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Re: Balance and height
Hi Dave, I believe you have it right...it's really the only way to mount a long Newtonian with a heavy rear mirror. In that case, the eyepiece will be way out in front of the mount. I mounted my 10" f/6 Newtonian on my G11 for quite?some time with good imaging results. ? That had the conventional primary mirror with the flat back, so it could float on 9 tilting rear cell pads. ? I know that US premier mirror maker Robert Royce also makes mirrors with a conical shape to reduce rear cell weight, and those have a single mounting bolt.? Mine was one of his mirrors with the usual flat back and is very heavy. ? If you have a heavy camera, then this will tend to counterbalance the rear mirror weight. If you do mount a camera, I found that putting the camera with the eyepiece facing downward helped eliminate side flex of the tube. If you do not have a heavy front camera, then I guess you could mount some weights near the tube front to counteract the weight of the rear mirror. ? The G11 should be able to autoguide and handle the scope with no problem. The opposite case is also found: a heavy triplet refractor will have its front lens close to the DEC axis center, and the rear eyepiece will be way out in back.? Again, one can put weights toward the back in that case, to help get the scope closer to the midway point. ? All the best, Michael On Fri, Aug 28, 2020 at 10:15 AM Dave_Kentsbeer <david.kentsbeer47@...> wrote: A double edged question if I can please, I balanced the telescope (250mm Newtonian)? in its tube rings while it was on its Dob mount, is this an ok method? |
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Finding stars
Hi everybody. I had my gear out last night to get more familiar with my new Losmandy mount and to take a few videos. Because of all the bright lights, the moon, and huge trees, blocking nearly everything to the east, and some things to the west, I had some difficulty modeling. I think I could have done a little better If I could choose my own stars, but I didn¡¯t see any place on the menu that had named stars. I don¡¯t know stars by their numbers. How would I get named stars on the hand controller?
Jeff |
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Balance and height
A double edged question if I can please, I balanced the telescope (250mm Newtonian)? in its tube rings while it was on its Dob mount, is this an ok method?
As the scope is rear heavy? the rings are closer to the rear of the scope so when it goes onto the G11 and is pointing upwards the eye piece is nearly 8 feet of the ground, no good for viewing.. Have I mounted the telescope correctly?? Thanks in advance |
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Moderated
Re: First clear night to try out my new G11T, I hope!
Love the EdgeHD14!? ?Michael, how's yours?? I have a C14 project out in the garage waiting for me to align the new tube and optics. Can't wait to load it in the G11G saddle and grab an XL dose of photons.?
-- Chip Louie Chief Daydreamer Imagination Hardware? ? ?Astropheric Weather Forecast - South Pasadena, CA? |
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Re: worm turn with MUCH difficulty
Hi Tom,
If you are up for it my advice is to determine what is causing the stiffness. Chances are the grease has melted and migrated all over the place and left behind the clay used in the grease which mucks up the works. I tell most people to simply.clean are reline the mount, it is not hard and you will gain a familiarity with you gear not possible any other way.? ? Doing it yourself saves a huge bill for shipping and service and will have you back under the stars in a day or two depending on you free time. It only takes a few hours if you know what you are doing but if you have never cracked it open before you need to go slower. I suggest snapping phone photos as you go to capture correct order of parts assembly.? The usual problems include stuck bearings due to contamination or old lube. The result is usually also that the clutches slip and you cannot get them to stop no matter how hard you crank down the adjusters. This is where the oil from the grease migrated to, your clutch discs. Once you get the mount apart you can see if you need new discs or not. Only order them if they are scratched up from contamination, the grease will wash off with soap and hog water.? If you are game order a small tube or tub, of Synco Super Lube with Teflon, about $10 on Amazon. This is a pure synthetic based grease that won't melt or run off, it also never get hard or stiff in the hot or cold and the Teflon makes it outperform just about any commerical grease you can buy. It is also a food grader lube. Look at the data sheets for test results, nother can touch it for wear and low temperature starting torque, important for imagers in the cold.? Once you decide if you are ge to DIY and have the grease in hand let us know and we will help walk you through it.? -- Chip Louie Chief Daydreamer Imagination Hardware? ? ?Astropheric Weather Forecast - South Pasadena, CA? |
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Re: First successful tryout of my G11T mount
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Isn't it amazing how many lights recently built structures have? Even single family houses out in a rural area where my sister lives, have 3 or more bright lights in the front and 2 or more
in the back and they are always on. They are all doing their very best to turn a decent dark site into downtown. When did so many people become afraid of the dark??
