|
Hi folks,
For those of you with a G11T or a Titan RA drive, you might be interested in a report on my work to improve the PE of the mount.? ?Here is the report attached.
At this time, Allan Schwarz of Nevada is getting my spare belt drive parts, and a new McLennan 25:1 gearbox with a HiTorque motor having the McLennan pinion gear already fitted.
Allan is planning to document his results as he proceeds to replace his stock gearbox (his has the same 1/7.5 worm period oscillation as mine did, and this is know to be from the stock gearbox).? He also plans to document the results from his belt drive system once he tests just the gearbox.? This will be an independent analysis of the G11T drive system than mine.? Earlier Allen Ruckle pioneered using a belt drive on the G11T (Allen uses a 1:1 belt drive, but I tried a 1:2).? Allen reported an amazing value of 1.77 arcsec peak to peak, but I did not get as good as that.? However, my autoguided stars are round dots, and all is working well for me.?
If you find flaws in my writeups, please let me know.? I'm not perfect by any means! If you want to also try my methods out on your G11T, please contact me.? I have some McLennan 25:1 gearboxes and some spare pinion gears, and the fitting tubes to adapt to either old motors or new HiTorque motors.??
Lastly, I'm getting a place in Parker CO.? If you will be a neighbor, please let me know!
Best to all, Michael
--
|
Jeez Damn excellent work there MIchael.....
well done
--
Brendan
|
Herman, I'm interested in updating my G11G to G11T because of the weight?of the instruments. As I'm not knowledgeable enough?to perform all these modifications, what is the improvement of the G11T without?your modifications? Thanks.
Luis Barneo
Jeez Damn excellent work there MIchael.....
well done
--
Brendan
|
Herman, ?In a few words, with the same weight?of instruments, the tracking is better with G11T than G11G?
Luis Barneo
El mié, 2 jun 2021 a las 1:18, Michael Herman (< mherman346@...>) escribió: Hi folks,
For those of you with a G11T or a Titan RA drive, you might be interested in a report on my work to improve the PE of the mount.? ?Here is the report attached.
At this time, Allan Schwarz of Nevada is getting my spare belt drive parts, and a new McLennan 25:1 gearbox with a HiTorque motor having the McLennan pinion gear already fitted.
Allan is planning to document his results as he proceeds to replace his stock gearbox (his has the same 1/7.5 worm period oscillation as mine did, and this is know to be from the stock gearbox).? He also plans to document the results from his belt drive system once he tests just the gearbox.? This will be an independent analysis of the G11T drive system than mine.? Earlier Allen Ruckle pioneered using a belt drive on the G11T (Allen uses a 1:1 belt drive, but I tried a 1:2).? Allen reported an amazing value of 1.77 arcsec peak to peak, but I did not get as good as that.? However, my autoguided stars are round dots, and all is working well for me.?
If you find flaws in my writeups, please let me know.? I'm not perfect by any means! If you want to also try my methods out on your G11T, please contact me.? I have some McLennan 25:1 gearboxes and some spare pinion gears, and the fitting tubes to adapt to either old motors or new HiTorque motors.??
Lastly, I'm getting a place in Parker CO.? If you will be a neighbor, please let me know!
Best to all, Michael
--
|
Luis,
It's a question of weight capacity...having to carry some larger instrument loads requires the bigger G11T.? In terms of optimizing the RA drive, the G11 is easier than the Titan RA drive of the G11T.? They have the same DEC drive.
The main reason for the G11 being easier is the ability to pivot the worm into the ring gear.? That pivot is part of the design of the G11 (and GM8) using the "nipple" below the G11 left worm bearing block,? but there is no such pivot on the Titan RA of the G11T.? The Titan RA drive uses a massive 2 inch diameter shaft, 6 inch diameter plastic clutch disk, nearly half inch thick RA ring gear, and a massive? brass worm.? But the Titan has no provision to pivot the worm gear housing into the ring gear position.? Of course the position is doable but requires leveling the block and holding it centered over the ring gear enclosure.??
The G11 is a very capable mount....capable of very low PE with a few mostly inexpensive parts added to the stock design.??
