Re: DIY spring loaded worms in 5 minutes
i took a stab at fixing the color, it was a pretty low res jpg ;)
On Fri, Sep 25, 2020 at 1:09 AM Henk Aling < haling@...> wrote: Well I tried again and found that OnStep is moving in DEC for some reason, I am checking with the OnStep group.?
After unplugging the DEC cable I got this image of Andromeda by Moonlight.? I don't think I can salvage the colors but what matters is that the stars are very crisp and round.? ?G11S with OnStep and DIY SL Worms unguided, Fuji X-a1 @ 6400 ISO, 178x30s lights, 24 flats, DSS (stack+edit).
I can't get the image any larger maybe there's a limit so just take my word for it.? Thanks for looking.
-- Brian?
Brian Valente portfolio
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Re: DIY spring loaded worms in 5 minutes
The attachment worked, it is larger than the inline image but still smaller than when I look at it on my screen.? That was actually not full size but this one is, attached.? You can see the lack of dithering, I can't recall having that with an unguided image, I guess that means something.
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Re: DIY spring loaded worms in 5 minutes
On Thu, Sep 24, 2020 at 06:55 AM, Henk Aling wrote:
The OnStep part can be a few minutes but what took me a lot of time is debugging my CNC v3 board (I had two, not all pins were working as advertised) and making cables for SPI, etcetera.? Plus, one of my two Wemoses was broken as well (but not badly enough to make it obvious).? Debugging all that took a lot of time.? But it's OK, I enjoyed learning everything.
Well in theory, 5 minutes. I spent a day trying to figure out what was not working to find out I had the wrong pin map defined. I also waited 5 days to get new CNC board because I thought my old one was broke, it was not plugged in :)?
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Re: DIY spring loaded worms in 5 minutes
Well I tried again and found that OnStep is moving in DEC for some reason, I am checking with the OnStep group.?
After unplugging the DEC cable I got this image of Andromeda by Moonlight.? I don't think I can salvage the colors but what matters is that the stars are very crisp and round.? ?G11S with OnStep and DIY SL Worms unguided, Fuji X-a1 @ 6400 ISO, 178x30s lights, 24 flats, DSS (stack+edit).
I can't get the image any larger maybe there's a limit so just take my word for it.? Thanks for looking.
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Re: Losmandy OPW Assembly
Hi,
got if from teleskope-express.de. They still have them in stock (for GM8). It is written OPW8 on the box. I didnt get any spring and screws with it. Should I?
I have installed this new worm block today. What a pita ! Here are my thoughts
Cons:
1. Well, in fact its not a ONE piece worm block. Its a bunch of several pieces screwed together.
2. The biggest issue is that it's impossible to be 100% sure that the coupler is good aligned. The coupler is hidden. I think its a bad design. There should be a window in the cover of the worm. It may be covered with a flat metal piece and two screws. Not a big problem to make this.
3. If you dont have a tucked motor version of the mount, it is impossible to manually check if the worm is to much pressed to the worm gear. You have to turn on the mount, slew and you may have a RA stall. If you see the stall message, just adjust the thumb screw (not so easy, but I will write about it later). Then you can use the balance function to perfectly adjust the worm mesh.
4. There is another design flaw. It is impossible to turn the thumb screw, because the wings of the this screw are to long and hit the mount !
Pros:
1. Hmmm. Still dont know. I think only the original OPWB is a good idea. All in line for 100%: gearbox->coupler>worm. BTW how long is the waiting time for original OPWB and is it still offered?
Seb
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Hi all,
I am trying to run a Titan mount with TheSkyX. ?I can connect, and point, and drive, and PHD guiding appears to work pretty well. ?However, I am having issues parking the mount when done. ?I first move the scope to approximately counterweight down position and have tried various combinations of "Set Park Position" and just "Park", but it gets stuck on "Parking" and never shows up as finally "Parked". ?The hand paddle (trying not to use this if possible) keeps switching between screens and one of the screens has the big stop sign. ?It is as if the Gemini is fighting with TheSkyX. ?(???) ?Is there some easy procedure I am missing? ?Turn off sidereal tracking and just leave it at that? ?I am trying to get things set up for completely remote operations, so this is just one more step. ?Thanks for any suggestions on things to try.
regards,
Charlie
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Re: DIY spring loaded worms in 5 minutes
Nice, I also have the??Wemos R32 with a CNC v3 shield for an OnStep using the original hurst stepper motor. I just have a GM8 RA base so it serves as a heavy duty star tracker and solar scope mount. The whole OnStep was also a 5 minute mod :)?