I don't have the filters and the types of cameras that can be set up with them without a lot of hassle. I use full frame, Sony mirrorless, cameras, I also take on vacation and hikes with me. The only
things I use a computer for are internet, email, processing photos, and autoguiding. Maybe I will get the automated urban astronomy kit, someday, but I haven't come close to getting the best images out of the equipment I have now.?
I am going to go get some paving bricks, or stones, or whatever they are called, for my tripod legs. I am going to have to buy a bigger pickup truck to haul all my stuff around.
From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Sonny Edmonds <sonnyedmonds@...>
Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2020 2:18 PM To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Losmandy_users_io] First successful tryout of my G11T mount ?
On Thu, Aug 27, 2020 at 09:28 AM, jeff marston wrote:
It would be nice to have a permanent observatory, where I could just turn everything on and image or view. I would much rather travel and do modeling every night than fightWell, you can add thickness to your plywood pads to help stiffen them. Even with an observatory, there is the labor of love with Modeling (Alignment). I'm a backyarder, and use a Light Pollution filter, because my entire thing is imaging. I keep my Tripod set up much of the time, and cover it. That allows me to keep the tripod Polar orientated, but I still do a PA of sorts. (everything above the tripod gets brought inside. Bosses orders.) I think it is prudent because, after all, the Earth has moved, and the ground vibrations have some minor effect I'm also in my habit of doing the Quick Start just to check my numbers. They're always right, but it's one of my habits. Today a fence extension is being added to my back wall.? It will replace the towering ivy plant that used to be growing there. The ivy became a rat haven. My loverly Condoland neighbors. NOT! ? -- SonnyE (I suggest viewed in full screen) |
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Re: G11 Gemini 1 control over ethernet
Hi Smidsy,
Gemini-1 didn't have support for Ethernet. RS232/Serial is the main interface mechanism. The Feature port, with some additional hardware, could be used as an extra serial port, but not for Ethernet. If you want to control it over Ethernet, you'll need some Serial over Ethernet (or Wi-Fi) adapters that can convert between the two, but only serial should be connected to Gemini-1. Regards, ? ? -Paul |
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New user - newbie question
Hi all, just been lucky enough to buy a G11 Gemini 1 level 4 mount, obviously have the main hand set, it also came with a simple 4 directional button hand controller but without a cable, please can someone advise what this cable is called? I would like to get this working to save wearing out the buttons on the main hand set.
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Re: First successful tryout of my G11T mount
You guys are right about the plywood pads. They aren¡¯t ideal, but they do keep the legs from sinking into the ground with my big scope and three 22 pound counterweights.?
I am learning to find my way around the menu on the hand controller. It all seems intuitive, and setup isn¡¯t complicated, so it is pretty fast.? It would be nice to have a permanent observatory, where I could just turn everything on and image or view. I would much rather travel and do modeling every night than fight the light of my neighborhood. Jeff |
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Re: First successful tryout of my G11T mount
Brian,
The focal length of my C14 is 3910mm. A .7 reducer brings it down to a mere 2700mm, which is about the same as a C11 without a reducer.? I have had some success autoguiding while using a C14 mounted on my Celestron mount, but any deviation from ideal conditions can make it a real challenge. For years I did astrophotography without autoguiding, so getting round stars with exposures longer than 45 seconds is still a novelty to me.? Jeff |
Michael Herman
jeff marston
Dave_Kentsbeer
Chip Louie
Paul Kanevsky