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Mach1GTO-manual_2010..

1. Forest Hills Road slephone 815 282 1513 Fax 815 282 9847 S Support astro physics com www astro physics com eeoa lt of ee tt r o ae iD o L lo February 5 2010 ASTRO PHYSICS Mach1GTO GERMAN EQUATORIAL WITH GTOCP3 SERVO MOTOR DRIVE ABOUT THIS MANUAL Maco1GTO PARTS LIST FEATURES AND SPECIFICATIONS INTRODUCTION Why Polar Alignment is Important ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS Before You Leave Home Assembling and Disassembling the Two Axes Gross Latitude Adjustment Assemble Pier or Tripod Portable Pier Adjustable Wood Tripod AWT000 Adjustable Aluminum Tripod SDS400 6 Eagle Adjustable Folding Pier EAGLE6 Tripod Adapter ADATRI Attach the Mount to the Pier Post or Tripod Altitude and Azimuth Adjustments Rough polar alignment Running Cables Through Your Mount Attach Mounting Plate 15 Flat Mounting Plate FP1500 18 Flat Mounting Plate FP1800 15 Ribbed Mounting Plate 900RP 8 Astro Physics Dovetail Saddle Plate DOVE08 with Q4047 Adapter 15 Astro Physics Dovetail Saddle Plate DOVE15 for 15 Sliding Bar SB1500 Losmandy and Vixen Style Dovetail Systems 8 5 Dovetail Saddle Plate for Losmandy D Series Plates DOVELM2 16 Easy Balance Dovetail Saddle Plate for Losmandy D Series Plates DOVELM162 16 Dovetail Saddle Plate for Losmandy D Series Plates DOVELM16S Notes on Attaching the Above Mounting Plates Assemble Counterweight Shaft Optional 1
2. as DECLINATION HUB PLATE a DECLINATION AXIS HUB DECLINATION AXIS Dec RA ASSEMBLY BOLTS 1 4 20 X 1 SOCKET HEAD CAP SCREWS 4 RIGHT ASCENSION CLUTCH KNOBS 3 COUNTERWEIGHT KNOB amp BRASS PIN CoUNTERWEIGHT PART OF COUNTERWEIGHT ADAPTER ee k HOUSING Sy COUNTERWEIGHT SHAFT a Q gt RIGHT XQ ASCENSION k AXIS Z CABLE ACCESS N COVER RIGHT ASCENSION MOTOR GEARBOX COUNTERWEIGHT gt SOLD SEPARATELY POLAR LATITUDE SCALE SCOPE CAP ALTITUDE LOCK LEVER Q COUNTERWEIGHT SAFETY POLAR FORK BASE n KNOB amp WASHER aL SOCKET KES WW HEAD ALTITUDE ADJUSTER KNOB Cc ke A e 5 POLAR SCOPE ADAPTER J i AZIMUTH ADJUSTER KNOB 2 AZIMUTH LocK KNog BUBBLE LEVEL WEST SIDE COMPASS EAST SIDE _ AZIMUTH ADJUSTING PIN O O _ PIER ADAPTER eee PIER ADAPTER KNOB 3 gt Before You Leave Home Since most of us must set up our instruments in the dark in the cold or while battling mosquitoes a bit of preplanning and organization is important There are few simple things that can be accomplished in the comfort of your home before heading outside We would advise anyone to do a complete practice run from start to finish before venturing out into the field This is especially important for those of you who may be new to German Equatorial Mounts Assembl
3. 1 1 4 20x1 4 low profile SHCS to replace Safety Stop on V plate 1 1 4 20x1 4 SHCS Safety Stop for SBD2V mn 3 5 16 18x5 8 SHCS 4 1 4 20x5 8 SHCS Screw Key 4 1 4 20x1 SHCS length length length 3 3 8 16x3 4 SHCS e 1 1 4 20X3 4 FHSCS NW NY AALALAY eeu rao Flat Head Socket Head Button Head 1 5 16 18X1 ral Socket Cap Cap Screw Socket Cap 2 9 16 18X3 4 BASCS Screw FHSCS SHCS Screw BHSCS Losmandy Tripod to Astro Physics Mount Adapter Plate LT2APM el 2 2 Ww U g g N lt oO Control Box Adapter Bi Level Support Bar amp Single Level Support Bar 6 3 8 16x1 SHCS DOVE3622 22 Dovetail Saddle Plate for 3600GTO 4 3 8 16x1 1 2 SHCS anA 2 3 8 16x1 2 low profile SHCS SB3622 Dovetail Sliding Bar for DOVE3622 4 1 4 20x1 SHCS DOVELM2 may also be attached to 900 mount with 1 1 4 20x5 8 FHSCS and 1 1 4 20x3 4 SHCS 42
4. Sighting Polaris through the Polar Alignment Sight Hole Note on Bubble Levels It is possible to achieve perfect polar alignment without having the pier level but it is slightly more difficult With a pier that is not level each adjustment in azimuth also causes a minor shift in altitude and vice versa This is why we have included the bubble level on the Mach1GTO Keep in mind that unless you are a serious astrophotographer or imager perfect polar alignment is not critical We recommend that you do your rough polar alignment with the mount only since you will be making major adjustments to the position of the mount at this time The remainder of the equipment telescope finder camera or eyepiece and counterweights will add considerable weight and require more hand effort to make the adjustments Later you will do your final polar alignment with the telescope and counterweights attached but the adjustments will be small NOTE The illustrations below show only the RA axis This was done for clarity since the declination axis blocks the view into the polar fork base You will of course be doing your rough alignment with the mount assembled 1 Ifthe polar scope PASILL4L or earlier model is installed you may remove it to complete these steps 2 Remove the polar scope cap unless a polar scope was installed If you examine the polar axis assembly you will see that the center of the RA shaft is hollow Additionally
5. ON Why Polar Alignment is Important Se Polar alignment compensates for the Earth s rotation If Donon Ri you were to take a long exposure photograph with Polaris often called the North Star in the center of the field you would discover that all stars seem to revolve around Polaris This effect is due to the rotation of the earth on its axis Motor driven equatorial mounts were designed to compensate for the earth s rotation by moving the telescope at the same rate and opposite to the earth s rotation When the polar axis of the telescope is pointed at the celestial pole polar aligned as shown in the diagram the mount will follow track the motions of the sun moon planets and stars As a result the object that you are observing will appear motionless as you observe through the eyepiece or take astrophotos ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS Please read all instructions before attempting to set up your Mach1GTO mount The Mach1GTO is very rugged however like any precision instrument it can be damaged by improper use and handling Please refer to the following illustrations The parts are labeled so that we can establish common terminology NOTE The following terms and abbreviations are used interchangeably in these instructions polar axis right ascension axis RA axis RA housing declination axis dec axis dec housing CABLE CHANNEL DECLINATION CLUTCH KNOBS 3 ey _ 1 4 20 X 3 4 FLAT HEAD SOCKET CAP SCREWS 6
6. The list that follows is certainly not exhaustive but contains software with which we have at least a little familiarity e The Sky and Bisque Observatory Software Suite families of products from Software Bisque These include The Sky 6 Professional Edition Windows The Sky X Windows and Mac versions TPoint Windows and Mac Versions CCDSoft jointly developed with SBIG Windows Orchestrate and other components in the Bisque Observatory Softwware Suite The Bisque brothers have written their own native Astro Physics drivers and their Windows programs also can use the ASCOM interface e Starry Night Pro Plus from Simulation Curriculum Corp Windows version with ASCOM support and Mac version with native driver e The Earth Centered Universe ECU v 3 1 or later from Nova Astronomics Windows As of Feb 2010 the latest version was v 5 0 Versions including 4 0 and later have full client support for ASCOM telescope drivers including the 32 Astro Physics V2 ASCOM driver e Chris Marriott s SkyMap Pro Windows Native drivers for the Astro Physics GTO System have been included since v 7 Starting with v 10 ASCOM support was added as well e Equinox from Microprojects Astronomy Software Darryl Robertson Mac e Voyager and SkyVoyager from Carina Software Windows and Mac These products do not use the ASCOM interface SkyVoyager is an ap for your iPhone or iPod Touch and can be
7. ADATRI for mounting the Mach1GTO We I D 4 540 also offer a separate adapter that can be used in conjunction with this Tripod D5810 Adapter to attach to a Losmandy Heavy Duty Tripod or a Losmandy Meade Tripod Adapter LT2APM See the website for details Ke 0 343 3 Slots spaced 120 apart for 5 16 or M8 Socket Cap Screws on a 5 110 bolt circle Circle can range from a minimum diameter of 4 980 to a maximum diameter of 5 240 Equilateral triangle between 4 313 and 4 538 on a side Attach the Mount to the Pier Post or Tripod The pier adapter is already attached to your Mach1GTO Starting in 2008 there are six attachment holes in the pier adapter base for positioning flexibility You of course only use three of them every 120 with the three provided pier adapter knobs Simply set the mount into the pier post on your 6 Eagle Adjustable Folding pier your Astro Physics Portable Pier or the adapter of your Adjustable Wood Tripod Line up the through holes on the pier or tripod with the tapped holes in the mount s pier adapter Fasten with the three pier adapter knobs If you are attaching the Control Box Adapter CBAPT or a Tray Support Bar TRAYSB or TRAYSB1 at the top of your pier or tripod do that now NOTE photo on next page is of an earlier vintage with three pier attachment holes 10 Altitude and Azimuth Adjustments Rough polar alignment For rough polar alignment your goal is to si
8. It derives its name from its most distinctive feature pulse guiding which can improve unguided tracking Specifically it can help correct tracking errors caused by polar misalignment and atmospheric refraction You can also train PulseGuide to track objects moving relative to the stars such as asteroids comets and the moon In addition to pulse guiding PulseGuide also has many useful utility features PulseGuide was written by Ray Gralak of Sirius Imaging Please refer to his website hitp www pulseguide com for further developments and enhancements The Mach1GTO has the strength rigidity and sophistication to tempt you to permanently place it in a state of the art observatory However its portability and ease of setup make it the finest mount of its size for remote use in your favorite dark sky location and even for travel to exotic observing locations around the world This is the perfect mount for Zenith a small to mid size refractor Newtonian Cassegrain or off YARO astrograph a VANE Northern KEAR In order to maximize your pleasure on your first night Hemisphere out we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the assembly and basic operation of the mount indoors The temperature will be comfortable the mosquitoes at bay and you ll have enough light to see the illustrations and read the manual Please take particular note of counter balancing use of the clutches and operation of the keypad controller s
9. Notes from Roland during a very cold spell in January 2005 There are several potential problems when slewing your mount in below freezing temperatures The symptoms are a wavering or chattering sound from the motors a slowing down of the slewing with a sudden jolting stop at the end of the slew and in the worst case a continuous running of the motors and loss of control have seen similar things on my own mounts when the temperature dips below zero F There are three things that you can look at to alleviate the problem First in cold weather it takes a very much larger amount of power to slew the motors than it does in the summer see tests ran below This extra current drain can cause a voltage drop in the power cord running from the supply to the servo If you have a long distance between the supply and servo use a heavy wire to minimize the voltage drop If the power drops below about 11 volts at the servo terminal the internal computer chips may reset with subsequent loss of control of the motors If your supply is marginal it may also not produce the voltage necessary for proper operation during slews It is a good idea to limit the slew speed to 600x during real cold weather to reduce the power demand from the supply Second it is very important to have the worm mesh not set overly tight One symptom of overly tight worm is a chattering sound as the motors try to slew at 1200x or even as low as 600x You can check to see if the worm
10. 1 4 FHSCS for mounting Mach1GTO 200RP15 5 Ribbed Plate for 1200 6 1 4 20x3 4 SHCS for mouting to 1200 16 Dovetail Plate for Losmandy D Series Plate for DOVELM162 900 1200 Mach1GTO Also for 3600GTO w SB3622 1 200RP 24 Ribbed Plate for 1200 6 1 4 20x1 SHCS for mounting to 1200 i 6 1 4 20x5 8 FHSCS for mounting to 900 AA eC OS aren ery ee 4 1 4 20x1 FHSCS for mounting to MachiGTO 2 1 4 20X1 2 SHCS 2 Acorn Nuts 7 2 1 4 20 Nuts Sliding Bar 2 1 4 20x3 8 SHCS 1 10 32x5 8 FHSCS 1 10 32 Nut 4 1 4 20x1 low profile SHCS for attaching the LAAPBLOCKS 4 1 4 20x1 1 4 FHCS for attaching directly to AP Rings 4 1 4 20x1 2 low profile SHCS 3 1 4 20x3 8 SHCS 2 for Stowaway 1 for Safety Stop 2 1 4 20x7 8 SHCS Stowaway with SB0550 as spacer 4 1 4 20x1 low profile SHCS for attaching the LAAPBLOCKS 4 1 4 20x1 1 4 FHCS for attaching directly to AP Rings 1 1 4 20x3 8 SHCS for Safety Stop 900RP 1200RP15 Q4047 SB0800 or SB1000 or SB1500 12 Sliding Bar for the Losmandy D Series Dovetail Saddle Plates 16 x 5 Wide Sliding Bar for the Losmandy D Series Dovetail Saddle Plates SBD13SS or 13 or 16 Side by side Dovetail Plate for Losmandy i i 2 1 4 20x3 8 SHCS for Safety Stops required at both ends SBD16SS D Series Dovetail Saddle Plates 12 Losmandy D Series Male to Vixen Style Losmandy V Series Female Adapter Sliding Bar
11. 17 Keep in mind that the combined weight of the equatorial head and shaft will be 36 2 lbs not counting the GTOCP3 control box keypad cables or the travel case itself With the mount s two axes separated and the shaft thus stored it will all fit neatly into a case that should fit into an overhead luggage compart ment but you still have to be able to lift it up that high You must also be aware of all rules and regulations regarding weight limits and allowable case sizes not to mention potential security problems Please do your homework before trying to take a trip with your valuable astronomical equipment We have designed the mount to be portable but we cannot guarantee that you will be allowed to carry it with you One final caution This is a really cool feature but remember you will need to remove the mounting plate to take advantage of this capability It will be great for long distance travel but you may not want to store the shaft inside the dec axis for trips to and from your favorite local dark site Attach Mounting Rings purchased separately Flat and ribbed plates constructed with keyhole slots at the location where your mounting rings attach This feature enables you to partially loosen the screws on your rings just enough to insert them into the larger part of the keyhole then slide the rings to the narrow part and tighten them with a hex key You can even accomplish this with the rings on the scope altho
12. addressable server in the remote observatory itself and a high speed internet connection for communication with your home computer Such solutions are beyond the scope of Astro Physics to supply or support For a more detailed discussion go to our website www astro physics com We also recommend that you go to the Yahoo ap gto user s group access it through our website and type serial usb or pcmcia into the search box Also be sure to keep an eye on the What s New pages of the website for further developments in this area FOCUSER Jack If you have a motorized focuser with a DC synchronous motor like the JMI Motofocus you can attach the 3 5mm phono plug connector here This connector can NOT be used with motorized focusers that use stepper motors as they require their own separate drivers Refer to the section regarding focus adjustment in the GTO Keypad Manual for instructions on using the keypad controller to adjust focus 30 RETICLE Jack If you wish to use the illuminator cable for our Polar Alignment Scope PASILL4L or earlier models or a plug in type guiding eyepiece with an illuminated reticle available from several manufacturers insert the 3 5mm phono plug into this connector for power Reticle brightness can be adjusted with the keypad Refer to the section pertaining to reticle illuminator adjustment in the GTO Keypad Manual for further information AUTOGUIDER Port Receptacle GTOCP3 AutoGuide
