AUTOSTAR INFORMATION Last updated: 25 June 2001

C8 SuperPolaris with Autostar

From:	aon.912266148@aon.at (hpwallner)
Thanks Mike for a great website. Thanks also to Steve Bedair for his
original article on DS powered mount
http://www.weasner.com/etx/archive/dsJun00.html.  This is a bit off
topic but it shows how powerful the combination DS-motors +  Autostar
controller really is.

The parts you need are:

 2  DS motors  

 2  22-tooth nylon gears

 1  Meade computer terminal block

You can use these parts from any DS-telescope.

I have received many e-mails on my first version of my Autostar powered
-SP mount. It seems that there are many EQ5 mounts out there and most of
the questions were about converting these mounts. I`m quite sure that
it`s possible. Please contact me if you have a question about converting
EQ-mounts.

The hardware part:

1) Attaching the nylon gears

The SP mount has 6mm shafts. I glued the nylon gears to the shafts (photo).


 



2) Attaching the motors

I used a very simple method. The motors are attached to aluminium angles
using double sided tape and a special tape (which are used for repairing
water tubes). This has a good side-effect: the vibrations from the
motors are dampened. (photo)


 



3) Declination block

To allow the mount free rotation (3600) I have mounted a wooden block
(multi-layer plywood) between the dec. and rec. parts of the mount using
4" screws  70mm long)


 


The software part:

1) I use the altaz mode (LX90) in the Autostar-settings. The alt. and
az. ratios have to be changed to 3.30077  -the mount has a 144 -tooth
worm gear opposite to the 60-tooth DS-gears.

The mount works like a charm. GOTO accuracy is amazing -it puts objects
on my webcam ccd chip (ToUcam Pro)!  And I can use it with different
telescopes like my little 76mm Borg refractor.


 


Anyone interested in more detailed pictures and technical details can
email me at  hp_wallner@hotmail.com  or  aon.912266148@aon.at

Peter Wallner  (11.405E  47.256N)

Return to the top of this page.

Go back to the Autostar Information page.

Go back to the ETX Home Page.