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Sunday 3rd, afternoon 13.45 50F, weak sunshine, cloud from the south east. More hours of being teased by cloud! I spent time trying different things with the software. AWR-ASCOM seems to have gone into a sulk. I managed to get PHD2 to work [sort of] with ASCOM set to Generic Host. I was having to work by artificial light to avoid rain. The only light I could use was the overhead white bulbs with the all-sky camera.
When I was able to open the shutters I had the idea that PHD2 should stop the movement of normal drive speed when I focused on distant trees. It didn't have any effect. I presume it wasn't supposed to work like that anyway. I was having to use the shortest possible exposure to see anything on the PHD2 screen. 0.02ms? Can't remember the details now. Trying to get it to show the sun was hard work too when it peered out briefly. The limb was barely visible through the cloud.
Monday 4th: Heavy overcast and steady rain all day. I fitted a length of aluminium angle to the right edge of the desk to stop the mouse becoming a lemming. It would be all too easy to drop or brush the mouse into the void over the stairs. Ask me how I know this. By fitting the angle to the underside there was no ridge to disturb the mat. A new, Logitech M705 wireless mouse was less than £25 online delivered next day despite ordering on a Sunday afternoon. I like the thumb controlled, backwards and forwards buttons.
After that I fitted a length of stiff plastic [gutter] netting across the gap where my feet would normally rest against the pier. Except that I had a left a 4" horizontal gap, above the observatory floor, to stop my toes accidentally kicking the pier during image capture. Instead of which I kept kicking things into the void.
When I was able to open the shutters I had the idea that PHD2 should stop the movement of normal drive speed when I focused on distant trees. It didn't have any effect. I presume it wasn't supposed to work like that anyway. I was having to use the shortest possible exposure to see anything on the PHD2 screen. 0.02ms? Can't remember the details now. Trying to get it to show the sun was hard work too when it peered out briefly. The limb was barely visible through the cloud.
Monday 4th: Heavy overcast and steady rain all day. I fitted a length of aluminium angle to the right edge of the desk to stop the mouse becoming a lemming. It would be all too easy to drop or brush the mouse into the void over the stairs. Ask me how I know this. By fitting the angle to the underside there was no ridge to disturb the mat. A new, Logitech M705 wireless mouse was less than £25 online delivered next day despite ordering on a Sunday afternoon. I like the thumb controlled, backwards and forwards buttons.After that I fitted a length of stiff plastic [gutter] netting across the gap where my feet would normally rest against the pier. Except that I had a left a 4" horizontal gap, above the observatory floor, to stop my toes accidentally kicking the pier during image capture. Instead of which I kept kicking things into the void.
Tuesday 5th 42F. Heavy overcast and rain all morning. I need a screen to protect my old down jacket from the white grease on the PA wormwheel. I thought I might buy an aluminium, baking pan, 33cm in diameter. If I made a clearance hole for the 50mm polar axis shaft then the pan could float on top of the wormwheel.
That would be rather smarter than a simple strip to keep stray clothing away from the wormwheel. The pan would also need a notch cut out for the worm and its housing. Unfortunately this won't work as hoped. The "clutch" pressure screws would be inaccessible. An alternative would be to have the pan underneath the wormwheel. Even so it would far deeper than necessary.Wednesday 6th: With a leaden sky between myself and the sun I decided to make a clamping collar for the Polar Axis. The screw camp I had before had slowly worked its way down the PA. Only by a thou' or two but enough to risk the worm and wormwheel getting out of proper alignment. So I turned and parted off a 4" Ø disk of scrap, yellow brass. Then bored it to 50mm and drilled and threaded it for 3 x M8 hex socket head, stainless steel, clamping screws at 120° apart.
When I slewed the mounting with the AWR Simple Handset I was greeted with relative silence. Yesterday, when using the IH2 the RA motor was very noisy. I cannot say whether the reduction in noise was the result of using the brass clamping ring as a slide hammer. To tap the wormwheel gently upwards against its stop ring.
Click on any image for an enlargement.
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