.
Matt
On Tue, Aug 11, 2020, 10:45 AM Donnie < zerodb@...> wrote: I will look into the G11G and GM811G. And thank you all for the great replies. I really appreciate it.
--
Brian?
Brian Valente
portfolio
|
Re: Polemaster Adapter for Titan Mounts
? Brian,
Thanks for the kind words. The setups in my image are:
1) Riverside Space Port (SkyShed POD), which houses a MallinCam VRC10-CF on a Celestron CGEPro. 2) 16" custom dob, push-to, built around a refigured/finished Meade Starfinder mirror. 3) 8" f/4 MallinCam Newt on?Losmandy G11G.?
The Losmandy rests atop a dolley that I built for use before the POD and its pad were in place. Living in rural Iowa, gravel and uneven ground is the norm. Thus, I used 10" pneumatic tires from Harbor Freight affixed to a triangular key-shaped base with a single deck and secondary reinforcing?layer of 3/4" baltic birch (leftover from the dob build). The deck is affixed via ratchet strap to the bottom of the tripod to make a single unit.? The wheels and 3/4" threaded levelers are mounted to blocks each composed of 4 layers of ply. All adjoining layers were glued and then screwed for mechanical and adhesive bonding.? As Arun indicated, the mig-welded T-levelers are key components, as are their push-pull lock nuts (which have a handle welded to them as well...no tools!!!). There's some play with such coarse threads.? You might note the chunky look to the tripod legs. I added 50lbs of velcro leg weights to each leg to drop the center of gravity for safe passage over the rough gravel. I had the 10" and a piggyback 80mm for awhile, so lowered COG was critical.
Thanks, Matt
On Tue, Aug 11, 2020 at 11:08 AM Brian Valente < bvalente@...> wrote: Matt that's a cool pic
can you describe the setups you have there?
Donnie,
If you are so inclined, you can build a cart for the G11G (or any mount and tripod, for that matter). This makes for a portable observatory setup. Plug it in to a power source and computer, polar align, and do your star alignments. Literally, when I use this instead of my Obs, setup and teardown take less than 10 min with no strain.? Forgive the bad pic, but you get the idea.
Matt
On Tue, Aug 11, 2020, 10:45 AM Donnie < zerodb@...> wrote: I will look into the G11G and GM811G. And thank you all for the great replies. I really appreciate it.
--
Brian?
Brian Valente portfolio
|
Re: Side by side saddle or piggy back scope alignment
Brett
Thanks for your reply. Yes, by concentric I meant having the same view in the sky. Since I put a losmandy dovetail on the top and bottom of my c11 (it has hyperstar capability) and put an 80 mm refractor f5 on top of that it was apparetly their view in the sky was close but not totally concentric and the refractor doesn't have adjustable rings. So i was wondering do I shim the dovetail using a laser to get the two perfectly parallel or not. I understood in general their view of the sky would be nearly the same but would that matter and in what circumstances.? But I found they were slightly off of each other.? Since I don't do AP yet but have been playing with a camera and I am a complete babe in the woods with AP I was looking for input.?
Chuck
-----Original Message----- From: E. Brett Waller <cedargreenobservatory@...> To: Losmandy_users < [email protected]> Sent: Tue, Aug 11, 2020 01:25 PM Subject: Re: [Losmandy_users_io] Side by side saddle or piggy back scope alignment Chuck,
If I am reading your post correctly, you are wondering whether the scopes?should be parallel?or should point to the same place in the sky (I assume that is what you mean by having the views concentric). If they are parallel, they will point to the same place in the sky, despite the fact they are separated by several inches. This would NOT be true for a terrestrial object where the distance between two parallel scopes would offset the field of view by the same spacing as between the two optical axes.? For an astronomical object such as the moon, your best case resolution is going to be on the order of a kilometer or so, and you would never notice such a small offset. In similar fashion, you would be hard pressed to see the difference in the fields of view on a terrestrial object at a distance?of several miles. In those cases, the lines of sight for the two telescopes?are effectively parallel. Thus, two telescopes which are parallel will point to the same location on?the sky.
I hope I haven't misread your original question, if so I apologize. At any rate, I hope you find my reply useful.
Best regards,
Brett On Tue, Aug 11, 2020 at 12:02 AM crocco1250 via <crocco1250= [email protected]> wrote: This may not be the right place for this question but a recent post talked about side by side saddles and it raised a question. If you had a side by side or piggy back, say a c11 and 80 mm refractor, do you want them perfectly parallel or have the views more or less concentric? What are the pros and cons? If someone has a site I would appreciate more info.