I had 120 total pounds weight on my G11 direct drive version? (scopes and cameras and counterweights), and after optimizing the drives, I got PE of 0.9 arcsec RMS.? Here is the report.
The optimization was: ? McLennan 25:1 gearbox ? Long original version OPW ? Belleville R4 springs in RA and DEC ? Find the best brass worm from several available (tried RA and DEC worms) ? Long counterweight shaft with heavy weights spaced along the shaft.??
That scope was a C14EdgeHD (60 lbs).
The heavy duty tripod legs starts to slip and collapse under all that weight...I had to really tighten down the leg clamps.? If you have a really heavy load...check the tripod leg clamps.??
Brian convinced me that I'd really overloaded the G11...and that the G11T would be much stronger and better for such a load.? It was in my mind to seek a G11T if one came available.? ?I found by chance a 2 year old, nearly unused G11T with a Gemini-2 (new to me from my many G-1 units) from a nice fellow near San Diego.? That started the evaluation and optimization work on that stronger G11T mount.???I admit I was also curious about understanding the Titan RA and the Gemini-2 operation.
That's about it.? From a lower cost and transportation weight, and ease of optimization standpoint, the G11 would be my first choice.? I use my G11s for up to a 12 inch SCT or 10 inch Newtonian.? But if you have a very heavy load above the G11 weight range ...consider a G11T ...or a more expensive mount system.??
Have fun,
Michael
Top two pics are the C14 HD on the G11T.
Bottom two pics are the C14HD on the G11.?
On Fri, Jun 4, 2021, 2:48 AM Luis Barneo < lbarneo@...> wrote: Herman, ?In a few words, with the same weight?of instruments, the tracking is better with G11T than G11G?
Luis Barneo
El mié, 2 jun 2021 a las 1:18, Michael Herman (< mherman346@...>) escribió: Hi folks,
For those of you with a G11T or a Titan RA drive, you might be interested in a report on my work to improve the PE of the mount.? ?Here is the report attached.
At this time, Allan Schwarz of Nevada is getting my spare belt drive parts, and a new McLennan 25:1 gearbox with a HiTorque motor having the McLennan pinion gear already fitted.
Allan is planning to document his results as he proceeds to replace his stock gearbox (his has the same 1/7.5 worm period oscillation as mine did, and this is know to be from the stock gearbox).? He also plans to document the results from his belt drive system once he tests just the gearbox.? This will be an independent analysis of the G11T drive system than mine.? Earlier Allen Ruckle pioneered using a belt drive on the G11T (Allen uses a 1:1 belt drive, but I tried a 1:2).? Allen reported an amazing value of 1.77 arcsec peak to peak, but I did not get as good as that.? However, my autoguided stars are round dots, and all is working well for me.?
If you find flaws in my writeups, please let me know.? I'm not perfect by any means! If you want to also try my methods out on your G11T, please contact me.? I have some McLennan 25:1 gearboxes and some spare pinion gears, and the fitting tubes to adapt to either old motors or new HiTorque motors.??
Lastly, I'm getting a place in Parker CO.? If you will be a neighbor, please let me know!
Best to all, Michael
--
|
Luis,
In a few words on tracking:
Tracking is better on my G11s than my G11T.??
Tracking with autoguiding is fine with the G11T, or the G11.??
All of my mounts had upgrades that I listed.??
Best, Michael
Luis,
It's a question of weight capacity...having to carry some larger instrument loads requires the bigger G11T.? In terms of optimizing the RA drive, the G11 is easier than the Titan RA drive of the G11T.? They have the same DEC drive.
The main reason for the G11 being easier is the ability to pivot the worm into the ring gear.? That pivot is part of the design of the G11 (and GM8) using the "nipple" below the G11 left worm bearing block,? but there is no such pivot on the Titan RA of the G11T.? The Titan RA drive uses a massive 2 inch diameter shaft, 6 inch diameter plastic clutch disk, nearly half inch thick RA ring gear, and a massive? brass worm.? But the Titan has no provision to pivot the worm gear housing into the ring gear position.? Of course the position is doable but requires leveling the block and holding it centered over the ring gear enclosure.??
The G11 is a very capable mount....capable of very low PE with a few mostly inexpensive parts added to the stock design.??