The OnStep part can be a few minutes but what took me a lot of time is debugging my CNC v3 board (I had two, not all pins were working as advertised) and making cables for SPI, etcetera.? Plus, one of my two Wemoses was broken as well (but not badly enough to make it obvious).? Debugging all that took a lot of time.? But it's OK, I enjoyed learning everything. Last night I took the system under the stars and found that it was not tracking well (unrelated to the mod of this thread, I ran it with and without).? So I have more debugging to do.? The battery was at 11.5 V so maybe that was it, otherwise I may need to increase the Vref of the stepper drivers, check the connections, etcetera.? I will figure it out but it always takes more time.
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Re: DIY spring loaded worms in 5 minutes
On Wed, Sep 23, 2020 at 09:29 AM, Henk Aling wrote:
As an aside, here's my OnStep controller to the right.? It's a Wemos R32 with a CNC v3 shield.? The Raspberry Pi 2B running Kstars and Ekos (client and server) is to the left.? I run it with 0.9 degree steppers with TMC2130 controllers with SPI for slewing at full step, microstepping 16x for tracking.? I start out using my Android cell phone as a remote over Bluetooth for alignment, then continue with Ekos and Kstars for tracking, guiding, plate solving, etcetera, remotely logged from my Galaxy Tab A with VNC.
Nice, I also have the??Wemos R32 with a CNC v3 shield for an OnStep using the original hurst stepper motor. I just have a GM8 RA base so it serves as a heavy duty star tracker and solar scope mount. The whole OnStep was also a 5 minute mod :)?
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Re: Losmandy GM8 OnStep upgrade
Sure, leave me an email on dominik.ggorski at gmail.com :)
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Re: Losmandy OPW Assembly
Hi Sebastian,?
That looks right to me for a standard Losmandy genII spring loaded OPW for a GM8 mount. It should work for both RA and DEC on GM8. How did you buy it, direct from Losmandy or private party??
--
Chip Louie Chief Daydreamer Imagination Hardware?
? ?Astropheric Weather Forecast - South Pasadena, CA?
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Re: DIY spring loaded worms in 5 minutes
That's out of the box thinking. I don't feel as bad using neoprene washers now ;0
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Re: Losmandy GM8 OnStep upgrade
Dominik, I could help you with belleville washes. Let me know, if you want some.
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Re: Losmandy OPW Assembly
Below are the pictures of the OPWB I received. Nothing else. I assume, there are two kinds of OPWB available now - the one I received and spring loaded OPWB. They both have the some cover.
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My small solution to the missing alignment scope bung, I printed a solid bolt and another with a hole in the centre for the 3mm led I have on order. In Luminous green in case it is dropped in the dark.
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Re: DIY spring loaded worms in 5 minutes
HI Henk
Wow that is some McGyvering there, nice work!
i hope you will let us know about the results
>>>I'll duck for cover now.? I've been on this board long enough to know what's coming, so fire away...
I don't see any references to vixen plates, so I think you're safe on that one for now :)
Brian
On Wed, Sep 23, 2020 at 9:29 AM Henk Aling < haling@...> wrote: This morning while the coffee was brewing I fashioned my own spring loaded worms.? The materials:
- Rubber bands cut from an old road bicycle inner tube.? This kind of rubber is very resilient, do not use household rubber bands.
- A strip of sheet metal about 1 cm wide and 5 cm long, just guessing, cut with tin snips.
Installation steps:
- Loosen the outer worm block by loosening two screws:
- The screw at the bottom of the frame that the block is mounted on, just slightly so there is little vertical play.
- The screw on the housing, this can be loosened a bit more.
- Wrap the rubber band twice around the screws at the bottom.? This should provide quite a bit of tangential force that pushes the outer worm block towards the motor side.
- Fashion the sheet metal to wrap around the rear edge of the housing and around to provide slight pressure on the housing screw.? This screw is directly screwed into the worm block so it provides slight lateral pressure inward that keeps the worm engaged without slack.? You can vary the pressure by positioning the screw, or simply bend it a bit more or less.? Not much pressure is required.
- I should note that I don't use the Oldham couplers but flexible aluminum shaft couplings for stepper motors.? These couplers also provide some pressure but I think this should work with the Oldham couplers just as well.
I did this for both RA and DEC and slewed both around at full speed with my OnStep controller.? It seems to work fine, frankly.??I can't wait to try it out under the stars once the fog stops rolling in.? Here are some pictures:
The first 4 pictures are of the DEC worm block:
I only have one picture of RA, all you can see the rubber band and a glimpse of the sheet metal spring.? The other RA pictures were blurry.