Thanks
Chuck
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Re: Side by side saddle or piggy back scope alignment
Chuck,
If I am reading your post correctly, you are wondering whether the scopes?should be parallel?or should point to the same place in the sky (I assume that is what you mean by having the views concentric). If they are parallel, they will point to the same place in the sky, despite the fact they are separated by several inches. This would NOT be true for a terrestrial object where the distance between two parallel scopes would offset the field of view by the same spacing as between the two optical axes.? For an astronomical object such as the moon, your best case resolution is going to be on the order of a kilometer or so, and you would never notice such a small offset. In similar fashion, you would be hard pressed to see the difference in the fields of view on a terrestrial object at a distance?of several miles. In those cases, the lines of sight for the two telescopes?are effectively parallel. Thus, two telescopes which are parallel will point to the same location on?the sky.
I hope I haven't misread your original question, if so I apologize. At any rate, I hope you find my reply useful.
Best regards,
Brett
On Tue, Aug 11, 2020 at 12:02 AM crocco1250 via <crocco1250= [email protected]> wrote: This may not be the right place for this question but a recent post talked about side by side saddles and it raised a question. If you had a side by side or piggy back, say a c11 and 80 mm refractor, do you want them perfectly parallel or have the views more or less concentric? What are the pros and cons? If someone has a site I would appreciate more info.
Thanks
Chuck
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Very nice report, Greg.
One comment, and a few questions:
Since you mentioned it: ?Dow Corning makes its High Vacuum Grease product that is used in experimental physics high vacuum chambers.? It has very very low outgassing properties.? I use that for lubing my SCT primary mirror slide tubes.? It comes in a 150 gram (5.3oz) tube.? ?So far my mirrors gave never fogged up from using that.? I would not trust any other lubricant for that...(unknown what Meade and Celestron use.)
Questions:? On the famed "3rd Bearing" improvement.? That was to stuff a 3rd cylindrical needle bearing in the top of the RA (DEC too?) I bought a few if them to add...but never had the courage to try it.
Then I heard from another in our group that one cannot be added on a CG11 (I have one) but can be added to a G11 (I have one of those also).? I've never tried it... you said you were unsure if it made a difference.? On my G11 carrying a C14....maybe would help distribute the weight better.? If your mount is a 18 years old....is it a G11 or a CG11? Did you put a 3rd bearing in both axes or only one of them?
Thanks,!!!!
Michael
About fifteen years ago I lubed my (stepper version) G11 with Slick 50 bearing grease.? Since that time I have used it in temperatures from -20F to as hot as I could stand.??
I'm sure Super Lube would do the trick.? ? Any vehicle bearing grease that you could drive through Death Valley in the summer and up to Alaska in the winter would do the trick.? Remember that you'll be dead before the amount of wear on your mount bearings equals the wear on a vehicle by taking just one trip to the super market.? Back and forth, back and forth, across the sky: maybe 30 times in a night?? And not even every night.??
Pretty low usage, even if your usage is high.
The only grease problem I've heard of is in the 1990s the grease that came with the needle bearings interacted with the grease Losmandy was using in the mount.? The two together made a glue like stuff.? You had to brush it out with a tooth brush and solvent.??
Religious wars about the best grease and out gassing also come up among SCT users when the more adventurous of them are going into the tube to regrease the baffle sleeve.? There the big bugaboo is "outgassing."? ?
I remember I got some very expensive synthetic used in the space program because of my fear of outgassing.? I ended up re-selling it on Astromart.? For whatever reason I don't think it worked out.? This was fifteen or sixteen years ago.? I think that my problem with it is that the focus did not have a "smooth feel" with this stuff.??
Anyhow I removed it all as best I could and ended up using my Slick 50 bearing grease.? The particular container I used is no longer sold (from what I see).? I'm sure Super Lube would be just as good.? ?Anyhow that was fifteen years ago I have used the scope and the mount in freezing conditions and I have left the C14 with its regular ol' bearing grease on the baffle sleeve in a hot closed car.? So far no out gassing.? So far everything works.
I don't expect to have to mess with the G11 or the C14 again till I croak.??