I had 120 total pounds weight on my G11 direct drive version? (scopes and cameras and counterweights), and after optimizing the drives, I got PE of 0.9 arcsec RMS.? Here is the report.
The optimization was: ? McLennan 25:1 gearbox ? Long original version OPW ? Belleville R4 springs in RA and DEC ? Find the best brass worm from several available (tried RA and DEC worms) ? Long counterweight shaft with heavy weights spaced along the shaft.??
That scope was a C14EdgeHD (60 lbs).
The heavy duty tripod legs starts to slip and collapse under all that weight...I had to really tighten down the leg clamps.? If you have a really heavy load...check the tripod leg clamps.??
Brian convinced me that I'd really overloaded the G11...and that the G11T would be much stronger and better for such a load.? It was in my mind to seek a G11T if one came available.? ?I found by chance a 2 year old, nearly unused G11T with a Gemini-2 (new to me from my many G-1 units) from a nice fellow near San Diego.? That started the evaluation and optimization work on that stronger G11T mount.???I admit I was also curious about understanding the Titan RA and the Gemini-2 operation.
That's about it.? From a lower cost and transportation weight, and ease of optimization standpoint, the G11 would be my first choice.? I use my G11s for up to a 12 inch SCT or 10 inch Newtonian.? But if you have a very heavy load above the G11 weight range ...consider a G11T ...or a more expensive mount system.??
Have fun,
Michael
Top two pics are the C14 HD on the G11T.
Bottom two pics are the C14HD on the G11.?
On Fri, Jun 4, 2021, 2:48 AM Luis Barneo < lbarneo@...> wrote: Herman, ?In a few words, with the same weight?of instruments, the tracking is better with G11T than G11G?
Luis Barneo
El mié, 2 jun 2021 a las 1:18, Michael Herman (< mherman346@...>) escribió: Hi folks,
For those of you with a G11T or a Titan RA drive, you might be interested in a report on my work to improve the PE of the mount.? ?Here is the report attached.
At this time, Allan Schwarz of Nevada is getting my spare belt drive parts, and a new McLennan 25:1 gearbox with a HiTorque motor having the McLennan pinion gear already fitted.
Allan is planning to document his results as he proceeds to replace his stock gearbox (his has the same 1/7.5 worm period oscillation as mine did, and this is know to be from the stock gearbox).? He also plans to document the results from his belt drive system once he tests just the gearbox.? This will be an independent analysis of the G11T drive system than mine.? Earlier Allen Ruckle pioneered using a belt drive on the G11T (Allen uses a 1:1 belt drive, but I tried a 1:2).? Allen reported an amazing value of 1.77 arcsec peak to peak, but I did not get as good as that.? However, my autoguided stars are round dots, and all is working well for me.?
If you find flaws in my writeups, please let me know.? I'm not perfect by any means! If you want to also try my methods out on your G11T, please contact me.? I have some McLennan 25:1 gearboxes and some spare pinion gears, and the fitting tubes to adapt to either old motors or new HiTorque motors.??
Lastly, I'm getting a place in Parker CO.? If you will be a neighbor, please let me know!
Best to all, Michael
--
|
Herman, Thanks for your detailed information. I have a permanent roll-off roof observatory? with a Losmandy mount G11G?+ OTA Celestron 11". The total weight? (OTA?+ instruments ) is about 21 kg (46 lbs). As I said? I don't have the?knowledge enough?to perform modifications, and I'm afraid to damage the mount. To summarize the conclusions, there are no differences on tracking between both (G11T without modifications) with autoguiding, and with my payload it would be better?that I update to G11T. Is that? Luis Barneo
El vie, 4 jun 2021 a las 17:44, Michael Herman (< mherman346@...>) escribió: Luis,
It's a question of weight capacity...having to carry some larger instrument loads requires the bigger G11T.? In terms of optimizing the RA drive, the G11 is easier than the Titan RA drive of the G11T.? They have the same DEC drive.
