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I got one of those gate opening motor sets a while ago but never got round to installing it. Until now! This week I bought a 3m length of hard wood and mounted the straight sections of cog on it and mounted the motor externally.
Here's how it looks:
At the moment it is operated by a key pad but eventually I would like to be able to control it from the PC. The control board in the motor housing has a switch contact that can be used to connect an external switch, so I'll set that up initially, put the key pads away and control the motor from inside the Observatory. Then I will look into installing a Dome Ascom driver and control the roof through NINA using the Dome Shutter control. I might need a few pointers for that from anyone that's already done it (Kathy! )
-Michael Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope Binoculars: Celestron SkyMaster 15x70, Bushnell 10x50 Eyepieces: Various, GSO Superview, 9mm Plossl, Celestron 25mm Plossl Camera: ZWO ASI 120 Naked Eye: Two Eyeballs Latitude: 48.7229° N
StarHugger wrote: ↑Wed Sep 27, 2023 5:50 pm
Really in control now, best of getting the pc command going and some clears skies for further testing of course.
Clear skies, yeah, that would be nice!
I need to spend a bit of time getting the roof to move more easily. The initial inertia required to start it moving is a bit too high and I don't want to burn the motor out!
Then I will put a pair into the motor control board and see what I can do with it!
In the mean time I'm reading up on Dome Ascom drivers.
helicon wrote: ↑Wed Sep 27, 2023 8:51 pm
That's really cool Graeme. Nice video as well!
Thanks Michael.
The mp4 file was about 80Mb! Good job YouTube does a good job!
messier 111 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 27, 2023 11:16 pm
very very nice , thx .
Scopes: Explore Scientific ED102 APO, Sharpstar 61 EDPH II APO, Samyang 135 F2 (still on the Nikon).
Mount: Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro with Rowan Belt Mod
Stuff: ASI EAF Focus Motor (x2), ZWO OAG, ZWO 30 mm Guide Scope, ASI 220mm min, ASI 120mm mini, Stellarview 0.8 FR/FF, Sharpstar 0.8 FR/FF, Mele Overloock 3C.
Camera/Filters/Software: ASI 533 mc pro, ASI 120mm mini, ASI 220mm mini , IDAS LPS D-1, Optolong L-Enhance, ZWO UV/IR Cut, N.I.N.A., Green Swamp Server, PHD2, Adobe Photoshop CC, Pixinsight.
Dog and best bud: Jack
Sky: Bortle 6-7
My Astrobin: https://www.astrobin.com/users/Juno16/
Seems I was taking less photos at the roof construction phase! The OSB is laid on 2x2 trusses and the whole thing sits on a 4x2 frame on 8 fixed castors that run along 50mm angle iron. The rain proofing is just normal roof felt. The castors are a bit cheap from Screwfix and I think they just spin a plastic wheel on a steel axel. I might change them for something with bearings to reduce the friction.
The roof is not too bad to open and close manually but it will be useful to close it with the press of a button at the end of the session instead of stumbling about in the dark!
The eventual goal though is to automate it and integrate it into a NINA sequence. The next step will be to play about with the connections between the Ascom driver and the hardware. I quite like that side of things. A man's got to have a hobby!
But I won't be automatically parking the telescope and closing the roof without there being a very robust, multi stage, Safety Monitor!
Graeme1858 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 29, 2023 10:11 pm
but it will be useful to close it with the press of a button at the end of the session instead of stumbling about in the dark!
I hear that!
∞ Primary Scopes: #1: Celestron CPC1100 #2: 8" f/7.5 Dob #3: CR150HD f/8 6" frac ∞ AP Scopes: #1: TPO 6" f/9 RC #2: ES 102 f/7 APO #3: ES 80mm f/6 APO ∞ G&G Scopes: #1: Meade 102mm f/7.8 #2: Bresser 102mm f/4.5 ∞ Guide Scopes: 70 & 80mm fracs -- The El Cheapo Bros. ∞ Mounts: iOptron CEM70AG, SW EQ6R, Celestron AVX, SLT & GT (Alt-Az), Meade DS2000 ∞ Cameras: #1: ZWO ASI294MC Pro #2: 662MC #3: 120MC, Canon T3i, Orion SSAG, WYZE Cam3 ∞ Binos: 10X50,11X70,15X70, 25X100 ∞ AP Gear: ZWO EAF and mini EFW and the Optolong L-eXteme filter ∞ EPs: ES 2": 21mm 100° & 30mm 82° Pentax XW: 7, 10, 14, & 20mm 70°
Searching the skies since 1966. "I never met a scope I didn't want to keep."