13. at the sidereal rate and the current will rise to high levels If the current exceeds the trip point for more than a minute the logic will shut the motor off and tracking stops It typically takes about 4 lb of unbalance to trip the overload but a very heavy load of scopes accessories and counterweights on the mount can decrease this unbalance threshold 2 The voltage of your battery has probably gone below 10 5 volts 3 The current rating of your AC DC power supply is too low Additional explanation During slewing the two motors draw up to 3 amps from a 12 volt source This may increase when the temperature approaches freezing or below It is recommended that your supply be rated at 5 amps 12 volts DC minimum 18 volts max If you also power other equipment CCD cameras dew heaters etc from the same source you will need a supply capable of up to 10 amps The more equipment you have the more current capability you will need For portable applications we recommend a heavy duty marine battery designed for deep discharge ap plications The most common problems are due to inadequate power supply The keypad reset or locked up when I plugged my CCD camera PC or other equipment into the same battery as the GTO mount was using The battery has a meter which shows 12V The meter is reading an average and will not show dips Gel cells have internal resistance which will cause voltage drop when the load changes When you connect an additi
14. bolts starting with the bolt on the left Finally replace the cover with the four screws and you re ready to go There is a detailed instruction sheet entitled Remeshing the Worm Gear and Wheel at the end of this manual that will help you get your gear mesh just right As more detailed information from real life experience becomes available it will be posted in the Technical Support Section of our website My GTOCP3 Control Box does not appear to be working properly Can I use the control box from my other Astro Physics mount with my Mach1GTO The answer depends on which model your other Astro Physics mount is The GTOCP3 from your Mach1GTO can be interchanged with the GTOCP2 or GTOCP3 from a 900GTO or a 1200GTO mount The interchange works in either direction the Mach1GTO can use the 900GTO or 1200GTO s control box and the 900GTO or 1200GTO can use the GTOCP3 from the Mach1GTO A GTOCP 1 cannot be used as it does not have the correct servo cable connection DO NOT use the control box from a 400GTO a 600EGTO a 3600GTO or from a mount purchased from an OEM partner that uses our GTO system These mounts employ different gearing in their servo drives and therefore use different parameters in the servo controller As a final note if you borrow another control box for your mount you must disable the PEM since the PE curve in the borrowed box will be for a different mount You can always record a new PEM data set if you wish and there
15. controller etc and try to avoid creating tripping hazards If you have run the cables out the RA s cable access hole replace the polar scope adapter and polar scope cap Do NOT over tighten the polar scope adapter You can also partially close the sight hole cable access cover on the dec axis and the cable access cover on the RA axis at this time They can t be closed all the way with cables routed through them but they can be closed enough to keep most dirt and dust out 25 Disassembly and Subsequent Setups and Polar Alignments Once you have gone to all this effort you won t want to undo everything for relatively simple tear down and set up situations And you won t have to The degree to which you must disassemble the cabling depends on the degree to which you must break down the mount If you need to disassemble the mount for airline travel you will unfortunately need to undo everything If you simply move your entire assembly in and out of the garage on its pier or tripod you will hardly need to take anything apart Most of us are somewhere in between Disassembly steps are basically the reverse of the installation steps above and really don t need further elaboration The main point is that you will want to avoid complete removal of the cables that involves taking off the declination hub plate if that is possible for your situation The real question is how can subsequent setups be done easily and how can a person polar align with
16. included here for those who already own one Notes on Attaching the Above Mounting Plates Three of the components listed above have six mounting holes that match the six screw holes that hold the declination hub plate onto the hub of the Mach1GTO s Dec axis FP1800 9OORP and Q4047 We recommend that you use only four of these holes to mount your plate Remove four of the screws that hold the declination hub plate in place They will be replaced by the four screws that hold the mounting plate down The remaining two can then still hold the declination hub plate in place on the Declination Axis hub while the mounting plate is being attached The four remaining holes are more than adequate to hold the plate securely on the mount It really doesn t matter which four you choose but the two screws left to hold the declination hub plate in place should probably be opposite each other You may also remove the declination hub plate if you wish You will also notice that in addition to the four holes that make up the inside pattern on the declination hub plate there is an extra hole that matches an extra hole found in two of the Losmandy style plates DOVELM2 and DOVELM16S This fifth hole is not used if the four regular holes are in use However if you lose a mounting screw it can be used in place of the two normal holes on that end of the plate to make a very solid 3 point attachment While there is no required orientation of the mounting pla
17. is no reason to preserve the PEM data set in the borrowed box since it will no longer be valid Any time that you use a different control 37 box on a mount the PEM data becomes out of phase and will need to be redone This applies to both the borrowing mount and the lending mount It is something to consider before trading control boxes especially if you have achieved a particularly good PEM result with the mount that is to be the lender lam concerned about achieving good balance in the system My clutches don t seem to loosen up the axes as much as my 900 or 1200 mount s clutches when I loosen the knobs Is this correct The Mach1GTO uses a different clutch system and it also uses a different bearing system for the free rotation of the axes It will feel stiffer than the 900 or 1200 series mounts even with the clutches fully disengaged You should also be aware that the clutch knobs on the Mach1GTO have spring loaded tips that may still be applying pressure to the clutches even though the clutch knobs feel loose Back the clutch knobs off by at least three full turns to fully disengage the clutches Then swing the axis back and forth a time or two before trying to actually measure and adjust the balance There is really no need to balance the Mach1GTO to any high degree The motors are quite strong and can handle well over a pound of imbalance in the load When moving either axis back and forth by hand even with the clutches not ful
18. mechanics of the physical components to give the mount its superb performance Contrary to popular assumption the brains of the mount are not found in the keypad nor are they in an external computer that may be used to send the mount pointing here or there The real brains of the Astro Physics GTO Servo Control System are in the GTOCP3 control box Simply think of your keypad or computer as being an input device for the GTOCP3 If you understand this from the start you will always have a better concept of how things work and you will be less likely to make operator errors GTO Keypad Operation Please refer to the manual for the GTO Keypad Controller for complete instructions Pulseguide by Sirius lmaging PulseGuide is a stand alone Windows 98 ME 2000 NT4 XP Vista and Windows7 utility that provides complete remote control of all Astro Physics GTO mounts It derives its name from its most distinctive feature pulse guiding which can improve unguided tracking Specifically it can help correct tracking errors caused by polar misalignment and atmospheric refraction You can also train PulseGuide to track objects moving relative to the stars such as asteroids comets and the moon In addition to pulse guiding PulseGuide also has many useful utility features PulseGuide was written by Ray Gralak of Sirius Imaging The complete PulseGuide user s manual is included on your PulseGuide CD in PDF format Please read it carefully t
19. mount communication issues whether you use the keypad or control the mount with a planetarium program or Pulse Guide Please refer to them The LED on the GTO Control Box changes from red to yellow and the motors stop or go out completely 1 The motors are overloaded probably due to a grossly unbalanced load on your mount See the sections on clutches and balancing earlier and the additional entry on balancing toward the end of this Troubleshooting section Rebalance your telescope and then press one of the N S E W buttons to reset the keypad Re enter the last object on your keypad and the scope will slew to the correct position Even though your motors had stopped the logic in the control box retained the scope position in memory As long as you didn t change the pointing position of the scope you are still calibrated If the scope was moved during re balancing simply enter a nearby bright star on the hand controller press GOTO and allow the mount to finish slewing You can then move the scope manually or with the N S E W buttons to center the star in the eyepiece and press the 9 RECAL button This will recalibrate the mount Additional explanation The GTO drive circuit includes logic for overload protection to prevent burning out the expensive servomotors in case of severe overload on the two axes The primary cause is a severely unbalanced load in RA If the extra load opposes the motor rotation the motor must work harder to track
20. pointing up and south and let gravity do the work Always start by running the cables with the largest connectors first Insert the telescope end of the cable into the sight hole cable access cover on the dec axis and guide it down and out the declination axis hub Insert the opposite end in the same opening and guide it either out the RA s cable access cover or out the bottom of the RA axis If you are To camera routing out the RA s cable access cover dew heater you can reach in the bottom of the RA etc axis to help you guide the cable end out the access hole To Power Supply computer etc Mach1GTO Cable Insertion When all the necessary cables have been run through the mount turn the RA axis so that the mount is in its normal position with the counterweight shaft adapter pointing down and north Adjust the amount of each cable that you will need sticking out through the declination axis hub to adequately reach its electronic device When determining the length be sure to run the cable through the cable channel and allow enough slack so that there will be no tension on the cable s plug Make sure you allow for focuser travel Don t allow too much slack however or you will defeat the whole purpose of hiding the cables inside the mount Be sure that you route each cable through the appropriate cable channel side for the side of the telescope where it will plug in Also keep in mind any other places where you may wish to
21. standard shaft but instead of a safety knob and washer this shaft uses the one piece washerless Safety Stop M12676 at the end of the shaft For safety you MUST use this Safety Stop There are two main reasons why a person might choose the optional counterweight shaft over the standard 14 5 x 1 125 shaft ii Owners of 900 or 1200 series mounts might prefer to purchase the optional shaft because it uses the same 10 Ib 1OSCWT and 18 Ib 18SCWT counterweights that those bigger mounts use These counterweights have larger 1 875 diameter center holes Please note that this shaft weighs in at a hefty 7 7 lbs including the safety stop To facilitate lighter instruments we have added a 5 Ib counterweight SSCWT to the product line to join the other two weights with the larger center holes 2 Owners who plan to use their Mach1GTO for long distance travel may wish to purchase this shaft for a more compact fit in a travel case The 10 7 shaft was specifically designed to fit inside the hollow declination shaft and screw into the counterweight adapter from the back side When fully screwed into the adapter and with the Safety Stop in place the whole thing only protrudes about 3 4 from the face of the declination hub plate To prevent you from acciden tally getting the shaft stuck inside the dec axis we added a socket head screw to the end of the shaft Simply use your 1 4 hex key to break it loose if needed
22. to participate in the ap gto user group The members of this group are very knowledgeable about the operation of their mounts CCD imaging and other related issues The staff of Astro Physics also participates and you will find a wealth of information in the archives To find the group link from User Groups in our website s sidebar If any problems occur please don t hesitate to contact Astro Physics for assistance We encourage you to submit your technical support questions directly to Astro Physics by phone or e mail support astro physics com We may add additional troubleshooting tips to future versions of this manual or in a separate technical document In such an instance we would add this information to the Technical Support section of our website as well ASTRO PHYSICS INC 11250 Forest Hills Road Machesney Park IL 61115 Telephone 815 282 1513 Fax 815 282 9847 support astro physics com www astro physics com 39 RE MESHING THE WORM GEAR AND WHEEL The revolutionary design of the Mach1GTO motor gearbox makes re meshing the worm gear into the worm wheel a simple process The instructions apply equally to either axis 1 NOTE These are not lug nuts that hold the wheel onto your car On the face of the motor gearbox that has the ca ble connection are two 1 4 20x5 16 Button Head Cap Screws These are by far the two largest screw heads on that surface and will be located on either side at the bot tom of th
23. to push your scope by hand against this locked up resistance or undue stress will be placed on the worm wheel worm gear and bearings Also note that locked up clutches provide no safety factor for your equipment should you hit the pier Most users will never need to use a hex key on their Mach1GTO s clutches but if you are heavily loaded if your system is out of balance or if you are doing critical long exposure astro photography you may wish to have the extra clutch tightness As a general rule if you have a big scope 6 refractor or 10 SCT with all the accessories you will need more clutch tension than a 4 or 5 scope My clutches don t seem to loosen up the axes as much as my 900 or 1200 mount s clutches when loosen the knobs Is this correct The Mach1GTO uses a different clutch system and it also uses a different bearing system for the free rotation of the axes It will feel stiffer than the 900 or 1200 series mounts You should also be aware that the clutch knobs on the Mach1GTO have spring loaded tips that may still be applying pressure to the clutches even though the clutch knobs feel loose Back the clutch knobs off by at least two or three full turns to fully disengage the clutches 22 Balancing Your Telescope For proper operation the telescope must be adequately balanced along both axes Note that we say adequately balanced The mount is quite robust You do not need to obsess with getting th