The main reason for the G11 being easier is the ability to pivot the worm into the ring gear.? That pivot is part of the design of the G11 (and GM8) using the "nipple" below the G11 left worm bearing block,? but there is no such pivot on the Titan RA of the G11T.? The Titan RA drive uses a massive 2 inch diameter shaft, 6 inch diameter plastic clutch disk, nearly half inch thick RA ring gear, and a massive? brass worm.? But the Titan has no provision to pivot the worm gear housing into the ring gear position.? Of course the position is doable but requires leveling the block and holding it centered over the ring gear enclosure.??
The G11 is a very capable mount....capable of very low PE with a few mostly inexpensive parts added to the stock design.??
I had 120 total pounds weight on my G11 direct drive version? (scopes and cameras and counterweights), and after optimizing the drives, I got PE of 0.9 arcsec RMS.? Here is the report.
The optimization was: ? McLennan 25:1 gearbox ? Long original version OPW ? Belleville R4 springs in RA and DEC ? Find the best brass worm from several available (tried RA and DEC worms) ? Long counterweight shaft with heavy weights spaced along the shaft.??
That scope was a C14EdgeHD (60 lbs).
The heavy duty tripod legs starts to slip and collapse under all that weight...I had to really tighten down the leg clamps.? If you have a really heavy load...check the tripod leg clamps.??
Brian convinced me that I'd really overloaded the G11...and that the G11T would be much stronger and better for such a load.? It was in my mind to seek a G11T if one came available.? ?I found by chance a 2 year old, nearly unused G11T with a Gemini-2 (new to me from my many G-1 units) from a nice fellow near San Diego.? That started the evaluation and optimization work on that stronger G11T mount.???I admit I was also curious about understanding the Titan RA and the Gemini-2 operation.
That's about it.? From a lower cost and transportation weight, and ease of optimization standpoint, the G11 would be my first choice.? I use my G11s for up to a 12 inch SCT or 10 inch Newtonian.? But if you have a very heavy load above the G11 weight range ...consider a G11T ...or a more expensive mount system.??
Have fun,
Michael
Top two pics are the C14 HD on the G11T.
Bottom two pics are the C14HD on the G11.?
On Fri, Jun 4, 2021, 2:48 AM Luis Barneo < lbarneo@...> wrote: Herman, ?In a few words, with the same weight?of instruments, the tracking is better with G11T than G11G?
Luis Barneo
El mié, 2 jun 2021 a las 1:18, Michael Herman (< mherman346@...>) escribió: Hi folks,
For those of you with a G11T or a Titan RA drive, you might be interested in a report on my work to improve the PE of the mount.? ?Here is the report attached.
At this time, Allan Schwarz of Nevada is getting my spare belt drive parts, and a new McLennan 25:1 gearbox with a HiTorque motor having the McLennan pinion gear already fitted.
Allan is planning to document his results as he proceeds to replace his stock gearbox (his has the same 1/7.5 worm period oscillation as mine did, and this is know to be from the stock gearbox).? He also plans to document the results from his belt drive system once he tests just the gearbox.? This will be an independent analysis of the G11T drive system than mine.? Earlier Allen Ruckle pioneered using a belt drive on the G11T (Allen uses a 1:1 belt drive, but I tried a 1:2).? Allen reported an amazing value of 1.77 arcsec peak to peak, but I did not get as good as that.? However, my autoguided stars are round dots, and all is working well for me.?
If you find flaws in my writeups, please let me know.? I'm not perfect by any means! If you want to also try my methods out on your G11T, please contact me.? I have some McLennan 25:1 gearboxes and some spare pinion gears, and the fitting tubes to adapt to either old motors or new HiTorque motors.??
Lastly, I'm getting a place in Parker CO.? If you will be a neighbor, please let me know!
Best to all, Michael
--
|
Luis,
My message is:
Keep your G11.? That is the best mount for your Celestron? C11.
Do not get the bigger G11T.
The G11 is called "11" because it was designed for the 11 inch Celestron C11 SCT.??
