Hi all,
? ?My mount is at Losmandy, I am planning on doing this upgrade.

? ?Will I need something to use my polemaster such as an extension tube.? I think an extension is required on a G11.? I'd like to continue to use my polemaster on my G9 after the mod.

Also, I expect the limits to be opened up to be say 100 degrees on each side after the mod.? Should I expect my mount to automatically reach targets +- 90 degrees of the meridian without any target unreachable errors after the mod?


Thanks,
Jeff

Get one of these from ADM accessories for $50. You just hang it under your scope off the end of the dovetail and run your Polemaster software as usual. When you are done pull the PM off the dovetail and put it away.
??

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Chip Louie - Chief Daydreamer Imagination Hardware

Chip,
I am thinking of buying the QHYCCD system for Polar Alignment. The QHY people make the adapter to screw into the RA shaft so why did you go for this way of mounting the camera on the Dec.?
Nels Johansen

Hi Nels,

The QHY PoleMaster adapters are mount specific, in other words you need to buy a different adapter for every mount you wish to use the PoleMaster on. For example, if your observing friends have different mounts than you and forget their own PoleMaster you cannot help them. With a universal adapter like the ADM I helped to prototype as above you can use the PoleMaster on ANY EQ mount without the need for a dedicated adapter. Where the PoleMaster is located makes no difference in Polar alignment accuracy.?

Does this help??
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Chip Louie - Chief Daydreamer Imagination Hardware

Chip,
Thanks, that is really a good idea.
Nels

My jury is still out about a Polemaster. It looks fine. But I'd want it mounted to my imaging rig and not the mount itself.
That way, once it is true to my imaging rig, it could really get everything Polar Aligned.
But for now, I think I'll continue the way I've been doing by PA through my imaging telescope. Unless Losmandy convinces me otherwise.

But if you get it from Losmandy, you can bet it will fit.

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Polemaster, or SharpCap, drift aligning — all of them just align the polar axis with the Earth’s axis. ?Specifically, they help adjust the mount so that the center of motion around the polar axis is pointed at the north celestial pole. ?It doesn’t matter exactly where the?Polemaster or SharpCap camera is pointed, the camera just needs to be strapped on somewhere where it turns with the polar axis and has a view of the area around the NCP.?

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Yeah, I was thinking that too! Its the mount that must be made parallel to Earths axis, then everything else falls in line!

I've actually been leaving my mount (The defunct AVX) set up, and when I mount my imaging rig as a unit to the mounts clamp, I can then check my PA through my Main telescope.
But the tripod under it is as close to absolutely level as I can get it, so it begins at as close as I can to 90° to the Earths Axis. Then everything goes up from there. So the axis of the mount begins as close to 90° as I can get it. I use a digital level, and go for 0.0 ° (0.1° is unacceptable to me.) That is just the tripod.
And yes, I know it may not be necessary to most, but it is to me.

I adjust the head every so slightly to compensate for any changes due to thermal or vibration changes that occur from day to day, because I know there are, and forge ahead into alignment. Normally it only needed very minor Altitude tweaks, more pressure changes, than actual adjusting.
So... to my way of thinking, if the PoleMaster was also under-mounted to the D bar, it would be aligned, and wired to my USB along with everything else. And in my anal ways, parallel with all above it every time the Bar and Clamp find each other.
Because every time the Bar and Clamp meet they are going to be slightly off. That way all the lenses are fairly aimed precisely as one unit. And all come in the house during the rest periods between sessions.

I am an odd duck, I tend to look at the mount through mechanic and machinists eyes. So everything above my bar is solidly joined and painstakingly aligned to work together. I've come to observe what others do and accept, then apply and perfect it to my ways of use. While others were swearing by their Telrads as their primary aiming device, I adapted a Red Dot gun site to mine. Easily adjusted to be dead centered with the others. It is as close as possible to my Guide Scopes aim, which is my secondary aiming device. And lastly my guide scope is as closely aimed as possible to my Main Optical Tube.
So all three are very closely aimed. I like using Polaris for initial adjustments and checks. Even though all three are very close (Red Dot, Guide Scopes crosshairs, and finally the MOT's cross hairs in my camera program) I never expect my object to be precisely centered. Certainly not as precisely as I require for my results. Because I'm in it for Astrophotography, as many are. But that has always been my goal.
So I tend to be an Odd Duck about it. And to be as persnickety as Scott Losmandy is about fit and finish and precision.
But my demand for hitting as close to the mark as possible has always been my goal. No matter what I'm tinkering with.

Scott Losmandy might like some of my ideas, but he has probably already thought of them anyway. Because he already has over 44 years perfecting his mounts. But I'd like to meet and chat with him if I can. I already know he and I see eye to eye about how Astrophotography should be done. Long?exposure AP was a necessity for me for about a year and a half, and is still a first love for me.
So I'd like to hear his thoughts on it. My longest single shot long exposure image was 5400 seconds (90 minutes), with my now defunct Orion G3 color camera. I'm trying to dig up the old post about it.
Like Arney, "I vill be bach!"