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Post by johnno on Dec 14, 2013 18:49:48 GMT
Had a go at making a remote focuser for the ED80 using a wired RC servo, but failed at the last hurdle. I've had it working ok, but its how to secure it is causing me a headache. The four screws securing the servo together are a bit short and have to go through the bracket, it wont bolt together securely and I cant find any longer ones. The screws need to be about 1.5 to 2mm diameter and about 35mm long. So i'm trying to find another way of fitting it to the bracket. In the first pic, the 4 screws go through the bracket and screw in all the way to the top black plastic cover. If I didn't need the bottom plastic cover it would be nice and secure but the motor and wires sit in that cover so that has to be kept in place. Can anyone think of another way of fixing it to the bracket?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2013 20:01:55 GMT
Johnno will have a look at my servos tomorrow. Would it be possible to use the screws for electrical plates they are slightly wider but could be threaded into plastic and cut to length. You may only need one at each end.
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Post by davy on Dec 14, 2013 20:42:33 GMT
Not classiest idea this one..bend the plate ninety degrees and fit servo side on, cut a second piece of plate for opposite side and bolt to first plate sandwiching servo between plates.
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Post by johnno on Dec 15, 2013 0:32:09 GMT
was thinking along similar lines Davy, The annoying part is that it works, had the focuser going all the way in and out but then the servo body started to come loose , the other thing I was thinking is to super glue all the servo parts together but it might fall to bits after a couple of goes. If I cant do it, its only cost me £6.20p for the bits I didn't have . I will go and get a SW focuser and then I would have to cut away in the flight case for it to fit, and I don't really want to do this. Just thought, I could buy a smaller servo and use the screws out of the blue servo has these would now be longer in the small servo
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Post by davy on Dec 15, 2013 8:34:52 GMT
I like the idea of using r/c stuff I have a futaba 2.4 ghz 4 channel kit sitting doing nothing. .had thought about fitting motors to a manual eq3/2 copy mount but a bit got broke and I binned it..but I thought of making a pan and tilt job at some stage in future to a cctv camera housing now thats where my thoughts of an ip camera come in as well..keep dreaming davy...
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Post by johnno on Dec 16, 2013 15:59:17 GMT
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Post by johnno on Dec 20, 2013 14:56:30 GMT
The bracket arrived this morning from Belgium and I've finished the mod, got it working 99.9% the way I want it to do. There is a slight bit of slippage this is because I didn't manage to central the wheel on the splines 100%. I had to make a guess where the centre would be. The ideal solution would to fit a toothed belt and drive gear but I want the focuser in its standard state. Another thing I could do is to find a softer foam wheel that would sink a bit more onto the focuser knob and hopefully give it a bit more grip. The slippage is just less than quarter of a turn of the wheel.
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Post by Dragon Man on Dec 20, 2013 15:48:35 GMT
Excellent work John! To give the tyre a bit more grip (and make it's diameter a wee bit larger) place a wide rubber band around the tyre. If you can't find one, cut a slice through a bicycle inner tube to make a rubber band out of it. Or several until you have it built up to the thickness you need.
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Post by johnno on Dec 20, 2013 16:05:34 GMT
Excellent idea Ken, will give it a go, I'll see if I can get some wide rubber bands. If not, I'll nip out under the cover of darkness ( )and go and nick some kiddies bike wheel, if I get caught i'll blame you Ken.
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Post by davy on Dec 20, 2013 16:33:45 GMT
Nice work john...would agree with kens good tip.. are you going to do the remote control mod to it as well...davy
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2013 18:01:15 GMT
Coming along nicely Johnno you could also wrap the outer wheel with Amalga tape (rubber). You stretch it and wrap around and it sticks to itself to what ever size you need. I use it for waterproof cable joints.
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Post by johnno on Dec 20, 2013 18:21:10 GMT
Davy, I think it would be a bit to heavy on the back end of the scope when its fully loaded. just weighed the remote box off the 127 mak and its 265.4 grams. the battery pack alone is 117 grams. Its not heavy for the mount, trying to balance the scope will be the problem. I'll have a look at the tube clamps and see if I can move the scope forward a bit more. There is another mod I was thinking of doing to the scope and that is to make a bar along the side of scope with a sliding counter weight on it that would solve the problem of balancing it and it would make it much quicker to balance the scope instead of keep sliding the scope up and down the dovetail clamp. Graham Beazley from N.Z makes some beautifully crafted mods for the Mini Tower. look at the refractor mod he's done. that's what I could do with. groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Mini_Tower/photos/albums/879570103
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Post by johnno on Dec 20, 2013 18:24:10 GMT
Coming along nicely Johnno you could also wrap the outer wheel with Amalga tape (rubber). You stretch it and wrap around and it sticks to itself to what ever size you need. I use it for waterproof cable joints. Another good idea Carl, I've got some of that stuff knocking around somewhere, just cant remember where I've put it.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2013 22:37:54 GMT
Very cool mod john!
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Post by davy on Dec 21, 2013 0:04:20 GMT
John..uncle john has made such a mod on his lx90 ..ask him nice n he might take pictures n do a write up on it..guy is a genius with metal work....
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Post by johnno on Dec 21, 2013 3:00:49 GMT
Uncle John are you listening to what Davy is saying. good buddy
to do that mod I think i'll need to change the tube rings
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Post by johnno on Dec 21, 2013 13:07:44 GMT
Had another crack at it with amalgamated tape, still doesn't work 100%. Its gripping ok but now that its gripping its making the wheel run off centre after a couple of turns, its bending the bracket strip, so say the wheel is touching the focuser knob on the outside edge by the time its done a couple of revolutions the wheel has worked itself down the knob to the inner side at a angle of it thus bending the bracket or should I say the bracket is not stiff enough to hold the servo in position if that makes any sense to you.
Anyway I've ditched the mod and might get a SW one for the job.
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Post by Dragon Man on Dec 21, 2013 13:32:59 GMT
Oh well John, at least you gave it a good go. No-one can say you didn't try. Yeah, the Little SW/Orion electric focuser is great. Mine has been over-worked for many years and has never let me down. In the 6+ years I've been using it I am only on the 2nd 9volt battery!!! I use it a lot too. I often run it from fully out to fully in looking for focus only to realise I have the dust cap on, or I am fogged out, or I am pointing at the house, etc So that poor little motor and the 9 volt battery gets a mighty work out constantly.
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Post by johnno on Dec 21, 2013 15:45:52 GMT
Ken I always like to try mods out if I have most of the parts lying around. as the old saying goes ''nothing ventured nothing gained'' no doubt them bits might come in handy for something else.
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Post by davy on Dec 21, 2013 16:57:54 GMT
Hi john..been having a look at your design to see if I can help out..the flat bar your using I have it in work and its a good for many things but very flexible and it being a rc servo its may be of the high torque variety if its for a plane ect..a low rpm dc motor may suit better but personaly I think the bar needs to be thicker or have another support nearer the servo .. l shaped bracket attached to the bar ...some gaffer tape round the scope and secure the l shape to it with a jubilee clip..worth a go mate..nothing wrong with your idea justs needs reinforcing. ..
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