Jeremy, Anat and River pls take a look (astroslew-III)

denebman · Post by **denebman** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 10:31 am

I provide more informative answers to your enquiries here.

As a prudential step to further my product line, astroslew-III is still made in very small batch. Its design concept is same as that of astroslew-II: to shape the mount body out of a one-piece metal block.

The astroslew-III is still made of T7075 aluminium alloy (stronger than T6061). Its friction surfaces (alt & azimuth) are reduced to 80 mm dia. as compared to astroslew-II, however its altitude and azimuth shaft (304 stainless steel) are made longer. The altitude friction of astroslew-III is high enough to allow one change most of his 1.25" eyepiece while keeping the OTA pointing at its target. Your OTA will not tilt automatically when observing zenith even if a massy eyepiece such as Nagler T5/31 is used. And again, the altitude and azimuth motion can be recorded at the shaft's ends, which I think is an encoder friendly feature.

The dampening time is only 0.3 second when a Mewlon 210 OTA is used at 200 X magnification on my astroslew-III. (tripod: gitzo mk-II 1500)

Anat, I think it is best to customize an astroslew mount with 5-inch diameter friction disc for your long OTA, the cost and weight will be definitely higher.

denebman · Post by **denebman** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 10:32 am

Observing zenith with Mewlon 210

kayheem · Post by **kayheem** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 10:39 am

Looks good, Denebman. Anyway to incorporate slo-mo controls?

Post by **VinSnr** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 10:46 am

can u have a dual arm version?

neoterryjoe · Post by **neoterryjoe** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 11:02 am

hmmm..looks real nice n solid!!

denebman · Post by **denebman** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 11:12 am

Kayheem,

Slow motion is not difficult, the problem is the cost. To me, a pair of high quality worm gear cost more than the mount itself at this moment. It is still some kind of "research" to me.

Vinsnr,

Dual arm is easy to make but it adds difficulty for future DSC use, the friction disc design may not allow the second arm as sturdy as the friction arm.

cataclysm · Post by **cataclysm** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 11:21 am

Hi Denebman, your product is very well crafted. BTW, what is the max. load capacity?

denebman · Post by **denebman** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 11:32 am

cataclysm wrote:Hi Denebman, your product is very well crafted. BTW, what is the max. load capacity?

At this moment, the astroslew-III handles my heaviest setup: (Mewlon 210 OTA + diagonal + Denk-I binoviewer + a pair of TV PL 32 that is slightly more than 10 Kg) with ease and composure.

kayheem · Post by **kayheem** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 11:35 am

denebman wrote:Kayheem,

Slow motion is not difficult, the problem is the cost. To me, a pair of high quality worm gear cost more than the mount itself at this moment. It is still some kind of "research" to me.

I don't think we need such a high quality set of gears. The ones in the EQ4 and the portamount are good enough.

I was thinking of getting your astroslew and trying to modify it to accept a set of gears I bought.

kingkong · Post by **kingkong** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 11:45 am

yup, i too look forward to a future version with slo-mo controls.
Astroslew-IV?