24. 0 Sliding Bars SBO800 or SB1000 which are sold separately Repositioning the sliding bar will aid in adjusting the balance of your instrument NOTE 1 This plate requires the use of the Q4047 adapter with the Mach1GTO mount to provide clearance for the knobs NOTE 2 This is NOT a Vixen or V style Dovetail The newer Vixen specification is slightly wider than our long established Astro Physics 8 specification and has a much less angled bevel to the dovetail A Vixen style plate sliding bar will not fit into this dovetail saddle Anew V Series to D Series dovetail adapter for the Losmandy D Series Dovetail Saddles was introduced in February 2010 SBD2V See the website for more information As an accessory plate Attach to the top of our Astro Physics mounting rings tube diameters 5 8 or rings from Parallax Instruments that have the Astro Physics hole pattern you can request it You must also use a sliding bar on the bottom of the rings with the same distance 6 3 from center to center i e the SBO800 SB1000 SBD12 or SBD16 Attach the Q4047 to the mount using four of the six outside holes and four 1 4 20 x 1 flat head socket cap screws Attach the DOVE08 to the Q4047 with four 1 4 20 x 5 8 socket head cap screws 15 Astro Physics Dovetail Saddle Plate DOVE15 for 15 Sliding Bar SB1500 The 15 version of our dovetail plate is suited for the 130 f8 StarFire EDT 155 f7 StarFire EDFS Takah
25. 0 7 x 1 875 Counterweight Shaft Attach Mounting Rings Fine Polar Alignment Methods for fine polar alignment Altitude and Azimuth Adjustments Fine Altitude Adjustment Fine Azimuth Adjustment CLUTCH KNOBS AND BALANCING RA and Dec Clutch Knobs SO OOOO oowoo N OD HO A W wo j Vj_ oOo E O Seca Sw ihe ea Se eS fee Oooa n nan rk fH A _ CO N N NNN gt O O CO N N N N Balancing Your Telescope First Balance the Declination Axis Second Balance the Polar Axis CABLE MANAGEMENT Introduction to one of the MachiGTO s most Innovative Features Preparation Cable Installation the First Time Disassembly and Subsequent Setups and Polar Alignments A Note on the Mount s Servo Y Cable A Few More Hints and Tricks SERVO MOTOR DRIVE GTO Control Box GTOCP3 Pre loaded PEMPro Curve Lead Free Electronics RA and Dec Cable 10 Pin Receptacle 12V Locking Receptacle POWER Indicator Light KEYPAD Receptacle RS 232 Ports 2 FOCUSER Jack RETICLE Jack AUTOGUIDER Port Receptacle 6V Auxilliary Jack N and S Switch Drainage Holes CONTROLLING YOUR GTO MOUNT GTO Keypad Operation Pulseguide by Sirius Ilmaging The Astro Physics ASCOM V2 Driver Planetarium Imaging and Observatory Software from Other Vendors PEMPro V 2 x by Sirius Imaging CCDWare The Astro Physics Command Center APCC SLEWING YOUR MOUNT IN BELOW FREEZING TEMPERATURES MOUNT CARE CLEANING AND MAINTENANCE Ca
26. 1200GTO mounts the dec axis of the Mach1GTO must be straight and square to the RA mating surface when mounted Don t try to tilt it into place as you would with the larger dovetailed mounts Keep a hand on the declination axis to keep it from falling off until you have at least one of the screws loosely fastened With the declination axis in place insert and tighten the four 1 4 20 X 1 socket head cap screws Gross Latitude Adjustment Unlike its bigger brothers the 900GTO and 1200GTO the Mach1GTO does not have latitude ranges that should be preset before venturing out into the field However you may still wish to give yourself a head start before heading out into the dark Each side of the Mach1GTO s polar fork base is clearly marked with a latitude scale You can preset the mount to your latitude before leaving the house if you wish As you will see later in the sections on polar alignment err on the low side when presetting the latitude Final latitude or altitude adjustments are best made in an upward direction Assemble Pier or Tripod Portable Pier purchased separately NOTE Starting in 2008 the Mach1GTO has six attachment holes in its pier adapter to better facilitate the different pier tops Older mounts having three attachment holes may be limited in terms of the tripod or pier leg orientations that can be chosen You will use three of the provided holes with the three pier adapter knobs when you secure the mount to th
27. CS for mounting to 600E 4 1 4 20x3 4 SHCS for mounting a 6 1 4 20x1 FHSCS for mounting to 900 or 1200 FP1800 4 1 4 20x1 114 FHSCS Mach GTO 4 1 4 20x1 2 SHCS for mounting to 400 4 M6 1 0x16mm FHSCS for mounting to 600E 8 Dovetail Plate 4 1 4 20x5 8 SHCS for mounting to 900 or Mach1GTO requires Q4047 or to attach to SBD13SS or SBD16SS 4 10 32x3 4 SHCS for mounting as Accessory Plate onto A P rings 4 1 4 20x1 2 FHSCS for mounting to 400 or MachiGTO 4 M6 1 0x16mm FHSCS for mounting to 600E 4 1 4 20x5 8 FHSCS for mouting to 900 or 1200 4 10 32x3 4 SHCS for mounting as Accessory Plate onto A P rings 4 1 4 20x5 8 SHCS for mounting 400 or Mach1GTO 4 M6 1 0x20mm SHCS for mounting 600E 8 5 Dovetail Plate for Losmandy D Series Plate 2 1 4 20x5 8 FHSCS for mounting to 1200 4 1 4 20x3 4 SHCS for mounting to 900 or 1200 or to attach to SBD13SS or SBD16SS DOVELM16 S 16 Dovetail Plate for Losmandy D Series Plate for 6 1 4 20x1 SHCS for mounting to 900 or 1200 1200GTO S version for 900 or Mach1GTO 4 1 4 20x7 8 SHCS for MachiGTO DOVE08 DOVE 15 15 Dovetail Plate DOVELM2 6 1 4 20x1 SHCS for mounting to 900 1200 or MachiGTO uses 4 or to attach to SBD13SS or SBD16SS 1 1 4 20x3 4 FHSCS opt 900 or 1200 for end positions 4 1 4 20x3 4 SHCS for SB3622 in side by side configuration eae 6 1 4 20x1 FHSCS for mounting to 900 Pee eae ee S 4 1 4 20x1
28. accessory tray with raised sides TRAYO6 a tray with eyepiece holes TRAYO6H and two support bar options TRAYSB or TRAYSB1 are now available to fit the 6 Eagle Adjustable Folding Pier some sizes of the 6 portable pier and both tripods They are handy and attractive places to keep your eyepieces and other astro gadgets close at hand Autoguiding Accessories Various imaging and CCD based guiding configurations can take advantage of the Mach1GTO s autoguider port The autoguider port receptacle RJ 11 6 uses the industry standard SBIG ST 4 wiring setup PEMPro Periodic Error Management Professional is a Windows software application that makes it easy to characterize and reduce periodic error PEMPro will analyze the performance of any mount that is equipped with a CCD camera and compatible camera control software PEMPro gives you powerful tools to program your mount s periodic error correction firmware to achieve the best possible performance for your mount PEMPro dramatically improves guided and unguided imaging resulting in better images and fewer lost exposures For more information on PEMPro see the Servo Motor Drive section later in the manual Note on Encoders Mounted encoders can not be used with the Mach1GTO They are not needed since the go to functions of the mount are so much more accurate The encoder that is built into the servo motor itself has a resolution of 0 05 arc seconds vs 324 arc seconds for mou
29. al of Equatorial Head 28 5 Ibs 13 0 kg Dec axis 11 5 Ibs 5 2 kg R A axis 17 0 los 7 8 kg includes integral pier adapter 1 9 kg Optional 10 7 x 1 875 Counterweight shaft with safety stop 7 7 lbs Counterweight shaft with washer and knob 4 1 Ibs 3 5 kg Approximately 45 lbs 20kg telescope and accessories not including counterweights depending on length Will accommodate Astro Physics and similar refractors up to 160mm f7 5 8 11 SCT or 8 Mak Cas These are only guidelines Some telescopes are long for their weight or very heavy for their size and will require a larger mount NOTE As weight of scope and accessories increases proper balancing becomes more critical See section on balancing for more information INTRODUCTION The Astro Physics Mach1GTO Observatory Performance in a Small Package This is the first compact light weight mounting that was designed for utmost portability while maintaining extreme rigidity and excellent tracking accuracy No shortcuts were taken to achieve these goals From the highly accurate fine pitch gearbox to the precision machine tool bearings to the innovative worm wheel and clutch design this mount represents a new approach to this vital part of the overall imaging train The advent of modern CCD cameras and telescopes with high resolution optics has placed greater demands on the ability of mountings to do their part to achieve precision tra
30. all those cables in there Fortunately there are two easy solutions First if you regularly need to use your polar scope and you are only running a couple of cables through the mount just make sure that your cables were run out the RA s cable access hole If you use this feature you can insert and use the polar scope without any problem You may need to tug lightly at a cable to get it out of the line of sight when aligning The cables can simply be left in place and wrapped around the mount for most transport and storage situations You simply need to take care not to pinch the cables anywhere or to strike a connector on the exterior surfaces of the mount which could cause a scratch Then just set up the mount with the cables already in place But what about polar alignment if the cables have been run out the bottom of the RA axis or if there are very many cables Simple Set your mount up on its tripod or pier but don t tie off or hook up any of the cables from the bottom of the RA axis yet Now open the sight hole cable access cover on the declination axis Push the cables up from the bottom of the RA axis with one hand and hook them with a finger through the sight hole Now pull the bottom part of the cabling out through the hole and hang the cables out of the way Insert your polar scope adapter to rough polar align don t over tighten and then put in a polar scope to get a good polar alignment When you are as close as you can get pull
31. altitude is set or ratchet it loose if you need to make a major adjustment To start your altitude adjustment loosen the altitude locking lever Move the polar axis up or down with the large altitude adjustment knob located in the front of the polar axis assembly When your altitude is pretty well adjusted grab hold of the end of the counterweight shaft with your left hand You will be able to feel a small amount of play in an up down direction by lifting and then pushing down on the end of the counterweight shaft This is normal ALTITUDE Lock LEVER Now gradually tighten the altitude lock lever until you no longer feel any play Operation at the end of the counterweight shaft You DO NOT need to tighten the lock lever any further than this One turn of the Altitude Adjustment Knob is approximately 1 04 degrees 62 arc minutes 12 Mach1GTO Latitude Adjustment Range 0 degrees to 70 degrees 0 degrees latitude 35 degrees latitude 70 degrees latitude Please note photos are from first production run Later production runs incorporated a PoLar Scope ADAPTER with a knurled grip 5 Continue your azimuth and altitude adjustments until you can sight Polaris in the polar alignment sight hole Try to center it roughly in the sight hole Avery dim red light may help you see enough of the hollow shaft to help you with centering without obscuring Polaris At this point you have achieved a rough polar alignment which may be sufficient fo
32. asher or the one piece Safety Stop M12676 if you are using the 1 875 diameter shaft from the base of the counterweight shaft Add sufficient counterweights purchased separately to the counterweight shaft to balance the telescope you intend to use Loosen the counterweight knob and hold the counter weight with the knob pointing downward so that the brass pin will move from the center opening allowing the counter weight to slide into position Always use two hands to attach or move the counterweights on the shaft It is advisable to have the counterweight knob pointing down toward the pier This will minimize the chance of accidentally loosening the counterweight during the observing session 3 Reattach the counterweight safety knob and washer to the end of the counterweight shaft This will help to pre vent injury if Someone accidentally loosens the counterweight knob NOTE A firm tightening of the counterweight knob will not damage the surface of the counterweight shaft The pin that tightens against the stainless counterweight shaft is constructed of brass Likewise the bronze sleeve that has been press fitted into the center of the counterweight will prevent marring of the shaft as you move the counterweights up and down Optional 10 7 x 1 875 Counterweight Shaft The optional 10 7 total length x 1 875 diameter counterweight shaft offers some additional capabilities and considerations The shaft installs in the same way as the
33. ashi scopes and other instruments of similar size The two knob assemblies each feature a brass pin with a tapered end to hold your sliding bar firmly without marring the aluminum Use with the 15 Sliding Bar SB1500 which is sold separately NOT for use with Losmandy D or Vixen style plates Also makes a great accessory plate when used with either the 900RP the FP1500 the FP1800 with rings mounted to inside holes the SBD16 or another DOVE15 Note This plate will not accept Vixen style plates sliding bars like the Losmandy V series The newer Vixen specification is slightly narrower than our long established Astro Physics 15 specification and has a much less angled bevel to the dovetail This dovetail saddle will not adequately clamp onto the smaller Vixen style plate sliding bar Anew V Series to D Series dovetail adapter for the Losmandy D Series Dovetail Saddles below was introduced in February 2010 SBD2V See the website for more information Attach with four 1 4 20 x 1 2 flat head socket cap screws Losmandy and Vixen Style Dovetail Systems The following dovetail saddle plates are for the Losmandy D series of dovetail plates sliding bars Along with the standard Losmandy made dovetail plates additional D Series options are now available These include two Astro Physics made sliding bars SBD12 and SBD16 and two Astro Physics sid by side bars SBD13SS and SBD16SS For those of you who have scopes
34. cable passages have a two inch diameter clearance that will accommodate a DB15 serial plug with relative ease It is certainly not required that you run any cables through the mount but many of you will find this feature useful Preparation Your approach to cable routing will depend on two main factors the particular cables you need to run and the degree of portability of your system These factors lead to a couple of questions Will the telescope s mounting plate remain attached to the mount between observing sessions Is the mount often removed from the pier tripod between sessions Do you need to rough polar align each time you set up or can you set up and always be close enough to not need a polar scope Or are you permanently mounted Since everyone s situation will be a bit different these instructions are more guidelines rather than specific follow these to the letter or else instructions If it is practical you may find it most convenient to first set up your mount following the above instructions and get it pretty well polar aligned The two axes must be assembled to run your cables You won t do a final drift alignment yet but you will want to get close This is especially the case for those of you who are using a polar alignment scope like our PASILL4L You do not want to have the polar scope installed when the cables are being run through the inside of the mount or you might scratch the polar scope s objective However as yo