Very best, Michael
On Fri, Jun 4, 2021, 3:25 PM Luis Barneo < lbarneo@...> wrote: Herman, Thanks for your detailed information. I have a permanent roll-off roof observatory? with a Losmandy mount G11G?+ OTA Celestron 11". The total weight? (OTA?+ instruments ) is about 21 kg (46 lbs). As I said? I don't have the?knowledge enough?to perform modifications, and I'm afraid to damage the mount. To summarize the conclusions, there are no differences on tracking between both (G11T without modifications) with autoguiding, and with my payload it would be better?that I update to G11T. Is that? Luis Barneo
El vie, 4 jun 2021 a las 17:44, Michael Herman (< mherman346@...>) escribió: Luis,
It's a question of weight capacity...having to carry some larger instrument loads requires the bigger G11T.? In terms of optimizing the RA drive, the G11 is easier than the Titan RA drive of the G11T.? They have the same DEC drive.
The main reason for the G11 being easier is the ability to pivot the worm into the ring gear.? That pivot is part of the design of the G11 (and GM8) using the "nipple" below the G11 left worm bearing block,? but there is no such pivot on the Titan RA of the G11T.? The Titan RA drive uses a massive 2 inch diameter shaft, 6 inch diameter plastic clutch disk, nearly half inch thick RA ring gear, and a massive? brass worm.? But the Titan has no provision to pivot the worm gear housing into the ring gear position.? Of course the position is doable but requires leveling the block and holding it centered over the ring gear enclosure.??
The G11 is a very capable mount....capable of very low PE with a few mostly inexpensive parts added to the stock design.??
I had 120 total pounds weight on my G11 direct drive version? (scopes and cameras and counterweights), and after optimizing the drives, I got PE of 0.9 arcsec RMS.? Here is the report.
The optimization was: ? McLennan 25:1 gearbox ? Long original version OPW ? Belleville R4 springs in RA and DEC ? Find the best brass worm from several available (tried RA and DEC worms) ? Long counterweight shaft with heavy weights spaced along the shaft.??
That scope was a C14EdgeHD (60 lbs).
The heavy duty tripod legs starts to slip and collapse under all that weight...I had to really tighten down the leg clamps.? If you have a really heavy load...check the tripod leg clamps.??
Brian convinced me that I'd really overloaded the G11...and that the G11T would be much stronger and better for such a load.? It was in my mind to seek a G11T if one came available.? ?I found by chance a 2 year old, nearly unused G11T with a Gemini-2 (new to me from my many G-1 units) from a nice fellow near San Diego.? That started the evaluation and optimization work on that stronger G11T mount.???I admit I was also curious about understanding the Titan RA and the Gemini-2 operation.
That's about it.? From a lower cost and transportation weight, and ease of optimization standpoint, the G11 would be my first choice.? I use my G11s for up to a 12 inch SCT or 10 inch Newtonian.? But if you have a very heavy load above the G11 weight range ...consider a G11T ...or a more expensive mount system.??
Have fun,
Michael
Top two pics are the C14 HD on the G11T.
Bottom two pics are the C14HD on the G11.?
On Fri, Jun 4, 2021, 2:48 AM Luis Barneo < lbarneo@...> wrote: Herman, ?In a few words, with the same weight?of instruments, the tracking is better with G11T than G11G?
Luis Barneo
El mié, 2 jun 2021 a las 1:18, Michael Herman (< mherman346@...>) escribió: Hi folks,
For those of you with a G11T or a Titan RA drive, you might be interested in a report on my work to improve the PE of the mount.? ?Here is the report attached.
At this time, Allan Schwarz of Nevada is getting my spare belt drive parts, and a new McLennan 25:1 gearbox with a HiTorque motor having the McLennan pinion gear already fitted.
Allan is planning to document his results as he proceeds to replace his stock gearbox (his has the same 1/7.5 worm period oscillation as mine did, and this is know to be from the stock gearbox).? He also plans to document the results from his belt drive system once he tests just the gearbox.? This will be an independent analysis of the G11T drive system than mine.? Earlier Allen Ruckle pioneered using a belt drive on the G11T (Allen uses a 1:1 belt drive, but I tried a 1:2).? Allen reported an amazing value of 1.77 arcsec peak to peak, but I did not get as good as that.? However, my autoguided stars are round dots, and all is working well for me.?
If you find flaws in my writeups, please let me know.? I'm not perfect by any means! If you want to also try my methods out on your G11T, please contact me.? I have some McLennan 25:1 gearboxes and some spare pinion gears, and the fitting tubes to adapt to either old motors or new HiTorque motors.??