As an aside, here's my OnStep controller to the right.? It's a Wemos R32 with a CNC v3 shield.? The Raspberry Pi 2B running Kstars and Ekos (client and server) is to the left.? I run it with 0.9 degree steppers with TMC2130 controllers with SPI for slewing at full step, microstepping 16x for tracking.? I start out using my Android cell phone as a remote over Bluetooth for alignment, then continue with Ekos and Kstars for tracking, guiding, plate solving, etcetera, remotely logged from my Galaxy Tab A with VNC.
I'll duck for cover now.? I've been on this board long enough to know what's coming, so fire away...
-- Brian?
Brian Valente portfolio
|
DIY spring loaded worms in 5 minutes
This morning while the coffee was brewing I fashioned my own spring loaded worms.? The materials:
- Rubber bands cut from an old road bicycle inner tube.? This kind of rubber is very resilient, do not use household rubber bands.
- A strip of sheet metal about 1 cm wide and 5 cm long, just guessing, cut with tin snips.
Installation steps:
- Loosen the outer worm block by loosening two screws:
- The screw at the bottom of the frame that the block is mounted on, just slightly so there is little vertical play.
- The screw on the housing, this can be loosened a bit more.
- Wrap the rubber band twice around the screws at the bottom.? This should provide quite a bit of tangential force that pushes the outer worm block towards the motor side.
- Fashion the sheet metal to wrap around the rear edge of the housing and around to provide slight pressure on the housing screw.? This screw is directly screwed into the worm block so it provides slight lateral pressure inward that keeps the worm engaged without slack.? You can vary the pressure by positioning the screw, or simply bend it a bit more or less.? Not much pressure is required.
- I should note that I don't use the Oldham couplers but flexible aluminum shaft couplings for stepper motors.? These couplers also provide some pressure but I think this should work with the Oldham couplers just as well.
I did this for both RA and DEC and slewed both around at full speed with my OnStep controller.? It seems to work fine, frankly.??I can't wait to try it out under the stars once the fog stops rolling in.? Here are some pictures: The first 4 pictures are of the DEC worm block: I only have one picture of RA, all you can see the rubber band and a glimpse of the sheet metal spring.? The other RA pictures were blurry. As an aside, here's my OnStep controller to the right.? It's a Wemos R32 with a CNC v3 shield.? The Raspberry Pi 2B running Kstars and Ekos (client and server) is to the left.? I run it with 0.9 degree steppers with TMC2130 controllers with SPI for slewing at full step, microstepping 16x for tracking.? I start out using my Android cell phone as a remote over Bluetooth for alignment, then continue with Ekos and Kstars for tracking, guiding, plate solving, etcetera, remotely logged from my Galaxy Tab A with VNC. I'll duck for cover now.? I've been on this board long enough to know what's coming, so fire away...
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Re: Losmandy OPW Assembly
Hi Sebastian,
This is a new genII OPW. The hole is where a cap screw goes with some mounting hardware and a spring to preload worm against the worm gear. To use thew newer genII OPWs you need a drilled and tapped hole in the plate that the OPW is attached to. You will need some hardware to do this, what other bits came with the new OPW? Please show photos of the other hardware.?
--
Chip Louie Chief Daydreamer Imagination Hardware?
? ?Astropheric Weather Forecast - South Pasadena, CA?
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Re: Losmandy OPW Assembly
Hi,
I have just received a OPWB. What is this hole in lower right corner for?
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Re: Losmandy GM8 OnStep upgrade
So I installed new stepper motors yesterday and cleaned things up a little. There were NEMA23 stepper motors, but due to their extremely high inductance they worked liek disaster. I printed NEMA17 adaptors and used new motors I always use with OnStep's.
All the things are very silent now and works smoothly, there are no bearings ringing and no stepper motor noises, also the dog clutch is superior to the Oldham I had. Waiting for clear skies to test things up.
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Re: Losmandy GM8 OnStep upgrade
Cze??,
RGB Elektronika supplies EZO 6.35 x 15.87 x 4.97 mm bearings in Poland - superior to what was in my Losmandy and still not too expensive. EZO Bearings was the most reasonable thing I found in EU supplies given the price for quality.
If I get it well, based on my serial number my Losmandy head is from 2004 (serial HGM 0450...) and had steel worms and two piece worm blocks - so some things might be better in newer mounts and might not need replacing.
Dominik
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Chip Louie
Dave_Kentsbeer