35. cking and guiding At the same time the mounting should be easy to use with adjustments and setups that are straight forward and accurate We have done everything possible to eliminate the frustrations and limitations inherent in a lesser mounting and so put the fun back into the hobby of amateur astronomy The DC servo motor drive with GTO computer system the keypad with its digital display screen and the included PulseGuide software and fully supported V2 ASCOM driver all combine to offer extraordinary sophistication for today s observer Whether you enjoy visual astronomy exclusively or plan an aggressive astrophotography or CCD imaging program this mount will allow you to maximize your night out under the stars The advanced keypad features allow you to slew automatically to objects in a wide range of databases as well as any RA dec coordinate A large selection of common names for stars and other objects makes your selection a snap The rapid slew rate of 5 degrees per second 1200x allows you to locate objects very quickly and accurately You will be very pleased with the intuitive operation of this keypad There are no complicated sequences of keystrokes to remember It is so easy to use that even if you don t use it for a few months you will feel at home with the keypad very quickly PulseGuide is a stand alone Windows 98 ME 2000 NT4 XP Vista Win7 utility that provides complete remote control of all Astro Physics GTO mounts
36. ckly align your mount on the pole stars The reticle was designed for use in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres Even users of the GTO computerized mounts will find these polar scopes useful particularly if your telescope is not orthogonal to the mount please refer to the keypad manual for a discussion of orthogonality If you have a PASILL4L PASILL4 or PASILL3 please read the instructions sheets that came with it with the following modification in Mach1GTO A a ee ape Reticle _ Housing The reason that the Mach1GTO requires one of these later model polar scopes is that these models have reticle housings that turn freely in their collars Unlike all the other mounts that we have produced since the early 1990 s the 18 Mach1GTO s polar axis shaft does not reach all the way to the bottom of the polar axis housing With these other mounts the polar scope was actually screwed into the end of the polar axis shaft If you turned the polar RA axis the polar scope turned as well With the Mach1GTO the polar scope attaches to the polar scope adapter which is in turn attached to the polar axis housing not the polar shaft Turning the polar axis does NOT also turn the polar scope To use the polar scope with your Mach1GTO simply turn the polar scope s reticle housing instead of the RA axis as instructed during the final stages of polar alignment If you started with the reticle properly oriented
37. d high spots that develop on the gear teeth At this time we have no solution to ultra low temperatures Last night it was 8 F here and tested several of our mounts in the observatory Two are very old from the original batches of 900GTOs and 1200GTOs and one is brand new another 1200GTO All worked well at 600x but showed signs of laboring at 1200x slewing use a 12 volt marine battery to power them replaced the marine battery with a variable power supply that varied from 12 volts to 18 volts At 12 volts when both motors were slewing at 1200x the power draw was in excess of 8 amps in summer this is around 2 5 amps The motors were laboring and not running smoothly at full speed turned up the voltage to 15 volts and the current draw dropped to around 5 6 amps The motors worked smoothly at 1200x with no hesitation at that voltage level would recommend for cold weather work to get a supply that can deliver 15 16 volts at a rated current capacity of 10 amps Higher than that is not necessary Above 18 volts is not recommended It is possible that these recommendations may change over time due to new lubricating products or upgrades to the keypad program that will allow slewing at 300x under development as of this writing Please refer to the Technical Support section of our website for the latest recommendations 34 MOUNT CARE CLEANING AND MAINTENANCE Like any fine piece of equipment your mount s longevity and pe
38. d variant that allows a CCD to measure and calculate the drift much faster than can be done at the eyepiece e Helpful Advice Members of the ap gto Yahoo group occasionally discuss alternative methods of polar alignment that they have found helpful We suggest that you participate in this Internet discussion group Follow the links from the sidebar of our website to find the group Altitude and Azimuth Adjustments The mechanics of altitude and azimuth adjustment are relatively straightforward In the discussion below we will provide some information and tips that will give you the greatest success with your Mach1GTO regardless of the method you choose for determining the amount and direction of each adjustment We ll leave the choice of method up to you Did we mention the Revised GTO Quick Star Drift Method We list the fine altitude adjustment first because our Revised GTO Quick Star Drift Method begins with altitude Many texts for the classic star drift method begin with the azimuth adjustments When you made your rough alignment earlier you loosened everything up got the mount close and then tightened everything back down Any minor shifting that occurred from locking things down tight was of no consequence since it was a rough procedure Now you are fine tuning the alignment Regardless of whether you start with altitude or azimuth begin the fine adjustment process with everything locked down as if you were already finished Then loose
39. e box See the photo at right These screws are merely place holders to fill the holes that give access to the mounting bolts underneath They do not hold anything Simply remove them using a 5 32 Allen hex wrench and set them aside Insert the long end of the same 5 32 Allen wrench into the RIGHT hole under the cable connection and engage the socket of the attachment shoulder bolt that is inside The bolt and the hole are lined up so only minimal fishing around should be required Loosen this bolt between 1 4 and 1 2 turn DO NOT loosen any further or remove the bolt Repeat step 2 with the LEFT hole As you loosen the second bolt you will feel the motor gearbox come loose on the axis 1 4 20x5 16 Button Head Use 5 32 Allen Wrench Gently rock the motor gearbox from side to side and from front to back to be sure that the worm is fully seated in the wheel Tighten the LEFT shoulder bolt first It is critical for proper worm mesh to tighten the LEFT bolt first Tighten the bolt in small increments As you tighten wiggle the box slightly so that it finds its center as the bolt is gradually tightened Once the bolt has made full contact tighten about another 1 8 turn When the LEFT bolt is tight tighten up the RIGHT bolt also about 1 8 turn past the point of full contact When you have the RIGHT bolt properly tightened check the LEFT bolt to be sure that it still feels tight Once the attachment bol
40. e electronic components due to ROHS regulations that went into effect on July 1 2006 As of mid 2007 all of our electronics adhere to this safer and more environmentally responsible standard All functions and capabilities of the servo system were maintained with the lead free components RA and Dec Cable 10 Pin Receptacle A Y cable with 10 pin connectors is included with your mount Attach the connector from which the two cables emerge to the 10 pin receptacle in the upper right corner of the GTO control panel Labeled MOTORS Attach the short part of the Y cable to the RA motor housing and the long part of the cable to the dec motor housing Lock all connectors Refer to the section above for further information about positioning the cables 12V Locking Receptacle Place the DC power cord included with your mount into the locking DC power plug receptacle marked 12V on the GTO control panel and lock in place by screwing the locking collar onto the receptacle Plug the cigarette lighter plug end of the cord into your power source The acceptable voltage range is 11 5 to 16 Above 18V is not recommended Suggested power sources include portable rechargeable battery pack auto or marine battery or power supply filtered and regulated for standard household AC current 110 115 volt 60 Hz in the US with a minimum output of 5 amps at 12V DC 13 to 16 volts is recommended for best performance but please note that for most applicati
41. e pier or tripod Astro Physics Portable Pier a Rods with Turnbuckles Begin by assembling the portable pier at the desired observing location With six attachment holes in the Mach1GTO s base you can now orient the pier with a leg to the north or south as you prefer 1 Adjustable Wood Tripod AWT000 Open the legs of the tripod at the desired observing location Note which direction is north south if you are below the equator 1 Slide the three legs onto the nubs of the base and rotate the assembly so that one of the legs points toward the north or south You can use either orientation in either hemisphere Most people prefer to have one leg point toward the pole Place the pier post on the base orienting the three eyebolts directly above the legs Attach the tension rods The turnbuckles should be drawn tight until the whole assembly is stiff enough to support your weight without movement This is another of those instances where you want to tighten in graduated steps Start by making all three turnbuckles barely snug Then make all three barely tight then half tight and finally all three can be brought to their final tightness z ADATRI Position the tripod with one of the legs pointing roughly toward or away from your pole 2 Attach the shelf to each of the three legs with the knobs provided 3 Adjust legs to the desired height and spread them fully 4 Lock in position
42. e that while the declination motor gearbox box is on the RA axis you may have a little more periodic error than you are used to since the fine tuning was done on the RA s original motor gearbox Also since you will be using a different worm gear your PEM will be different For imaging you may need to retrain your PEM For visual observing simply turn PEM off while using the declination motor gearbox on the RA axis To remove a motor gearbox first separate the two axes and then remove the four small screws on the box that hold the cover with the servo cable connector and pull the cover off to the side Its wires will remain attached to the motor Next carefully unscrew the two shoulder bolts that hold the motor gearbox to the axis Note that there is a spring exerting pressure against these two shoulder bolts and take note of the spring s position against the shoulder bolts When they come loose the spring will push them over That is fine don t try to completely remove the bolts The motor gearbox will now separate from the axis To re install a motor gearbox carefully set the box into position making sure that the worm gear settles into the teeth of the worm wheel Put the two shoulder bolts in place but only snug down at this point Make sure that the spring is properly positioned below the ridge in each shoulder bolt Gently rock the motor gearbox back and forth and then center the box in its range of motion Now fully tighten the shoulder
43. ease refer to the instruction sheet entitled Mounting Plate Fastener Chart This chart is available at the end of this manual and in the Technical Support section of our website 15 Flat Mounting Plate FP1500 This plate is 15 long by 4 6 wide by 0 5 thick Two pairs of keyhole slots that measure 3 2 between centers are provided The pairs are 13 75 apart You can drill additional holes to suit your needs This plate also fits the 400 600E 900 and 1200 German Equatorial FP1500 mounts 7 This plate has a hole spacing of 13 75 This allows the use of the 15 Dovetail Plate DOVE15 on top of your instrument as an accessory plate Attach this plate with four 1 4 20 x 5 8 socket head cap screws 18 Flat Mounting Plate FP1800 This plate is 18 long and 7 5 at its widest point in the center The width of the plate tapers to 5 5 at each end Four pairs of keyhole slots that measure 3 2 between centers are provided The two inner pairs are 13 75 apart and the outer two pairs are 17 apart You can drill additional holes to suit your needs This plate also fits the 900 and 1200 German Equatorials Attach this plate with four 1 4 20 x 1 1 4 flat head socket cap screws Leave two screws in the dec hub s top plate see note at end of this section This plate has a hole spacing of 13 75 This allows the use of the 15 Dovetail Plate DOVE15 on top of your instrument as an acce
44. eights are somewhat out of balance being heavy in the east then the clutches might slip at the slow sidereal rate In any case just to set your mind at ease simply remove the motor cover next time something like this happens and look at the motor shaft If the motor is not turning you will have some kind of electrical problem If it is turning then it is mechanical The motors sound louder and more labored in cold weather As the temperature drops we recommend that you reduce your slewing speed to the slowest slew rate The cold causes the lubricants to get stiff in the gearboxes This can make the high speed gears resonate and sound screechy Lowering the slew speed in winter will eliminate this You might also want to add a drop or two of light machine oil to the center posts of the individual gears Just remove the cover on the gearbox and add the oil drops The noise is nothing to worry about Refer to the section of this manual entitled Slewing Your Mount in Below Freezing Temperatures My RA motor has failed and need to restore tracking immediately Another innovative feature of the Mach1GTO is that the declination and right ascension servo motor gearboxes are interchangeable In the extremely rare chance that your RA drive would fail in the field at a star party in the middle of nowhere under perfect skies according to Murphy s Law you can simply swap the two motor gearboxes and still have the mount s tracking ability Please not
45. g using the 4 buttons on the keypad It will tell you how responsive the mount is to your guiding inputs and may even show some hidden problems when you try to keep the star on the crosshairs Alternately you can use PEMPro to characterize your periodic error It will tell you things like the peak value and the smoothness of the error You can also characterize your mount tracking and guiding abilities using the Characterizing the Dec Motions test outlined in the Technical Support section of our AP website and included in the back of this manual Many times a problem guiding in RA can be the result of a dec axis mechanical problem Not knowing this you will be forever chasing down the problem on the RA axis and never reaching a solution Characterizing your Dec Axis will at least show you that the mount reacts properly to the 4 guide directions If it shows a problem area then at least we will know how to fix it Once you know that the mount is tracking in a normal fashion with normal periodic error profile you can go from there to begin setting up your guiding parameters It is not a piece of cake to get a guider like the ST4 to work flawlessly It is an art but once you know that the mount responds properly to the guide inputs it should be possible to set it up to work accurately 38 ADDITIONAL SUPPORT For additional information regarding the Mach1GTO refer to the Technical Support Section of our website We also encourage you