These are beautiful pieces of equipment that we're talking about and we all want to baby our gear.? And maybe if you're in wretchedly dusty conditions you *do* need to to regrease the mount, I won't say no.? But the conditions which would do harm to your G11: put it this way, I have pity for your optics.? If the G11 is going down your optics are going first under those extremes.
I sympathize with the desire to tinker with the mount I was "into" that when I first got mine.? One of the things I did was install a third needle bearing in the RA and Dec axes.? Way back when, around 2003-2004, that was one of the leading prescriptions to reduce PE.? I have no idea why.? Anyhow I was operating a C14 on the mount and I thought well maybe the extra bearings will help out with the C14.? So I put them in and they are there to this day.? I really can't say if they improved anything.??
These days I just use the mount.? I've had it 18 years.??
Greg N
?
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About fifteen years ago I lubed my (stepper version) G11 with Slick 50 bearing grease.? Since that time I have used it in temperatures from -20F to as hot as I could stand.??
I'm sure Super Lube would do the trick.? ? Any vehicle bearing grease that you could drive through Death Valley in the summer and up to Alaska in the winter would do the trick.? Remember that you'll be dead before the amount of wear on your mount bearings equals the wear on a vehicle by taking just one trip to the super market.? Back and forth, back and forth, across the sky: maybe 30 times in a night?? And not even every night.??
Pretty low rpm usage, even if your usage is high.? I mean, compared to thousands of rpm, you have in one year less than a typical vehicle will accrue in one minute (on the basis of rpm).
The only grease problem I've heard of is in the 1990s the grease that came with the needle bearings interacted with the grease Losmandy was using in the mount.? The two together made a glue like stuff.? You had to brush it out with a tooth brush and solvent.??
Religious wars about the best grease and out gassing also come up among SCT users when the more adventurous of them are going into the tube to regrease the baffle sleeve.? There the big bugaboo is "outgassing."? ?
I remember I got some very expensive synthetic used in the space program because of my fear of outgassing.? I ended up re-selling it on Astromart.? For whatever reason I don't think it worked out.? This was fifteen or sixteen years ago.? I think that my problem with it is that the focus did not have a "smooth feel" with this stuff.??
Anyhow I removed it all as best I could and ended up using my Slick 50 bearing grease.? The particular container I used is no longer sold (from what I see).? I'm sure Super Lube would be just as good.? ?Anyhow that was fifteen years ago I have used the scope and the mount in freezing conditions and I have left the C14 with its regular ol' bearing grease on the baffle sleeve in a hot closed car.? So far no out gassing.? So far everything works.
I don't expect to have to mess with the G11 or the C14 again till I croak.??
These are beautiful pieces of equipment that we're talking about and we all want to baby our gear.? And maybe if you're in wretchedly dusty conditions you *do* need to to regrease the mount, I won't say no.? But the conditions which would do harm to your G11: put it this way, I have pity for your optics.? If the G11 is going down your optics are going first under those extremes.
I sympathize with the desire to tinker with the mount I was "into" that when I first got mine.? One of the things I did was install a third needle bearing in the RA and Dec axes.? Way back when, around 2003-2004, that was one of the leading prescriptions to reduce PE.? I have no idea why.? Anyhow I was operating a C14 on the mount and I thought well maybe the extra bearings will help out with the C14.? So I put them in and they are there to this day.? I really can't say if they improved anything.??
These days I just use the mount.? I've had it 18 years.??
Greg N
?
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Re: Polemaster Adapter for Titan Mounts
Donald,
The G11G has all of the latest and greatest design features included in the current production. I have a G11 mount that predates any of these updates, over time I updated my G11 first with the then standard HighPrecision worms and modified 2-piece bearing blocks with Bellevue discs, then updated by Scott to the tucked in servomotors and gen II OPWs, followed by adding the spring loaded feature to the gen II OPWs. IME the spring loaded one piece worm blocks are what pushed the G11G and now the GM8G into much more consistently performing like the high priced spread mounts they really are. Trust Brian when he tells you that you do not need the T, he is an experienced imager. I'll add my own comment that in fact you may not get as good tracking performance from it.?
As far as the PoleMaster goes I have been a PoleMaster fan since day one and as Brian has said don't let the boneheads talk you out of buying and using one especially as a fellow portable imager. The PoleMaster app was great many years ago when it was the first PA camera to market with a dedicated app. In the meantime the PoleMaster app has been surpassed by later, more powerful programs but IME the flexibility of the smaller pixels and wider FOV of the PoleMaster camera give it an edge over any other solution when combined with the SharpCap polar alignment routine. My guess is that if you use the PoleMaster camera with SharpCaps PA routine you can match the accuracy of a minimum 40 drift alignment in less than 10 minutes AND you can do it sooner in the night than otherwise.?
