Re: ServoCAT will continue this year
this is the video that created my servocat wish list
dave
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Re: Instructions for re-installing ServoCAT altitude cable
I'm very sorry to hear of the death of his wife - and for that matter the issues.?
Unfortunately I can't control the installation - I ship the components and have specific installation instructions but its not unusual for some one to not read them or ignore them (and worse when its because "they know better").?
I've always been here - I'm sure he wrote initially, or at least hope he did - but if it continued to be an issue I would have wanted him to continue to report back until we completely resolved it. Now that stated the UC's ARE "compromise scopes" - Dave's description... and it was probably unknown to the vast majority of buyers and users that my mandate when designing a system for it was that it had to fit TWO "builds". Builds that were literally orthogonal to each other - one the normal one for use - the other where someone can pick up the VMB, rotate it 90 degrees and put it back down on the rocker, not interfering with anything that is already there (i.e. everything) AND it all had to fit in to a pelican travel case that was TIGHT to begin with. The solution I came up with works quite well - but it assumes things are installed and used correctly.?
Gary Myers
------ Original Message ------
Date 5/8/2023 3:03:46 PM
Subject Re: [ServoCAT] Instructions for re-installing ServoCAT altitude cable
Yeah, whatever's clever. If it works and it's fast, all is good.
You have probably read all about Jeff Gortatowski's loud and constant complaints on the Obsession Beach) for first light in LBV with me. The think was a nightmare regarding that cable. It turned out that the pulley was not properly aligned on its axis and therefore pulled to the side too much, making the cable jump right out of its track... but that did not fully resolve the issue. We had to put it back 3 or 4 times, using 3 people and brute force to lift, etc. He finally abandoned the drive so that he could at least push it around and do some observing! Anyhow, Jeff is not at all mechanical, and from then on he just bitched and moaned pretty much constantly. I told Dave Kriege that he should find a customer in the LA area who really understood the drive system and pay that guy to go and teach Jeff what he needed to know in order to successfully operate the thing, but that never happened.?He eventually sold it because he was so frustrated about not ever being able to solve the problem... and his wife just died from a heart attack 2 weeks ago...
At one point Jeff wanted to trade Debbie straight across for her 20" Classic, but that was a non-starter for us.
Regarding the "pin" thing, I cannot imagine how a tiny drilled hole in the Teflon would ever lead to a failure, the overall psi would be very low at any single point... but I thought it was a great idea...
Regarding a lunch date, this weekend, the 13th, is Mother's Day weekend and Deb's 2 sons are coming down from LA for the weekend, and the following Saturday, the 20th, is new-moon weekend and weather permitting we will be in LBV perhaps 2 or 3 nights, most likely Thursday, Friday, Saturday... but maybe the weather will not be agreeable or maybe we just do it on a following weekend... and we like the Hamburger Factory, too!
\Paul
------ Original Message ------
Date 5/8/2023 11:35:09 AM
Subject Re: [ServoCAT] Instructions for re-installing ServoCAT altitude cable
The method I came up with only requires a couple small 2X4 blocks and takes less than a minute or so to do. Just an FYI. Its a doc on the provided CD under "Other installations Instructions" ... I don't remember the title preciously but it talks about ALT cable for transportation.?
Gary Myers
StellarCAT
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Re: Instructions for re-installing ServoCAT altitude cable
Yeah, whatever's clever. If it works and it's fast, all is good.
You have probably read all about Jeff Gortatowski's loud and constant complaints on the Obsession Beach) for first light in LBV with me. The think was a nightmare regarding that cable. It turned out that the pulley was not properly aligned on its axis and therefore pulled to the side too much, making the cable jump right out of its track... but that did not fully resolve the issue. We had to put it back 3 or 4 times, using 3 people and brute force to lift, etc. He finally abandoned the drive so that he could at least push it around and do some observing! Anyhow, Jeff is not at all mechanical, and from then on he just bitched and moaned pretty much constantly. I told Dave Kriege that he should find a customer in the LA area who really understood the drive system and pay that guy to go and teach Jeff what he needed to know in order to successfully operate the thing, but that never happened.?He eventually sold it because he was so frustrated about not ever being able to solve the problem... and his wife just died from a heart attack 2 weeks ago...
At one point Jeff wanted to trade Debbie straight across for her 20" Classic, but that was a non-starter for us.