46. ght the celestial pole when looking through the polar alignment sight hole in the center i p LATITUDE SCALE of the polar axis You will need to make E uE Lock altitude up down and azimuth side to side j fia Leer adjustments to the position of the mount y Pe Before beginning make sure that the mount i ADJUSTER is pointing roughly north using the built in lt a E compass and that your pier or tripod is p P level using the mount s built in bubble level AZIMUTH s Refer to note below ADUE AZIMUTH Lock KNoB A i Compass Remember that magnetic north is not the See T Busse LeveL same as true north and varies both with time and with your location In the fall of 2006 on the northeast tip of Maine for example magnetic north is west of true north by a whopping 18 1 2 degrees On Mauna Kea in Hawaii by contrast magnetic north is about 9 1 2 degrees east of true north Observers along the Mississippi River are lucky and are nearly dead on These values change by several minutes every year With experience at a particular site however you will soon learn to use the compass to find true north You will know just how far off magnetic north is for your location In addition there is a website funded by our U S tax dollars that will compute the declination of magnetic north relative to true north for any location that you input The link is as follows http Awww ngdc noaa gov geomagmodels Declination jsp
47. he only place they move at that rate is straight overhead As soon as you depart from that point in the sky the stars will be moving more slowly especially as you approach the horizons Thus it looks like the mount is moving slightly faster than the sidereal rate Just because you have done a classic drift alignment does not mean that the stars will now be moving at the sidereal rate everywhere in the sky 36 In order to increase the area of sky from the zenith that will give you fairly good tracking you will need to offset the polar axis by a small amount The amount will depend on what your latitude is The other approach is to vary the tracking rate for different parts of the sky Ray Gralak s Pulse Guide will allow you to dial in an exact tracking rate for any part of the sky Initially the mount was working fine Then suddenly the mount stopped tracking altogether Chances are that the motor was turning properly and driving the worm gear but that your clutches might have been loose and therefore the scope was not following the motion of the worm gear The fact that the high slew rate did move the scope does not change this because Roland has seen this himself where the tracking rate did not overcome the slipping clutches but the slew rate did If you are unsure of the motion of the motor just remove the motor cover plate and look inside You will see the motor turning Sometimes when you have the clutches loosely engaged and the counterw
48. her knob and then when finished to tighten the first knob back up against the azimuth block This can result in a slight shift as the first knob is tightened against the block We recommend that you completely abandon this approach for fine azimuth adjustment Instead start with both knobs tightened against the azimuth adjusting pin Then back off the first knob only by the small amount of the adjustment you plan to make Use the scallops on the knob as reference points to mark your starting and ending points Each knob has six scallops and six raised parts on the gripping surface This divides the knob into twelve equal segments corresponding to about 6 8 arc minutes each Finally make the actual adjustment by tightening the other knob thereby making the tiny adjustment you required and eliminating any shift because everything is already tight when you are finished By using the markings on the knobs you can easily undo any errors or estimate the magnitude of your next adjustment Now that you understand the principles the actual procedure is quite straight forward 1 Barely loosen the two azimuth lock knobs You should feel considerable resistance still when making final precise azimuth adjustments If the locking devices are loose the alignment may shift when you finally do lock them down undoing all your efforts to obtain a precise alignment 2 When adjusting azimuth remember to follw the hint above and back off with one azimuth adjuster
49. herefore see some slight differences whether you have a brand new mount or a first run mount but none of these were deemed to be of significance and hopefully most have been noted in the text or captions As always we highly recommend the Technical Support Section of our website for the latest information and for future updated versions of this manual PLEASE RECORD THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION FOR FUTURE REFERENCE Mount Serial Number Keypad Serial Number GTOCP3 Serial Number Purchase Date Maco1GTO PARTS LIST _ ee ee ee Mach1GTO German Equatorial Head with Servo Drive Motors Stainless counterweight shaft with washer stop and black plastic knob knob has 1 4 thread GTO Control Box Model GTOCP3 with pouch and control box to pier adapter CBAPT Y cable RA portion is 24 5 long and dec portion is 40 5 long D C power cord cigarette lighter adapter on one end 8 long GTO Keypad controller with 15 coiled cable and Instruction Manual 15 foot straight through serial cable for computer connection CABSER15 PulseGuide by Sirius Imaging remote control utility for Windows PC s CD ROM Hex key set In order to assemble your mount fully you will need the following items sold separately Telescope mounting plate Many choices to fit your telescope and observing needs See detailed section later in this manual Pier or Tripod o 6 Eagle Adjustable Folding Pier EAGLE6 o Astro Ph
50. hoot your downward adjustment so that you can then make a final tweak upward If you do need to adjust downward it helps to push down on the end of the counterweight shaft while making the downward adjustment 20 4 In addition if you are using an Astro Physics portable pier we have found that using the turnbuckle on the north leg of the pier also can make fine altitude adjustments if used Fine Azimuth Adjustment When designing the Azimuth Adjusters for the Mach1GTO mount we debated using an azimuth adjuster with a single captured threaded rod passing through a stationary azimuth block to avoid the two step process of backing off one side and then adjusting the other However we found that the inevitable backlash in this type of system made adjustment more problematic and less precise The Mach1GTO s Azimuth Adjustment assembly makes for easy and accurate polar alignment in your observatory or in the field and it eliminates issues of adjustment backlash When making an adjustment do not leave the knob you have backed off loose When finished both knobs must be tight against the azimuth adjusting pin to hold the azimuth angle you have set If you follow our hint below the act of adjustment will leave the adjusters tight against the azimuth adjuster pin Important Hint The natural tendency when making azimuth adjustments is to first back one adjuster knob off a significant amount then make the required azimuth adjustments with the ot
51. if you look at the dec axis you will see that it has a sliding cover the sight hole cable access cover By sliding this cover to the open position you open a sight line through the RA axis and out into the sky For your rough alignment you will peer through this sight tube and attempt to center Polaris 11 3 Azimuth adjustments To begin move or turn the entire pier or tripod east or west until the mount is oriented approxi mately towards the pole an imaginary line drawn through the hollow shaft If you are using the 6 Eagle Adjustable Folding Pier you can take advantage of the azimuth adjustment slots for your rough polar alignment The compass on the east side of the polar fork base will help you Also if you want the mount to be level check the bubble level again after moving everything Remember mount leveling is not critical for most observers Mach1GTO Azimuth Adjustment Range 25 degrees ee 12 5 deg from center a Azimuth adjusted to the east Mount centered in azimuth Azimuth adjusted to the west Loosen the two azimuth lock knobs one on each side of the polar fork base Use the two fine azimuth adjuster knobs one on each side of the mount to make adjustments You must back off the opposing azimuth knob in order to move the other knob in that direction Please refer to the photos above These photos also illustrate the 25 degrees of azimuth adjustment possible with this mount If you are finished i e f
52. ight through 4 Empty 5 Ground 6 Data Set Ready When you are controlling the position of the mount with a computer program such as A PulseGuide Software Bisque s TheSky or Simulation Curriculum Corp s Starry 9 Empty Night the microprocessor chip located in the servo drive box will send continual RA and dec coordinate data via the cable connections to your computer When you use the software to give instruction to slew to a new object the commands RA and dec coordinates are sent to the mount Please read the section that follows entitled Controlling Your GTO Mount Pins 2 3 5 amp 6 are active We provide two RS 232 serial port connections on the mount so that you can use two software programs simultaneously in addition to any auto guider software that may be sending signals to the mount through the Auto guider Connector For instance you can use PulseGuide for advanced mount control while using TheSky as a planetarium program The telescope control functions of TheSky s native driver are more limited so using both in a remote application is advantageous Since the mount will update the RA and dec coordinates simultaneously both programs are continually updated with the data from the mount You can watch the screen display of TheSky to see where your telescope is pointing as it slews This is most effective if you have a reasonably fast computer with plenty of RAM If you try this with an old 100MHz processor and on
53. in our specifications of 7 arc seconds peak to peak we generate a unique optimized PE curve for your specific mount and then save the corresponding PE correction curve to the GTOCP3 control box for you to use By turning PE on from the keypad PulseGuide or the V2 ASCOM driver you can take advantage of this PE curve the very first time you use your mount This PE curve should remain valid for several months as your gears run in and will probably suffice for many mount owners Instructions for turning the PEM on in the keypad s Tools menu are found in the keypad manual The full version of PEMPro v 2 x can be purchased from our website With it you can produce an even more refined periodic error curve by using more worm cycles than we can do here at the factory Although we can make no promises we have heard numerous reports of sub arc second periodic error from experienced users running 6 or more worm cycles in PEMPro It is suggested that you save the existing curve to your computer before overwriting it in the control box with a new curve just in case you do something wrong in your first attempt ata PEMPro run That way you can re load the old data back to your control box if needed 28 Lead Free Electronics Starting in 2006 we began phasing in lead free electronics for all of our mounts In the first phase all GTO mounts and other electronics shipped to customers in the European Union were built with lead fre
54. ing and Disassembling the Two Axes Because of its compact size and light weight the Mach1GTO does not need to be disassembled for normal transport to and from an observing site There will rarely be a need to disassemble the two axes However those of you who do disassemble your Mach1GTO for transport will need to be familiar with how the two axes are assembled and disassembled When re assembling your mount we recommend that you fasten the RA axis onto your pier or tripod first That way you have a solid platform firmly holding on to your RA axis while you bolt the declination axis in place The pier becomes your extra set of hands The two axes assemble quite easily with the four 1 4 20 X 1 socket head cap screws shown in the Assembly Diagram on page 6 To properly line up the two axes the RA axis must be positioned with the two pairs of screw holes on the east 2 and west 2 rather than on the north and south In addition the clutch knobs of the RA axis should be at 10 o clock 2 o clock and 6 o clock as shown in the photo The four bolt holes will not line up in any other position To turn the RA axis to this position loosen the three clutch knobs and turn the axis When in the proper position retighten the clutch knobs for safety The declination axis is placed into its position in the RA axis with the counterweight adapter down and the declination hub plate up as in the assembly diagram Unlike the bigger 900GTO and
55. ings precisely balanced Start by balancing the tube assembly First Balance the Declination Axis 1 Position the mount for balancing Move the RA axis so that the counterweight shaft is pointing down The declination axis assembly will be in the meridian this is the classic photographic pose for a German Equatorial Position the dec axis so the telescope tube is horizontal and pointing east Tighten the 3 RA axis clutch knobs Loosen the 3 dec axis clutch knobs about 2 to 3 full turns so that the telescope moves freely about the declination axis NOTE because of a spring mechanism you must loosen the knobs past where they begin to feel loose Be careful because if your telescope is significantly out of balance it may swing rapidly in the out of balance direction Loosen the tube mounting rings and slide the tube back and forth for balancing This is best done with the tube in the horizontal position If you are using a dovetail mounting plate slightly loosen the hand knobs on the female dovetail receiver plate and slide the male sliding plate and thus the telescope to the desired position The scope is balanced when it stays put does not move with the clutches loose and movement back and forth about the declination axis has the same feel in both directions Be mindful of eyepieces cameras and other accessories that are yet to be added and compensate accordingly Re tighten the telescope mounting rings or mounting plate d
56. ion 3600GTO s we obtained accurate enough polar alignment for extensive imaging with a focal length of 3810 mm using the Daytime Routine followed by the Revised GTO Quick Star Drift Method and did so in less than one half hour The combination of Daytime Routine followed by the Revised GTO Quick Star Drift Method is our recommended procedure for anyone in the southern hemisphere or anyone who finds their view of the pole obstructed Computer Software Solutions There are many software packages that include aids to polar alignment Some work better than others Most of them have shortcomings especially if there is any orthogonality error or flexure in your system We have seen customers practically tear their hair out trying to get good alignment using software Do not be fooled into thinking that your alignment is perfect simply because a piece of software told you so Polar Alignment is after all entirely a mechanical issue With the creation of the Revised GTO Quick Star Drift Method Roland and other staff members here at Astro Physics no longer depend on software for polar alignment although we do still take advantage of software s capacity to speed up final critical drift alignment Having said that here are some of the software options that are available o There is a Polar Alignment Wizard in the Full Version of PEMPro 2 x This wizard is quick and easy and gives excellent results Details are in the PEMPro documentation