Call Anthony at ADM up and order one of these spiffy brackets to hang under (or over) your scope off the dovetail. This one is a prototype on a Losmandy "D" adapter clamp, newer ones are dual D/V clamps.??
?
--
Chip Louie - Chief Daydreamer Imagination Hardware
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>>>it has not changed its process of making mounts.? It uses the same heavy grease as it has in the past.???
I don't think that's a fair characterization Michael
We have switched grease several times over the years when we find a better one. If we find a better one than the current one, we'll switch to that
and of course the mounts themselves have evolved quite a bit over the years
>>
The heavy molyD based lube for the bearings might be ok in that benign climate.? (Though Chip who lives there does not agree even then...)
MP-50 is rated for -300 to 750F?
?Although Losmandy is based in LA, the lube we use is not just "for LA and simliar areas"
i would say that covers most expected temperatures - at least on Earth ;)
On Tue, Aug 11, 2020 at 10:08 AM Michael Herman < mherman346@...> wrote: To be sure, nobody is reinventing any wheels. Owners do encounter legitimate trouble with their mounts.? The best lube may not be universal.? ?? People in climates other than LA area do see extreme temperatures, and their stock grease/lube from the factory may not suffice.? ?LA is a wonderful place to live and work.? Never snows, hardly ever rains.? It's why 20M people are crowded in there.? The heavy molyD based lube for the bearings might be ok in that benign climate.? (Though Chip who lives there does not agree even then...)
For the desert like Aizona, temperatures can change by 100F during one day.? That does not generally happen in beautiful LA.??
A study by a member of the EQMOD group many years ago showed that SuperLube stayed the most slippery even at below freezing temperatures (the person put the stuff in their freezer to test it vs other types of lube).? SuperLube should be strongly considered the best for extreme weather.? This is what Chip has been recommending for years also.
I live in Northern California, also benign weather...fog, frost, but little rain and zero snow.? Generally cooler than LA but it can also get as hot.? ?My mounts are left outdoors covered in multiple tarps. They will get to 100F in summer heat, and down to below freezing in the coldest winter nights...but not in a single day.? I have experienced light oils that are in some lubes eventually run out and got on my plastic clutch pads, making them slip.? I also went with Chip's suggestion of SuperLube, and I have not found any slipping of my clutches.? I have not re-lubed any of my mounts in years, unless I was installing new components.?
(I did replace my plastic clutches with high friction type and these new ones also block out oil capillary migration. )
So: the factory does it's thing...it has not changed its process of making mounts.? It uses the same heavy grease as it has in the past.??
The needle bearings used throughout the mount do require a light lube to keep them free running.? Else they will "gum up" and be hard to rotate.? Please read yourself online about needle bearings and their maintenance.??
So owners in different climates should look out for either high friction in the axes rotation, or slipping clutch disks.? If you find these issues, try cleaning out any old dried lubricant, and try SuperLube.??
Chip earlier recommended this particular version of SuperLube (from Amazon):?
Super Lube 41160 Synthetic Grease (NLGI 2) 14.1 oz cannister translucent white.? From Amazon it is $9.85 today with free shipping...? The stuff with "Syncolon" PTFE.? Resists wear, corrosives, dirt, dust, saltwater, water.??
Stay well, all!!!??
Michael
I kind of doubt I will be re-lubing my 811 in my lifetime.
So I'm happy and confident in whatever grease Scott used in my mount.
It works great.
Some folks are hell bent on reinventing the wheel though.
--
SonnyE
(I suggest viewed in full screen)
-- Brian?
Brian Valente portfolio
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Re: Some changes to Groups.io
On Tue, Aug 11, 2020 at 11:46 AM, Paul Kanevsky wrote:
Can't blame Mark for finally doing this. He's been doing an amazing job, all by himself, and as I understand it, not getting paid much for his trouble. It's nice of him to grandfather in the existing basic groups and keep them free of charge.