Lastly, I'm getting a place in Parker CO.? If you will be a neighbor, please let me know!
Best to all, Michael
--
|
Herman, Thank you very much for your wise advice. I only get the Losmandy TR-AXIS module when I decide to buy a Celestron 14" in the future.
Luis
El sáb, 5 jun 2021 a las 0:43, Michael Herman (< mherman346@...>) escribió: Luis,
My message is:
Keep your G11.? That is the best mount for your Celestron? C11.
Do not get the bigger G11T.
The G11 is called "11" because it was designed for the 11 inch Celestron C11 SCT.??
Very best, Michael
On Fri, Jun 4, 2021, 3:25 PM Luis Barneo < lbarneo@...> wrote: Herman, Thanks for your detailed information. I have a permanent roll-off roof observatory? with a Losmandy mount G11G?+ OTA Celestron 11". The total weight? (OTA?+ instruments ) is about 21 kg (46 lbs). As I said? I don't have the?knowledge enough?to perform modifications, and I'm afraid to damage the mount. To summarize the conclusions, there are no differences on tracking between both (G11T without modifications) with autoguiding, and with my payload it would be better?that I update to G11T. Is that? Luis Barneo
El vie, 4 jun 2021 a las 17:44, Michael Herman (< mherman346@...>) escribió: Luis,
It's a question of weight capacity...having to carry some larger instrument loads requires the bigger G11T.? In terms of optimizing the RA drive, the G11 is easier than the Titan RA drive of the G11T.? They have the same DEC drive.
The main reason for the G11 being easier is the ability to pivot the worm into the ring gear.? That pivot is part of the design of the G11 (and GM8) using the "nipple" below the G11 left worm bearing block,? but there is no such pivot on the Titan RA of the G11T.? The Titan RA drive uses a massive 2 inch diameter shaft, 6 inch diameter plastic clutch disk, nearly half inch thick RA ring gear, and a massive? brass worm.? But the Titan has no provision to pivot the worm gear housing into the ring gear position.? Of course the position is doable but requires leveling the block and holding it centered over the ring gear enclosure.??
The G11 is a very capable mount....capable of very low PE with a few mostly inexpensive parts added to the stock design.??
I had 120 total pounds weight on my G11 direct drive version? (scopes and cameras and counterweights), and after optimizing the drives, I got PE of 0.9 arcsec RMS.? Here is the report.
The optimization was: ? McLennan 25:1 gearbox ? Long original version OPW ? Belleville R4 springs in RA and DEC ? Find the best brass worm from several available (tried RA and DEC worms) ? Long counterweight shaft with heavy weights spaced along the shaft.??
That scope was a C14EdgeHD (60 lbs).
The heavy duty tripod legs starts to slip and collapse under all that weight...I had to really tighten down the leg clamps.? If you have a really heavy load...check the tripod leg clamps.??
Brian convinced me that I'd really overloaded the G11...and that the G11T would be much stronger and better for such a load.? It was in my mind to seek a G11T if one came available.? ?I found by chance a 2 year old, nearly unused G11T with a Gemini-2 (new to me from my many G-1 units) from a nice fellow near San Diego.? That started the evaluation and optimization work on that stronger G11T mount.???I admit I was also curious about understanding the Titan RA and the Gemini-2 operation.
That's about it.? From a lower cost and transportation weight, and ease of optimization standpoint, the G11 would be my first choice.? I use my G11s for up to a 12 inch SCT or 10 inch Newtonian.? But if you have a very heavy load above the G11 weight range ...consider a G11T ...or a more expensive mount system.??
Have fun,
Michael
Top two pics are the C14 HD on the G11T.
Bottom two pics are the C14HD on the G11.?
On Fri, Jun 4, 2021, 2:48 AM Luis Barneo < lbarneo@...> wrote: Herman, ?In a few words, with the same weight?of instruments, the tracking is better with G11T than G11G?
Luis Barneo
El mié, 2 jun 2021 a las 1:18, Michael Herman (< mherman346@...>) escribió: Hi folks,
For those of you with a G11T or a Titan RA drive, you might be interested in a report on my work to improve the PE of the mount.? ?Here is the report attached.