57. knob by the amount of the adjustment in order to then move the other 3 Tighten down the azimuth lock knobs Unlike the altitude lock lever these azimuth lock knobs should be tightened securely NOTE Once you have finished your azimuth adjustment you may wish to make one final tweak of the altitude This is because the act of slightly loosening and then retightening the azimuth lock knobs may have slightly altered the altitude angle you had set If you do make a final altitude tweak DO NOT loosen or further tighten the altitude lock lever Resist the temptation and leave it alone 21 CLUTCH KNOBS AND BALANCING RA and Dec Clutch Knobs 1 What do they do The three RA and three dec clutch knobs have the function of connecting the RA and dec axes to their respective drive worm wheel gears Their function is progressive from no tension axes free to move as required during correct balancing of the telescope to a completely locked up state How can you find out what they really do As shipped all Mach1GTO mounts have all three RA and dec clutch knobs firmly hand tightened This will give you a good idea of the maximum tightness clutch action that can be achieved by hand effort alone At this point you must bear in mind that for optimum performance all three clutch knobs on each axis RA or dec should be tightened evenly with the same tension i e all three half tight all three fully tight etc In order to fee
58. l the effect of the clutch knobs you may wish to assemble your mount with the mounting plate and coun terweight shaft Do not put scope and counterweights on at this stage With the above assembly with the clutch knobs firmly hand tightened as shipped you can feel the amount of force needed to move each axis by hand Grab each end of the telescope mounting plate and move it with a backward and forward movement of the dec axis You will feel considerable resistance to this motion Perform the same operation on the RA axis by moving the counterweight shaft backward and forward With a well balanced telescope the above tightness of the clutch knobs will be sufficient for all normal conditions of use Now mount up and balance your telescope so you can feel what this resistance in RA and dec movement back wards and forwards is like when you make these motions from the eyepiece end of your telescope as you would dur ing normal use when slewing pushing by hand to acquire an astronomical object within the field of view of your finder or scope How tight can the clutch be and can you do any damage by over tightening them These clutches can be tightened as much as needed There is no danger of over tightening You will see that each clutch knob has a 3 16 hex socket for tightening with an Allen key Using the provided hex key you can lock up the clutches so that only the worm drives are able to move each axis You should NOT attempt
59. ly loosened it is quite easy to feel as little as a few ounces of difference If you really need to balance for some reason you can use a small fisherman s scale to pull the axis in one direction and then the other When the pull is equal the axis is basically balanced Another method is to use an ammeter to measure the current draw Use the opposing direction buttons at 64x and observe the current being drawn A balanced load will result in equal current draw in either direction for each axis The declination axis does not appear to be moving properly How can I check it Please refer to the appendix for the instruction sheet Characterizing the Dec Axis Motions which explains how to use Maxim DL software to characterize your mount s performance I m having a frustrating guiding problem with my mount and need to figure out my next steps Your next step would be to remove the camera and place a high power eyepiece with crosshair reticle into the focuser Then sit down and watch what happens to the guide star With the eyepiece and reticle you can see whether or not the mount is tracking smoothly and how the periodic error is manifesting itself Yes you will have periodic error and any good CCD camera will pick it up to give you oval stars that is a given What you need to find out is whether this periodic error is within limits 3 5 arc seconds for the Mach1GTO and whether it is smoothly varying You can also do some hand guidin
60. ly 32 MB of RAM the response time will be slow since both programs must be continuously updated with position data You must have two serial ports available on your computer to take advantage of this feature If you use a laptop or a newer desktop computer you will probably need to purchase a USB to serial adapter Starting in the spring of 2008 Astro Physics began offering single port and four port USB to serial adapters made by Keyspan that we have found to work quite well on our own equipment USB1P amp USB4P The serial ports on the GTOCP3 control box allow remote operation of your mount a handy feature for catching those winter pretties from the warmth of the house or for using the mount at a remote dark sky site that is miles from home For remote control of a mount that is within 100 yards or so of the controlling computer we have found the Icron Technologies USB Ranger 2104 USB extender available from Astro Physics in early 2010 along with the Keyspan USB to serial adapters mentioned above to be an excellent solution The USB Ranger 2104 provides four USB ports one of which is used by the four port USB to serial adapter leaving 3 available USB and four available serial ports at the mount The Icron USB Ranger 2104 supports isochronous data transfer and will therefore work with CCD cameras including those from SBIG with no appreciable loss of download speed More distantly remote observatories will generally require a computer or IP
61. n only the azimuth lock knobs when required to make the azimuth adjustment and loosen those as little as possible Your final adjustment should always be with everything virtually but not quite fully locked Fine Altitude Adjustment 1 Be sure that your azimuth is securely locked down before making fine altitude adjustments 2 Your lock lever should already be at an appropriate tightness from the rough alignment as described in that earlier sec tion of the manual If you did not follow those instructions we repeat them here in summary a Loosen the Altitude Lock Lever b Grab the end of the counterweight shaft with your left hand and wiggle it up and down to feel the small amount of play in the system c Gradually tighten the altitude lock lever up to the point where you no longer feel the play Do not tighten this lever any more than is necessary to hold the mount in position Even with the lever thus tightened you will be able to make the necessary adjustments in altitude to precisely align the mount You should feel considerable resistance when making these final altitude adjustments but they are small adjustments and should not be too difficult Making these adjustments with the lever thus tightened will not hurt the mount DO NOT tighten the Altitude Lock Lever any further Doing so will dusturb your alignment 3 Always make your final approach to the pole from below If you find yourself pointed above the pole slightly overs
62. nted encoders For a complete listing of our Mach1GTO accessories visit our website www astro physics com 4 RA worm wheel Dec worm wheel Worm gear RA shaft RA Bearings RA thrust surface Dec shaft Dec Bearings Dec thrust surface Periodic Error Counterweight shaft Optional Counterweight Shaft Latitude range Azimuth adjustment Motors Power Consumption Power requirements Weight of mount Capacity of Mount FEATURES AND SPECIFICATIONS 5 9 150 mm 225 tooth aluminum 5 9 150 mm 225 tooth aluminum Brass 0 709 18 mm diameter 2 36 60 mm diameter 3 1 78 mm diameter 4 1 104 mm diameter 2 36 60 mm diameter 3 1 78 mm diameter 4 1 104 mm diameter 7 arc seconds peak to peak 3 5 arc sec or less guaranteed 14 5 868 mm overall length 13 6 345 mm usable length 1 125 29 mm diameter stainless steel removable with knob and safety washer 10 7 272 mm overall length 9 625 244 mm usable length 1 875 48 mm diameter stainless steel removable requires one piece washerless safety stop M12676 Stores inside declination axis for travel and uses same weights as 900 and 1200 series mounts 0 to 70 degrees with or without polar scope attached Approximately 25 degrees 12 5 deg from center Zero cogging servo motors 0 4 amps at the sidereal rate 2 amps both motors slewing 12 VDC range 11 5 to 16 Tot
63. o We suggest that you refer to detailed instructions in the GTO Keypad manual for a method that utilizes CCDOPS from Santa Barbara Instrument Group SBIG for precise polar alignment This method is basically traditional drift alignment with CCDOPS and your camera precisely measuring the drift for you 19 o There are also other similar alignment procedures including one in MAXIM DL from Diffraction Limited Numerous other software solutions are also available e Star Drift method Traditionally this very time consuming procedure has been regarded as the most accurate method of polar alignment However if you are using the old method of drift alignment that employs stars near the eastern or western horizon you may encounter problems from atmospheric refraction which will skew your alignment To obtain more accurate results choose stars somewhere near the celestial equator due south or slightly east and west but not below 45 degrees elevation For portable setups we believe that our two GTO Quick Star Drift Methods found in the keypad documentation as noted above are much more practical approaches in terms of providing highly accurate alignment and still leaving enough time to actually get some imaging done A permanent observatory setup where long unguided exposures are taken may still benefit from a final tweaking using the traditional star drift method as modified by the 45 degree elevation recommendation above or from a software enhance
64. o take full advantage of this powerful mount control software See www pulsequide com for the latest information Fy AP ASDO hier E The Astro Physics ASCOM V2 Driver Astro Physics began the development of a company supported ASCOM V2 driver in 2009 Please see the Astro Physics website for current information on the ASCOM driver http www astro physics com products accessories software ascom ascom htm This driver provides full mount control for all of the Astro Physics GTO mounts It has been developed with remote operation in mind and its functions were designed to be both complete and highly robust It features a very user friendly graphical user interface GUI This V2 driver requires version 5 x or higher of the ASCOM platform Planetarium Imaging and Observatory Software from Other Vendors There are a number of planetarium programs that can be used to control the Astro Physics GTO Servo System In addition some software designed primarily for camera control and or observatory control and planning also have limited ability to control your mount Many of these use the ASCOM interface and will take advantage of the new V2 ASCOM driver mentioned above Any software that can use the AP V2 ASCOM driver will have extensive mount control capabilities because of the driver s virtual keypad features Other programs employ native drivers that the software designers wrote from our publically available command set See your Keypad Manual
65. of your instrument Additional features include ribbed structure underneath to reduce weight and tapped 10 32 holes in the side for cable attachment 3 16 Hex 16 Easy Balance Dovetail Saddle Plate for Losmandy D Series Plates DOVELM162 Sat bog oa a a aa DOVELM162 12 50 P 3 16 Hex Minimum Recommended Dovetail Length Note that the bolt hole patterns are marked with scribe cuts Attach this plate with four 1 4 20 x 1 socket head cap screws Holes along the center line of the saddle plate are for use with the larger 900 and 1200 series of mounts and are not used with the Mach1GTO 16 Dovetail Saddle Plate for Losmandy D Series Plates DOVELM16S This Astro Physics plate is no longer produced and has been replaced by the DOVELM162 above If you already own one of these plates and use a 17 25 or longer Losmandy DAP series fits 6 and larger Astro Physics refractors plate this mounting plate will work fine SCTs RCs and other instruments that are challenging to balance should use the DOVELM162 as shown above Note that the bolt hole pattern is offset from the center This allows you to position the plate either slightly forward or backward depending on the balance point of your telescope Attach this plate with four 1 4 20 x 7 8 socket head cap screws NOTE As of this writing this plate is no longer available for purchase It has been phased out in favor of the DOVELM162 above It is
66. off the polar scope and adapter and reinsert your cables through the sight hole cable access cover You are now ready to tie them off plug them in and go A Note on the Mount s Servo Y Cable The Y cable that connects your GTOCP3 control box to the servo motor gearboxes can be run either inside or outside the mount The Mach1GTO doesn t really have anything that will catch the cables but you still may want to run them inside This is one cable that will not be run out through the declination axis hub To insert the Y cable put the control box end Optional Through the Mount Servo Y Cable Installation i a 1 Feed control 2 Work control box 3 Pull short cable 4 Connect long box end into Dec cable end out through leg through and cable leg to Dec SIGHT HOLE CABLE R A CABLE ACCESS connect to RA SERVO DRIVE ACCESS HOLE HOLE SERVO DRIVE into the sight hole cable access cover on the declination axis Run it out through the RA s cable access cover and pull the shorter RA leg of the cable all the way through Again if the polar scope adapter is removed you can easily guide the control box plug out the cable access cover of the RA axis Only the declination portion will be left inside the mount Connect all three plugs When you remove this cable don t reverse the procedure simply pull the declination leg on out through the RA s cable access cover 26 A Few More Hints and Tricks e f you need to remove a cable com
67. omputer PEMPro uses the ASCOM interface to control the mount In addition to the functions available through the ASCOM interface PEMPro v 2 x and later also includes a very handy and effective Polar Alignment Wizard a Backlash Analysis Routine and a StarFinder Routine The Astro Physics Command Center APCC We are currently under development with the Astro Physics Command Center APCC The APCC will add features and functions to the control system of the mount and will act as a serial hub for the use of additional applications Please keep an eye on the website and the ap gto users group for updates and details 33 SLEWING YOUR MOUNT IN BELOW FREEZING TEMPERATURES The following article was written by Roland before the introduction of the Mach1GTO The information is still usefull but it is not as directly applicable to the Mach1GTO as it is to the 900GTO or 1200GTO In particular be aware that the Mach1GTO uses the same motors and gear reduction rate as the bigger mounts It however will be carrying a smaller load and it will have less friction on the worm gear worm wheel surface The Mach1GTO will therefore be somewhat less affected by the cold than its larger siblings You should also keep in mind how very easy it is to set the worm mesh on the Mach1GTO See the section later in the manual In all actuality very few of you will encounter cold enough conditions to require all of the measures outlined below with your Mach1GTO
