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Tuesday: 46F, heavy cloud with rare glimpses of the sun. I busied myself in the obs. while waiting for those moments. Cold NW gale with fast moving clouds. My new desk is much handier for quick looks through either eyepiece. The gas strut made viewing very comfortable. Shame the seeing was so poor, boiling and milky even when the clouds parted.
13.30 I've had lunch. Now I'm off to collect the SW focuser motor from the packet collection office. [GLS PakkeShop in Danish.] More later.
Safely home, the gearbox motor was quite a hefty lump and neatly housed in a matt black, plastic cylinder. Being smart, black and therefore invisible, the motor really would not look out of place on any telescope or any focuser. Full marks so far.
The silver drive coupling from the stubby, 6mm Ø motor shaft, with a flat for a locking grub screw, was rubber lined to help alignment. It felt as if it would not come off at first but it had to. To make room for a toothed timing pulley. Just a note to those who, like me, tried to push it back onto the motor shaft: The silver adapter unscrews into two parts. This allows the abuser to see the tiny O-ring inside. Now you know how to easily re-assemble the adapter onto its motor shaft.
I had to wait for the motor's arrival before I could confirm the pulley bore size before ordering one. A sealed bag contains thumbscrews and washers for motor fixing to the brackets. Along with a couple of small hex keys to fit the various, grub screws.
Two different, right angle, motor support brackets are provided. One light and one heavy. The heavy one is for refractors. The other for reflectors. Though I doubt I can use either in standard form. A neat, black, flexible coupling is supposed to mate with the end of the focuser drive shaft. Designed for Skywatcher and the like, I can't imagine it would fit on my new and much larger focuser shaft.
I'm aiming for a toothed [timing] belt, friction drive on the focus knob. With the motor folded neatly and compactly on top of the focuser shaft housing. The new focuser arrives tomorrow so I can't make any progress on motor fitting just yet. I need to know the diameter of the focus knob and the distance between the motor shaft and pinion drive shaft. Only then can I use the online calculator to determine the required belt length. I've looked at YT videos and the focus knobs look huge!
Luckily I remembered to buy a PP3 9V battery to try out the motor and control box. The battery cover on the control box was a struggle to replace no matter how I rotated or pressed the battery into place. In fact the battery provides a bit of extra weight to make the box feel slightly more than its rather cheap looking, plastic moulding.
There are no visible identifying marks anywhere except "China" on the control box. Nor have the instructions sheet, nor box, any maker's name or any other details. Any problems and its back to the dealer for advice, repair or replacement. The numerous, instructions sheet images are all rather dark.The English strangeley competent but rather confused over "would, could & can." I'd send them a correction sheet but there's nobody to send it to.
A 15" coiled "telephone" cable is provided to join the motor and control box. It will stretch to about 3' but I have no idea if this would test the strength of the tiny, locking "telephone" plugs. I think I shall be looking for a much longer, plain cable to reach the laptop from any likely telescope pointing angle.With the new cable running along the OTA to the mounting and then down to the desk to avoid tangling.
The motor spindle speed is best described as "modest," even at the fastest setting on the tiny control knob. The slow speed is probably ideal for sneaking up on the best focus. Rapid racking in and out over several inches? It's not going to happen.
The manufacturers really missed a trick by making the speed control knob so small and so near to the forward and reverse buttons. A bit more distance and a flat knurled wheel, placed flat on the control box, would have made focus adjustment a one-handed operation. Instead of an essential two.
I'd be very careful about adding a big wheel for thumb control. One doesn't know how sturdy the speed control pot might be in reality. Break off the tiny, plastic, speed adjustment knob and you're stuck in whatever gear you left it in!
None of this is exactly rocket science until you discover that your Skywatcher [et al] has no access holes for hex keys to reach essential grub screws. I watched a YouTuber struggled to remove his slow motion mechanism to be able to reach the screws. So I kept shouting; "Just drill a new hole!" but he completely ignored me. Some people are funny about drilling holes in their shiny new kit. The only shiny new telescope I ever had was a 70mm Bresser on special offer from Lidls.
Safely home, the gearbox motor was quite a hefty lump and neatly housed in a matt black, plastic cylinder. Being smart, black and therefore invisible, the motor really would not look out of place on any telescope or any focuser. Full marks so far.The silver drive coupling from the stubby, 6mm Ø motor shaft, with a flat for a locking grub screw, was rubber lined to help alignment. It felt as if it would not come off at first but it had to. To make room for a toothed timing pulley. Just a note to those who, like me, tried to push it back onto the motor shaft: The silver adapter unscrews into two parts. This allows the abuser to see the tiny O-ring inside. Now you know how to easily re-assemble the adapter onto its motor shaft.
I had to wait for the motor's arrival before I could confirm the pulley bore size before ordering one. A sealed bag contains thumbscrews and washers for motor fixing to the brackets. Along with a couple of small hex keys to fit the various, grub screws.
Two different, right angle, motor support brackets are provided. One light and one heavy. The heavy one is for refractors. The other for reflectors. Though I doubt I can use either in standard form. A neat, black, flexible coupling is supposed to mate with the end of the focuser drive shaft. Designed for Skywatcher and the like, I can't imagine it would fit on my new and much larger focuser shaft.I'm aiming for a toothed [timing] belt, friction drive on the focus knob. With the motor folded neatly and compactly on top of the focuser shaft housing. The new focuser arrives tomorrow so I can't make any progress on motor fitting just yet. I need to know the diameter of the focus knob and the distance between the motor shaft and pinion drive shaft. Only then can I use the online calculator to determine the required belt length. I've looked at YT videos and the focus knobs look huge!
Luckily I remembered to buy a PP3 9V battery to try out the motor and control box. The battery cover on the control box was a struggle to replace no matter how I rotated or pressed the battery into place. In fact the battery provides a bit of extra weight to make the box feel slightly more than its rather cheap looking, plastic moulding.There are no visible identifying marks anywhere except "China" on the control box. Nor have the instructions sheet, nor box, any maker's name or any other details. Any problems and its back to the dealer for advice, repair or replacement. The numerous, instructions sheet images are all rather dark.The English strangeley competent but rather confused over "would, could & can." I'd send them a correction sheet but there's nobody to send it to.
A 15" coiled "telephone" cable is provided to join the motor and control box. It will stretch to about 3' but I have no idea if this would test the strength of the tiny, locking "telephone" plugs. I think I shall be looking for a much longer, plain cable to reach the laptop from any likely telescope pointing angle.With the new cable running along the OTA to the mounting and then down to the desk to avoid tangling.
The motor spindle speed is best described as "modest," even at the fastest setting on the tiny control knob. The slow speed is probably ideal for sneaking up on the best focus. Rapid racking in and out over several inches? It's not going to happen.The manufacturers really missed a trick by making the speed control knob so small and so near to the forward and reverse buttons. A bit more distance and a flat knurled wheel, placed flat on the control box, would have made focus adjustment a one-handed operation. Instead of an essential two.
I'd be very careful about adding a big wheel for thumb control. One doesn't know how sturdy the speed control pot might be in reality. Break off the tiny, plastic, speed adjustment knob and you're stuck in whatever gear you left it in!
None of this is exactly rocket science until you discover that your Skywatcher [et al] has no access holes for hex keys to reach essential grub screws. I watched a YouTuber struggled to remove his slow motion mechanism to be able to reach the screws. So I kept shouting; "Just drill a new hole!" but he completely ignored me. Some people are funny about drilling holes in their shiny new kit. The only shiny new telescope I ever had was a 70mm Bresser on special offer from Lidls.
Clock on any image for an enlargement.
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