At this time, Allan Schwarz of Nevada is getting my spare belt drive parts, and a new McLennan 25:1 gearbox with a HiTorque motor having the McLennan pinion gear already fitted.
Allan is planning to document his results as he proceeds to replace his stock gearbox (his has the same 1/7.5 worm period oscillation as mine did, and this is know to be from the stock gearbox).? He also plans to document the results from his belt drive system once he tests just the gearbox.? This will be an independent analysis of the G11T drive system than mine.? Earlier Allen Ruckle pioneered using a belt drive on the G11T (Allen uses a 1:1 belt drive, but I tried a 1:2).? Allen reported an amazing value of 1.77 arcsec peak to peak, but I did not get as good as that.? However, my autoguided stars are round dots, and all is working well for me.?
If you find flaws in my writeups, please let me know.? I'm not perfect by any means! If you want to also try my methods out on your G11T, please contact me.? I have some McLennan 25:1 gearboxes and some spare pinion gears, and the fitting tubes to adapt to either old motors or new HiTorque motors.??
Lastly, I'm getting a place in Parker CO.? If you will be a neighbor, please let me know!
Best to all, Michael
--
|
Hi Michael,
? ? for the PE measurement, were you using PHD2 to guide or simply record the Native PE in the mount? ?Assume the latter case, but it was not clear in the writeup. ?From your data, it looks like your mods cut the Native PE in about half(based what I measure for mine), and get rid of the pesky spike associated with the gear box. ? ?How much better is your guided PE compared to the stock version with the C14? ?Do you see improvement in the FWHM for the stars at that focal length? ?Just curious.
JMD
|
JMD,
I do all my PE tests by only tracking with PHD2 autoguide turned off.? You must first let PHD2 calibrate E, W N, S, then under the brain icon, use the checkbox to turn guide pulses off.? Then track for about 45 minutes.??
The reason I do not use the autoguide pulse log is to make the results clear and avoid controversy:? if autoguiding is on, and the PHD2 settings are in question, then the PE results are also in question. Then your results are in doubt and your efforts are wasted.??
_______
On the subject of gearboxes, my older existing Losmandy gearboxes did not exhibit the known 1/7.5 worm period oscillations.???When I bought a 2 year old G11T, the RA did show this oscillation. (In a G11, that is 32 second period; in a GM8 it would be 64 second; in a G11T Titan it would be? 42.5 seconds.).? Then I read about this gearbox 1/7.5 period issue mentioned in earlier posts by owners long ago and recently.? So this is a possible Achilles heal of that gearbox. Not everyone's Achilles heal breaks down.??
?The alternative is the McLennan 25:1 replacement.? It is very close in cost to the Losmandy gearbox.? That is possible to fit in the same size area. See my PDF on what work is required to do that.? I have the extra parts you'd need to fit that gearbox.? I can provide the 3/16 to 4mm adaptor sleeve for the drive shaft to fit the Oldham coupler or transfer gear.? ?I can provide pre-drilled 1/8th inch bored pinion gears to fit the high torque motors.? I have 2 of those gearboxes left and can order more.? So let me know if you want to try this approach.??
To use the McLennan gearbox you must set your Gemini to Custom.? That setting allows you to change gear ratios or drive direction.? You only need to reverse the drive direction, as the McLennan rotates it's output shaft in the reverse direction to the stock gearbox.? That change takes about a minutes and the Gemini recalls this settings each time it boots up (until you change battery...(but if you have the external DC power on, you can change the battery without losing your SRAM data.)
Have fun, Michael
All the best, Michael
Hi Michael,
? ? for the PE measurement, were you using PHD2 to guide or simply record the Native PE in the mount?? Assume the latter case, but it was not clear in the writeup.? From your data, it looks like your mods cut the Native PE in about half(based what I measure for mine), and get rid of the pesky spike associated with the gear box. ? ?How much better is your guided PE compared to the stock version with the C14?? Do you see improvement in the FWHM for the stars at that focal length?? Just curious.
JMD
|
Michael Herman
Luis Barneo