Regarding the "pin" thing, I cannot imagine how a tiny drilled hole in the Teflon would ever lead to a failure, the overall psi would be very low at any single point... but I thought it was a great idea...
Regarding a lunch date, this weekend, the 13th, is Mother's Day weekend and Deb's 2 sons are coming down from LA for the weekend, and the following Saturday, the 20th, is new-moon weekend and weather permitting we will be in LBV perhaps 2 or 3 nights, most likely Thursday, Friday, Saturday... but maybe the weather will not be agreeable or maybe we just do it on a following weekend... and we like the Hamburger Factory, too!
\Paul
------ Original Message ------
Date 5/8/2023 11:35:09 AM
Subject Re: [ServoCAT] Instructions for re-installing ServoCAT altitude cable
The method I came up with only requires a couple small 2X4 blocks and takes less than a minute or so to do. Just an FYI. Its a doc on the provided CD under "Other installations Instructions" ... I don't remember the title preciously but it talks about ALT cable for transportation.?
Gary Myers
StellarCAT
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? Where can you get a replacement for the Softpot US Digital encoder? ? Tnx, ? Tom Crowley ?
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Re: Instructions for re-installing ServoCAT altitude cable
The method I came up with only requires a couple small 2X4 blocks and takes less than a minute or so to do. Just an FYI. Its a doc on the provided CD under "Other installations Instructions" ... I don't remember the title preciously but it talks about ALT cable for transportation.?
Gary Myers
StellarCAT
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Re: Instructions for re-installing ServoCAT altitude cable
Jim I too, have had many problems with the altitude cable coming off. I would have to disassemble my 18" UC and then reassemble and realign it. That took me 40 minutes. ? I developed a very quick solution. I reattached the wheelbarrow handles, attached the straps holding the mirror and rocker boxes together, placed a 2" x 4" board in front of the wheels, rolled the scope on top of the 2" x 4" board, removed the mirror and rocker box straps, using the wheelbarrow handles - lifted the scope off of the rocker box an inch or two. A second person could then reinstall the cable. If you are alone, you could prop up the wheelbarrow handles at the raised position with a object (tool box, small step stool,etc) with another 2" x 4" board placed between the wheelbarrow handles. Once the cable is in place, lower the mirror box back down onto the rocker box, replace the straps, move the scope off of the wheelbarrow wheels. And you are done. Approximately 5 minutes. ? Practice this technic during the daylight? I hope this helps. Leary 
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Re: Instructions for re-installing ServoCAT altitude cable
Jim I too, have had many problems with the altitude cable coming off. I would have to disassemble my 18" UC and then reassemble and realign it. That took me 40 minutes. ? I developed a very quick solution. I reattached the wheelbarrow handles, attached the straps holding the mirror and rocker boxes together, placed a 2" x 4" board in front of the wheels, rolled the scope on top of the 2" x 4" board, removed the mirror and rocker box straps, using the wheelbarrow handles - lifted the scope off of the rocker box an inch or two. A second person could then reinstall the cable. If you are alone, you could prop up the wheelbarrow handles at the raised position with a object (tool box, small step stool,etc) with another 2" x 4" board placed between the wheelbarrow handles. Once the cable is in place, lower the mirror box back down onto the rocker box, replace the straps, move the scope off of the wheelbarrow wheels. And you are done. Approximately 5 minutes. ? Practice this technic during the daylight? I hope this helps. Leary 
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Re: ServoCAT will continue this year
Regarding satellite tracking, you're better off doing this natively from the AN. Tracking rates vary too much and too rapidly with the TLE for objects so close to the Earth. It's technically doable with a direct connection to the AN, but it would best if the SC firmware provided more of an interface to control these things.
Bill, another option is to provide an escape command that passes sub-commands through to the AN. Then it would be up to the driver to react accordingly.
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Re: ServoCAT will continue this year
When you're connected to the AN you can't command the mount to move. You essentially have to connect to both and coordinate commands, but I'm not even sure that would fully work.
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Re: ServoCAT will continue this year
Thank you for your effort, George. Can I ask you if you experienced problems in connecting the system with the nexus? The people that regularly use the driver seem to use Argo. But I experienced some connection problems with my nexus.
Thank you very much.
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Il giorno 7 mag 2023, alle ore 20:47, George Hilios <ghilios@...> ha scritto:
?At the moment just for slewing. Soon plate solve + sync as well. Since I implemented pulse guide, you could also attach a guider provided you do the calibration in PHD2. Both applications will be able to connect to the driver at the same time.