And once again I shoot my mouth off without ?knowing facts! ?Sigh when will i learn? i like the drive links. ? ? ? -- Brendan
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To be sure, nobody is reinventing any wheels. Owners do encounter legitimate trouble with their mounts.? The best lube may not be universal.? ?? People in climates other than LA area do see extreme temperatures, and their stock grease/lube from the factory may not suffice.? ?LA is a wonderful place to live and work.? Never snows, hardly ever rains.? It's why 20M people are crowded in there.? The heavy molyD based lube for the bearings might be ok in that benign climate.? (Though Chip who lives there does not agree even then...)
For the desert like Aizona, temperatures can change by 100F during one day.? That does not generally happen in beautiful LA.??
A study by a member of the EQMOD group many years ago showed that SuperLube stayed the most slippery even at below freezing temperatures (the person put the stuff in their freezer to test it vs other types of lube).? SuperLube should be strongly considered the best for extreme weather.? This is what Chip has been recommending for years also.
I live in Northern California, also benign weather...fog, frost, but little rain and zero snow.? Generally cooler than LA but it can also get as hot.? ?My mounts are left outdoors covered in multiple tarps. They will get to 100F in summer heat, and down to below freezing in the coldest winter nights...but not in a single day.? I have experienced light oils that are in some lubes eventually run out and got on my plastic clutch pads, making them slip.? I also went with Chip's suggestion of SuperLube, and I have not found any slipping of my clutches.? I have not re-lubed any of my mounts in years, unless I was installing new components.?
(I did replace my plastic clutches with high friction type and these new ones also block out oil capillary migration. )
So: the factory does it's thing...it has not changed its process of making mounts.? It uses the same heavy grease as it has in the past.??
The needle bearings used throughout the mount do require a light lube to keep them free running.? Else they will "gum up" and be hard to rotate.? Please read yourself online about needle bearings and their maintenance.??
So owners in different climates should look out for either high friction in the axes rotation, or slipping clutch disks.? If you find these issues, try cleaning out any old dried lubricant, and try SuperLube.??
Chip earlier recommended this particular version of SuperLube (from Amazon):?
Super Lube 41160 Synthetic Grease (NLGI 2) 14.1 oz cannister translucent white.? From Amazon it is $9.85 today with free shipping...? The stuff with "Syncolon" PTFE.? Resists wear, corrosives, dirt, dust, saltwater, water.??
Stay well, all!!!??
Michael
I kind of doubt I will be re-lubing my 811 in my lifetime.
So I'm happy and confident in whatever grease Scott used in my mount.
It works great.
Some folks are hell bent on reinventing the wheel though.
--
SonnyE
(I suggest viewed in full screen)
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Re: Polemaster Adapter for Titan Mounts
If you go this route - one thing to keep in mind. Make sure you don't leave it resting on tires when you're imaging but rather on those metal screws/wood blocks as Matt has done. Because as the temperature changes through the night, your tires will deflate a bit and mess up your PA! Probably does matter significantly for a long focal length reflector such as what you see mounted there. I imagine less of a consideration for visual.
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Re: Polemaster Adapter for Titan Mounts
Matt that's a cool pic
can you describe the setups you have there?
Donnie,
If you are so inclined, you can build a cart for the G11G (or any mount and tripod, for that matter). This makes for a portable observatory setup. Plug it in to a power source and computer, polar align, and do your star alignments. Literally, when I use this instead of my Obs, setup and teardown take less than 10 min with no strain.? Forgive the bad pic, but you get the idea.
Matt
On Tue, Aug 11, 2020, 10:45 AM Donnie < zerodb@...> wrote: I will look into the G11G and GM811G. And thank you all for the great replies. I really appreciate it.
-- Brian?
Brian Valente portfolio
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Re: Polemaster Adapter for Titan Mounts
Donnie,
If you are so inclined, you can build a cart for the G11G (or any mount and tripod, for that matter). This makes for a portable observatory setup. Plug it in to a power source and computer, polar align, and do your star alignments. Literally, when I use this instead of my Obs, setup and teardown take less than 10 min with no strain.? Forgive the bad pic, but you get the idea.
Matt
On Tue, Aug 11, 2020, 10:45 AM Donnie < zerodb@...> wrote: I will look into the G11G and GM811G. And thank you all for the great replies. I really appreciate it.
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Re: Polemaster Adapter for Titan Mounts
I will look into the G11G and GM811G. And thank you all for the great replies. I really appreciate it.
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?
Can anyone tell me the specifications of the capped screws that hold the OPW to the mount and the capped screws that hold the blocks with the worm bearings in the OPW frame, please? I am
looking for the length and the thread type.
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James B
Michael Herman
Chip Louie