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The Beast has landed

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10 years 6 months ago #99038 by michaeloconnell
Replied by michaeloconnell on topic Re: The Beast has landed
What diameter is the counterweight shaft?
What diameter and length are your existing counterweights?

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10 years 6 months ago #99048 by phoenix
Replied by phoenix on topic Re: The Beast has landed
Shaft is 40mm. 3 x 10kg weights are 150mm diameter and 84mm thick. 1 x 5kg 42mm thick.

Kieran
16" ODK (incoming), Mesu Mount 200, APM TMB 80mm, SXV H16, SXV H9
J16 An Carraig Observatory
ancarraigobservatory.co.uk/

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10 years 6 months ago #99052 by michaeloconnell
Replied by michaeloconnell on topic Re: The Beast has landed
Kieran,
When I had the Gemini G41, I had the same issue. I bought the cast iron counterweights in Argos.
www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/9003194.htm
They usually come with a 25mm hole in the centre. You will need to get someone to core out a larger hole of 41mm diameter. Not easy to find someone to do that - cast iron is a very hard material and it's easier to core a hole into a solid piece of metal than one which already has a hole.
The counterweights are approx 270mm diameter and 30mm thick. This gives much better ballast at the bottom end of the bar than standard counterweights and should do the trick. Just make sure that the counterweight directly above is well secured and that should prevent an slippage or sliding on the bar.
Hope this helps.

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10 years 6 months ago #99057 by phoenix
Replied by phoenix on topic Re: The Beast has landed
I got a 10kg weight dispatched at 3pm from Modern Astronomy. Should be here tomorrow/Wed and possible clear sky Wed night. Tomorrow I'm off so should be able to get the Robofocus on and Kendrick connected and attached. Then need to do some cable tidies, rebalance with ccd/filter wheel extension tubes etc then check collimation. Think I'll skip putting the Apo on for the moment till I get a feel for how this beast performs. Apo will add another 4.5kg.

Kieran
16" ODK (incoming), Mesu Mount 200, APM TMB 80mm, SXV H16, SXV H9
J16 An Carraig Observatory
ancarraigobservatory.co.uk/

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10 years 6 months ago #99075 by phoenix
Replied by phoenix on topic Re: The Beast has landed
Got the scope balanced. Took 46kg to do it! Got the ccd on then had to re-balance and couldn't resist taking a test shot of M33.



There is a light gradient in the image either due to the laptop screen in the observatory or the fact that the security light was on. Also I didn't check the filter wheel till after shut down and found it was on the green filter. Still have to calibrate robofocus which still has a microstep size set for an sct which is too coarse for a crayford. Back to the manual

Kieran
16" ODK (incoming), Mesu Mount 200, APM TMB 80mm, SXV H16, SXV H9
J16 An Carraig Observatory
ancarraigobservatory.co.uk/
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10 years 6 months ago #99081 by michaeloconnell
Replied by michaeloconnell on topic Re: The Beast has landed
Great to see first light.
Looks to be tracking well.
Was that auto guided?
What exposure time did you use?

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