68. onal CCD camera and PC the load will drop below 9 volts and the keypad will reset or it may affect the GTO circuit itself and cause the keypad to lock up We recommend that you use a large marine battery that is not a gel cell and hook everything up to it before calibrating the GTO Or better yet put the other equipment on a separate battery What is the maximum voltage that can use to power the servo drive The servo drive of the Mach1GTO 900GTO and 1200GTO will withstand up to 24 volts without any sort of damage to the internal electronics according to our engineer However above about 17 volts the motors may become a bit jittery because of the higher gain with this much voltage The system works very well with 15 16 volts Please note that the Mach1GTO should work very smoothly at 12 volts in most appliations For polar alignment am using declination drift technique with stars on east amp south Now do not see any drifts in declination on both sides E amp S so the mount should be properly aligned However have still small drift in RA which looks like the RA motor is a bit faster than earth rotation This drift is something like 1 5 arcsec during 1 minute or so and is accumulated over time so it doesn t look like peri odic error The sidereal tracking rate is exact in the mount it is crystal controlled and checked here for accuracy However the stars do not move at exactly the sidereal rate everywhere in the sky T
69. ons 12 volts is fine We highly recommend our 13 8 volt 5 amp power supply PS138V5A for the Mach1GTO There is no on off switch on the servo We recommend that you plug the power cable into the servo box after the keypad controller To turn the unit off simply disconnect the power cable Considerations for observatory installations We suggest that you disconnect your GTO control box from 110V and any other device CCD camera computer etc when you are not using your mount so that if your observatory experiences a power surge or lightening strike your mount electronics will not be damaged If you operate your mount remotely you will have to leave your power cable connected just as you do for the rest of your electronic equipment You may want to consider surge protectors or other protective measures to protect from voltage spikes A disconnect relay to remove power from both the 12 volt and ground wire is highly recommended in this situation POWER Indicator Light This red LED will remain illuminated when your system is powered up and operating properly The red colored LED indicates proper functioning of the servo system If the servo detects a problem the LED will turn from red to amber An amber LED indicates that the servo has gone into safe mode or motor stall mode and is no longer trying to drive the motors The motors will be stopped Position data is not lost during this condition If the voltage falls below about 10 5 volt
70. or casual observing make sure that the azimuth adjuster knob you were backing off in the above adjustment is snugged against the azimuth adjusting pin and then fully tighten the azimuth lock knobs Even if you will be further refining your alignment you will still want to fully tighten down the azimuth lock knobs The azimuth must be locked down to accurately set the altitude Note that starting with the 2009 production run we began supplying improved azimuth lock knobs with an integral socket cap screws These allow you to more securely lock down the polar fork base to the mount s pier adapter using a 3 16 hex key from the supplied set of hex keys The photos above show the older style azimuth lock knobs One full turn of the Azimuth Adjuster Knob is approximately 1 37 degrees 82 arc minutes 4 Altitude latitude adjustments The altitude adjustment mechanism on the Mach1GTO has two components There is a large altitude adjustment knob on the front north side of the mount for making the adjustments The second part is the innovative tool free altitude locking lever on the west side of the polar fork base This lever has a spring loaded ratchet type action that allowed us to use a longer handle for leverage than would otherwise have been possible Pulling the handle out away from the base pull it to the west will disengage the handle so that it will turn freely in either direction Using this feature you simply ratchet it tight when your
71. ovetail clamps Second Balance the Polar Axis 1 Now tighten the declination clutch knobs and position the mount with the telescope horizontal and the declination axis horizontal The counterweight shaft is now horizontal with the center of the counterweights the same height as the mid dle of the tube Loosen the RA clutch knobs also about 2 to 3 turns Again be careful because if your scope is significantly un bal anced it may swing rapidly in the out of balance direction Move the counterweight s up or down to achieve the correct balance in RA Again movement back and forth about the RA axis should have the same feel in both directions Re set the tightness of all 6 clutch knobs to the resistance you want making sure that each axis 3 clutches are evenly tightened See section on clutch knobs above Try to anticipate any balance problems due to the extra weight of diagonals heavy eyepieces finders solar filters etc If the scope moves by itself when the clutches are loose then the scope is not balanced adequately You may want to tweak by carefully repeating steps 1 5 after everything has been attached to the telescope Be especially careful loosening the dec clutch knobs NOTE Asmall amount of imbalance on the East side of the mount is permissible and even desirable for astrophotography and imaging This allows gravity to keep the drive train fully engaged while tracking throughout the exposure If you inten
72. pletely from the mount mark the point where it emerges from the cable channel in the declination access hub Wrapping the cable at that point with a small piece of colored electrical tape works well That way you won t need to re measure to position the cable properly e Itis often helpful to bundle some of your cables e Always tie off cables for CCD cameras to the focuser so that the weight of the cables doesn t cause movement flexure in the imaging system over a long exposure Please feel free to contribute hints and tricks of your own for future editions of this manual At Astro Physics we know that our customers can be downright brilliant E mail your suggestions to support astro physics com 27 SERVO MOTOR DRIVE The Servo Motor Drive system on the Mach1GTO uses the same motors the same GTOCP3 control box and the same keypad as its bigger siblings the 900GTO and 1200GTO The gear train is just as heavy duty and the worm gears are massive and incredibly precise This is an extremely robust system for a mount of this size but since the focus of the Mach1GTO s design was on the serious observer and imager we felt that it was well worth it GTO Control Box GTOCP3 The GTO control box contains all of the circuitry to drive the two servo motors and the logic required to navigate the sky It will be operational and track at the sidereal rate when connected to both motors of the mount and a power source In order to control the mo
73. r Port This connector interfaces with the RJ 11 6 modular jack of an autoguider RJ 11 6 Receptacle cable purchased separately or as part of a CCD imaging camera or Pin 1 NC autoguider The autoguider will be functional and ready to go as soon as you 2 GND plug itin Please refer to the appropriate manual from the manufacturer for 3 East Pin Positions operation of the autoguider 4 North Jack 623k 5 South LULL 6 West 6V Auxilliary Jack This 6 volt output accepts 3 5mm phone plugs It s original purpose was to power the Pentax 6x7 camera directly from the mount Its most common usage today is to power the StarGPS It has also been used to power BlueTooth units for wireless connection to the mount s COM ports Center is positive It will supply up to 200mA of current Be sure of your device s power requirements and polarity before attaching N and S Switch Select northern N or southern S hemisphere as needed When you slide the switch to the opposite position the tracking direction of the drive will reverse The power cord must be removed and re attached to make this work Drainage Holes Two holes are drilled into the lower portion of the bottom of the control box These holes allow excess moisture to drain from your control box particularly useful on dewy nights Please do not plug these holes 31 CONTROLLING YOUR GTO MOUNT Your Astro Physics Mach1GTO has a remarkable servo control system that combines with the precise
74. r casual visual observations if you are not planning to slew to target objects with the keypad When the RA motor is engaged the power is plugged in it will compensate for the rotation of the earth and keep the target object within the eyepiece field of view Your target object will slowly drift since polar alignment at this stage is only approximate How ever you can make corrections with the N S E W buttons of your keypad controller 6 Tighten the altitude locking lever and azimuth lock knobs by hand Running Cables Through Your Mount If you plan to route cables through your mount this is the point in your work flow where you will want to do so Please refer to the later section of this manual entitled Cable Management for a full discussion of your options We mention it here because cables that will be routed through the cable channels on the declination axis hub will need to be installed before the mounting plate is attached The servo Y cable can be installed with the mounting plate attached 13 Attach Mounting Plate purchased separately Several mounting plates also called cradle or saddle plates are available for the Mach1GTO mount If you own more than one instrument you may need more than one plate or you may wish to use one of the dovetail mounting plate options with more than one male dovetail sliding bar Attach your mounting plate with the screws provided with the plate It is important to use the proper screws pl
75. re Cleaning and Touch up Mount Maintenance TROUBLESHOOTING ADDITIONAL SUPPORT RE MESHING THE WORM GEAR AND WHEEL CHARACTERIZING THE DEC AXIS MOTIONS ASTRO PHYSICS MOUNTING PLATE FASTENER CHART ASTRO PHYSICS Mach1GTO GERMAN EQUATORIAL WITH GTOCP3 SERVO MOTOR DRIVE ABOUT THIS MANUAL This version of the Mach1GTO manual was prepared for the production run of mounts that began shipping in February of 2010 Most of the information in this manual is applicable to all Mach1GTO s that have been produced Some of the information in this manual was simply not available when the first Mach1GTO s left our factory back in 2006 This includes information on newer accessories for the Mach1GTO that weren t available for the first production runs We have also learned a few things through experience and the suggestions of our customers that have improved the information that is available in this manual We would suggest that all Mach1GTO owners adopt this manual for regular guidance with their mounts The benefits of the improved information should easily outweigh the minor differences between mounts from earlier production runs and the current one There will be a few things like the included serial cable and the improved Azimuth lock knobs that owners of older mounts will not have In a similar fashion owners of brand new mounts should be aware that some of the photos that were used in this manual are of mounts from earlier production runs You may t
76. re that the mount is guiding adequately in RA and that the quide star is not bouncing around due to poor seeing Best results will be achieved when the RA guiding is 0 5 pixels average in RA step 2 Put the keypad button rate at 0 5x Press the keypad North button until the guide star has moved approximately 6 pixels from the center Now press the South button in very short pulses and note which direction the star moves It should move back toward the middle after a few button presses It might move slightly up or down or it might continue to move further away from the middle or any combination Please note exactly how far and in which direction the guide star moves pixel position is displayed in the quide box at right in Maxim Please allow a moment for the star to settle down after each button press Step 3 Press the South keypad button until the star has moved 6 pixels off the center in the opposite direction Repeat Step 2 and note exactly the motion of the guide star as you move it with the pulsed motion at 0 5x tia You may wish to enable Track Log to record the numbers for further study Please note on the log what you did at what time so the results will be useful later You have now characterized the Dec axis 09 15 03 41 ASTRO PHYSICS MOUNTING PLATE FASTENER CHART A P Part Description Ships with 4 1 4 20x5 8 SHCS for mounting to 400 900 or Mach1GTO 15 Flat Plate 4 M6 1 0x20mm SH
77. rformance are directly correlated with the quality of the care that you give it Handle it with respect keep it as clean and dry as is practical and perform a few minor maintenance tasks and your Mach1GTO will give you many years of trouble free service Care Although we build it to be rugged enough for field use your Mach1GTO is a precision instrument with very accurate worm and wheel adjustments Please be careful if you place the mount on a flat surface i e the ground or trunk of your car The gear alignment may be affected if the RA and dec motor gear box assemblies sustain undue lateral force This is true of any fine instrument We suggest that you transport and store the mount in a case or in a well padded box ALWAYS remove the mount from your pier or tripod before moving it or transporting it More damage can be done in a few careless seconds in transit than in many hours of normal operation Try to keep your mount protected from dust and moisture when not in use In warm humid weather be aware of the dew that may have formed on the mount while in the field and allow the mount to dry out before packing it away for storage once you get home On the other hand if it is cold and dry outside keep the mount packed up when you bring it into the house until it reaches room temperature to avoid fogging it up The same advice applies to telescopes eyepieces and other equipment in your Astro arsenal Cleaning and Touch up Wipe yo
78. s the power LED will go out completely The keypad will also not function properly below about 11 volts If you experience an amber LED first check your power source to be sure it is delivering adequate voltage and current to drive the system If your power supply is good the amber LED means that your motors are overloaded probably due to an unbalanced load on your mount Refer to the troubleshooting section of the manual for the solution KEYPAD Receptacle Attach the 5 pin male connector plug of the keypad controller and lock in place on the receptacle push in the knurled ring then turn 29 RS 232 Ports 2 GTO Control Box These serial ports are used to connect your mount to your external computer Serial RS 232 Ports Beginning in December 2008 we began shipping all mounts with one 15 straight DE 9 Female Jack through non crossing serial cable with a 9 pin DE 9 male connector to interface with 5 4 3 2 1 the GTOCP3 control panel We also provide the locking posts to secure the cable OO0O00 0O firmly onto the control box If you purchase a serial cable that does not have a 9 pin O O connector you can use a gender changer or adapter to convert it OOOO 9 8 7 6 PLEASE NOTE The use of crossing reversing null or null modem cables is 1 Empty i i 2 Transmit from Servo Drive a frequent source of failure and frustration Make sure that your serial cable is wired 3 Transmit from Computer to Servo stra