Future considerations:
- After we add video capture natively, use pulse guide to keep planetary bodies centered
- Track near earth bodies (comets, planets, asteroids) using custom tracking rates if that support is added to the firmware
- Perhaps a plugin for alignment, if that functionality is exposed in the firmware
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Re: ServoCAT will continue this year
I will install the last version of the new driver. At moment it seems that it works very well with Argo. With my Nexus I have connection problems but I have not already installed the last version.
Thank you.?
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Il giorno 6 mag 2023, alle ore 23:19, George Hilios <ghilios@...> ha scritto:
?Congratulations Bill, that's fabulous news! Regarding the driver, I'm working out some kinks related to syncing coordinates following a plate solve. Bad weather, day job, and Hocus Focus have been taking me away from it but rest assured I will
sort these last remaining issues out.
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Re: ServoCAT will continue this year
Hey! Just curious, what about satellite tracking? Lots of hoops we have to jump through using the Argo Navis to make that happen.
-Roger G.
www.astrocrumb.com
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On May 7, 2023, at 2:47 PM, George Hilios via groups.io <ghilios@...> wrote:
?At the moment just for slewing. Soon plate solve + sync as well. Since I implemented pulse guide, you could also attach a guider provided you do the calibration in PHD2. Both applications will be able to connect to the driver at the same time.
Future considerations:
- After we add video capture natively, use pulse guide to keep planetary bodies centered
- Track near earth bodies (comets, planets, asteroids) using custom tracking rates if that support is added to the firmware
- Perhaps a plugin for alignment, if that functionality is exposed in the firmware
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Re: ServoCAT will continue this year
At the moment just for slewing. Soon plate solve + sync as well. Since I implemented pulse guide, you could also attach a guider provided you do the calibration in PHD2. Both applications will be able to connect to the driver at the same time. Future considerations:
- After we add video capture natively, use pulse guide to keep planetary bodies centered
- Track near earth bodies (comets, planets, asteroids) using custom tracking rates if that support is added to the firmware
- Perhaps a plugin for alignment, if that functionality is exposed in the firmware
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Re: ServoCAT will continue this year
George Hilios, would you please elaborate on how you are currently using N.I.N.I with servocat? thanks dave
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Re: ServoCAT will continue this year
Hi,
This is fantastic news, I'd say there'll be high demand when the units
are available!!
As soon as you're ready I will be ordering a Gen3 unit + controller +
wireless controller :)
Thanks,
Dave.
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Re: ServoCAT will continue this year
thanks for info Gary!? ?Good to know....haven't even tried or thought of connecting a computer to servocat until recently as astrophography as become more popular in the last few years with the new CMOS cameras and new software being available dave
On Saturday, May 6, 2023 at 04:07:43 PM PDT, K9RX - Gary <amateurk9rx@...> wrote:
NOTE: PARK has been in the protocol since its release in 2015. You can see the status of PARK using the SCU (as well).?
[its been in the hardware, available through the REM jack, for approaching 20 years]
Gary Myers
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Re: ServoCAT will continue this year
I already use my SC ASCOM driver with NINA. I just need to get the platesolve sync to work. I probably flipped a sign somewhere in the math Bill - it would be great if you could update the firmware to include 2 features:
- Set custom tracking rates. My Orbitals plugin on NINA would then be able to set the tracking rate for any comet, asteroid, or planetary body.
- Set coordinates during alignment. You could manually slew the dob to 2 points on opposite sides of the sky and align via plate solve
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Re: ServoCAT will continue this year
NOTE: PARK has been in the protocol since its release in 2015. You can see the status of PARK using the SCU (as well).?
[its been in the hardware, available through the REM jack, for approaching 20 years]
Gary Myers
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Re: ServoCAT will continue this year
here is my wish list? for a new/updated servocat driver: Park to home position (alt-az), able to sync a platesolve, support ascom with N.I.N.A
here is example of what i would like to do with servocat
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Re: ServoCAT will continue this year
Congratulations Bill, that's fabulous news! Regarding the driver, I'm working out some kinks related to syncing coordinates following a plate solve. Bad weather, day job, and Hocus Focus have been taking me away from it but rest assured I will sort these last remaining issues out.
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Filippo Scopelliti