79. se two polar alignment methods were really designed for quick coarse alignment in the field with portable setups They are most appropriate for visual observers The Two Star Method is generally the better of the two as it is less affected by orthogonality issues o The Daytime Routine See Polar Aligning in the Daytime in the Keypad Manual is a great trick for daytime setup In addition it is the recommended first step in alignment for anyone in the southern hemisphere and for owners of the 3600GTO Even those in the south who own our polar scope will find it helpful since it will generally put the rather difficult to spot southern stars into the polar scope s field of view o The original GTO Quick Star Drift Method of polar Alignment that takes advantage of the Meridian Delay feature of the Astro Physics Servo System is also included in considerable detail in the Keypad Manual A table of suggested stars is found in Appendix of the manual o Saving the best for last we have also included a second Revised GTO Quick Star Drift Method that was conceived for use with a finder scope This method was introduced in the Keypad Version 4 17 Addendum and includes a one page Quick Reference Sheet to use once you are familiar with the method By using a finder scope you are able to remove orthogonality issues from the process making subsequent alignments much easier For our testing purposes here at Astro Physics using one of the first product
80. ssory plate NOTE This is a very large plate for the Mach1GTO If your instrument requires such a large plate it may be too large for this mount 15 Ribbed Mounting Plate 900RP The finished plate is 0 75 thick 15 long and 6 5 at its widest point The width of the plate tapers to 4 75 A pair of keyhole slots that measure 3 2 between centers are provided at each end The distance between these pairs of holes is 13 75 Due to the ribbed structure you may not be able to drill additional holes to suit your mounting rings The plate weighs 2 3 Ibs Attach this plate with four 1 4 20 x 1 1 4 flat head socket cap screws Leave two screws in the dec hub s top plate see below Note that the plate is asymmetrical In most cases orient the plate so that the long end points toward the sky You can also turn the plate in the other direction to balance your scope This plate has a hole spacing of 13 75 This allows the use of the 15 Dovetail Plate DOVE15 on top of your instrument as an accessory plate 14 8 Astro Physics Dovetail Saddle Plate DOVE08 with Q4047 Adapter This versatile plate is suited for the 105 f6 Traveler and 130 refractors we prefer the 15 Dovetail Saddle Plate for most applications of the 130 f8 StarFire EDT and other short instruments The knob assembly features a brass pin with a tapered end to hold your sliding bar firmly without marring the aluminum Use with the 7 or 1
81. te we have found the two orientations in the photo at right to work very well The advantage to the pictured orientations is primarily in the ease of working the clutch knobs and in providing 16 Mounting Plate Orientation Optical Axis FP1500 DOVE15 DOVELM2 DOVELM16S DOVELM162 3 2 B C Optical Axis FP1800 Cable 900RP yon DOVE08 Q4047 5 375 B C sam Mm Channel ASTRO PH THCY kik T the easiest routing for cables Note that your declination hub plate may not be oriented properly for this arrangement If not simply remove and rotate it into this position with respect to the clutch knobs and cable channels As pictured the two cable channels are at 12 o clock and 6 o clock The clutch knobs are at 3 7 and 11 o clock The extra hole mentioned above is at 9 c clock The optical axis for a plate with the four hole pattern is directly over the cable channels Plates with the six hole pattern are rotated a bit to allow the attachment bolts to clear the cable channels Assemble Counterweight Shaft IMPORTANT Always attach the counterweights before mounting the telescope to the cradle plate to prevent sudden movement of an unbalanced tube assembly which may cause damage or injury Remember counterweights are heavy and will hurt if they fall on your foot 1 Thread the counterweight shaft onto the dec axis Be careful to NOT cross thread the shaft in the adapter 2 Remove the counterweight safety knob and w
82. these will be small movements It is possible to use an older model polar scope PASILL or PASILL2 but they may be a bit less accurate To use one of these earlier polar scopes screw the unit into the adapter and then back it off to align Polaris relative position to the pole Proceed normally turning the polar scope wherever the instructions say to turn the RA axis Since the scope won t be screwed in tight you may have a bit of sag that will slightly reduce your accuracy The Polar Alignment Scope will prove adequate for many users Even imagers who will refine their alignment beyond the polar scope s resolution will find it a great asset in getting close Start the fine alignment process with the polar scope and then proceed to one of the more refined and accurate methods below GTO Keypad Please refer to the instruction manual for the GTO Keypad and read the sections from Getting Started through Alternate Polar Calibration Routines amp Tips Also be sure to read the Keypad Addendum if there is one as it may contain refinements to the keypad methods As time goes on the keypad manuals will be updated Please refer to the Technical Support section of the website for the most recent documentation Here are summary descriptions of several techniques for polar alignment from the current Keypad Manual and Addendum o The Keypad startup routine provides two methods The North Polar Calibrate and the Two Star Calibration The
83. tie your cables like on the end of a mounting plate Cables for CCD cameras should be tied off to the focuser or the very back of the mounting plate so that the weight of the cables does not pull on the camera causing image shift Once the cables are routed through the mount and you have the proper amount sticking out the top of the declination axis hub you are ready to replace the declination hub plate Be sure that the cables are seated well in the two cable channels and that they are not being pinched by the plate Put in two screws one each on opposite sides of the plate and snug them down Re check that none of the cables have been pinched and then tighten the two screws firmly If you are using the FP1800 the RP900 or the Q4047 with DOVEO8 as your telescope mounting plate install it now using the four provided screws in the remaining four holes If you will be using one of the other telescope mounting plates FP1500 DOVE15 DOVELM2 or DOVELM162 first install the remaining four screws from the declination hub plate and then install the mounting plate with the correct fasteners that were provided Where the cables emerge RA cable access hole or bottom of RA axis make sure that nothing will be hanging or pulling on any of the cables You may wish to bundle the cables together and tie them off to a tripod leg or pier strut to eliminate potential tripping hazards Run them carefully to wherever they will be plugged in laptop heater
84. tionally create this small imbalance you must remember to re adjust the balance whenever you flip from one side of the mount to the other Forgetting to re adjust can result in a slight see saw action in tracking that could spoil your next image 23 CABLE MANAGEMENT Introduction to one of the Mach1GTO s most Innovative Features In years past there was no such problem as cable management on astronomical equipment The only wires or cables would have been for the clock drive motor of the RA axis and maybe one for a drive motor attached to the dec s tangent arm Today we have added the cables that accompany film cameras CCD cameras autoguiders multiple dew heaters motorized focusers and numerous other electronic accessories Many modern imaging setups have wires going everywhere and these wires could be a never ending source of problems and frustrations for the operator Wires hanging off of cameras can lead to image ruining flexure Wires can catch and snag as the mount slews and were especially vulnerable when a German Equatorial Mount was swapping sides to point at the other side of the meridian The problem was that all these wires going to all these different locations had to deal with a mechanical system that was designed to be in motion Roland Christen and the design team at Astro Physics came up with an elegant solution to the cable nightmare If cables all around the mount are a problem then run them through the mo
85. troArt V3 SP3 and later PEMPro V2 also provides a way to use a low cost webcam or video camera to perform all of its functions PEMPro V2 has a Video interface application that can work with any DirectShow or WDM compliant device including most capture cards and webcams like the Philips Toucam Pro and Meade LPI The uncorrected periodic error of your Mach1GTO will be 7 arc seconds or less when it leaves our facility We will have reduced this already small native error significantly by loading the error curve from our extensive testing procedures into the servo system The resulting error that remains should be negligible and will probably be satisfactory for all but the most demanding applications You can however reduce the error even further to maximize performance without auto guiding by recording a much longer run with PEMPro that will average more complete cycles of the worm The serious imager may wish to redo the PEMPro run once a year more or less depending on usage to compensate for gear run in If you ever remove your motor gearbox or manually turn the worm gear you will also invalidate any previously recorded corrections and will need to do anew PEMPro run Manually moving the telescope does NOT turn the worm gear so that is not a problem Complete documentation is provided in the help menu of the installed program Also please read the Important Information HTML file on the CD before loading PEMPro onto your c
86. ts are both tight replace the two button head screws to close the access holes back up and the re meshing is complete If you are unsure how tight to make the attachment bolts would suggest that you err on the side of caution and don t risk over tightening It is easier to do this whole process over making everything a bit tighter the second time around than it is to undue the damage from too heavy a hand on the wrench We have found that a good practice is to have the long end of the wrench in the hole so that you only have the short end for leverage Make it as tight as you can with this short lever and then reverse the wrench and tweak the tightness by no more than 10 additional degrees 40 7 24 08 CHARACTERIZING THE DEC AXIS MOTIONS These instructions explain how to use Maxim DL software as a tool for characterizing any problems with the Declination axis movements of your mount However Ray Gralak s PulseGuide software offers an easier and more extensive evaluation procedure PulseGuide is available as a free download through our website step 1 Se Acquire a reasonably bright guide star and 2 begin guiding in RA only turn off Dec guiding i note X and Y are switched on the Maxim parameter page as of v3 07 Use a 1 second f or faster refresh rate so you can see the motion of the guide star as you begin to move it around Magnify the screen to 1600x and place the cursor in the middle as shown Check to make su
87. turns easily with your finger by removing the motor covers and removing the large spur gear to get access to the worm end Try turning it by hand If it does not easily turn then the motor will also have a difficult time turning it Check in our technical section of the AP web site on how to set the worm mesh In real cold weather well below zero F it might also be a good idea to lubricate each of the spur gears and their sleeve bearings with a light machine oil When warmer weather returns this can be replaced with a light grease Lubriplate 105 which will reduce the wear factor in warm temperatures Third under very extreme temperature conditions below 20F it may be necessary to replace the grease on the worm wheel teeth with a lighter material The mounts use a special formulation of Lubriplate 105 with a damping grease added This combination is ideal for low wear since the damping grease portion allows the grease to stay on the teeth and not get wiped off by the motion of the worm Although this combination works well even at temperatures below zero it does get more viscous in really cold conditions We have tried straight low temperature greases that work to 80F and in each case the worm gears get abraded very quickly Using no grease at all is also not recommended for a GoTo system that slews at high speeds The wear on the worm and wheel teeth is extremely high and can develop very high periodic error after a short time due to scratches an
88. u will see there is a way to use your polar scope with the cables already in place though this may not be possible in all cases Do not have your telescope or mounting plate attached yet Remove the declination hub plate off of the declination axis hub by removing the six 1 4 20 x 3 4 flat head socket cap screws around its perimeter Remove the polar scope from the RA axis if you are using one Finally remove the polar scope adapter with polar scope cap and raise the two cable access covers one on each axis to the open position You are now ready to put in your cables Note starting with mounts that began shipping in April 2007 the polar scope adapter is a bit larger and has a knurled grip for easier removal 24 Cable Installation the First Time Cables can be inserted either from the top through the declination axis hub or 3 Insert other end bottom through the polar scope end of of cables through sight the RA axis but the simplest way will hole and out through either RA obenin 1 Rotate RA axis so usually be to insert the cables through U PERIN that dec is upside down the sight hole cable access cover on 2 Insert scope end AN r the declination axis The easiest trick for of cables through ax Y inserting the cables if you will be routing sight hole and j cables out through the declination axis out dec hub hub as is likely is to turn the RA axis so the counterweight shaft adapter is
89. ugh this maneuver may be difficult to accomplish with a large heavy instrument We prefer this keyhole method to the standard way of completely removing the screws and possibly dropping them in the grass Astro Physics or Losmandy Dovetail Plates Attach the mounting rings to the male dovetail plate sliding bar Fine Polar Alignment For casual observation you may skip most of this section and simply start observing Don t forget to tighten your altitude locking lever and azimuth lock knobs and make sure both of your azimuth adjuster knobs are snugged against the azimuth adjusting pin Move the telescope manually or by using the N S E W buttons of the keypad The keypad and GTO Servo control box will function as soon as they are plugged in That means that the RA axis will be tracking up to the limits of your polar alignment However if you plan to use any of the go to functions of the Mach1GTO or do astrophotography you must perform a more accurate polar alignment However you will complete this alignment when your scope and other equipment are mounted AST ay ir Bipa fi Y mr ii i p i k a a 4 x i i Methods for fine polar alignment a oy PASILL4 e Polar Alignment Scope Use our optional polar scope PASILL4L current or the PASILL4 or PASILL3 prior models Earlier polar alignment scopes cannot be used as effectively with the Mach1GTO as explained later in this section This scope will allow you to qui
90. unt The idea seems absurdly simple but it introduced some significant engineering and design challenges particularly since this mount is portable and the two axes come apart Those challenges were met with the Mach1GTO There are four places on the Mach1GTO where cables can enter or exit the inside of the mount 1 The first of these is the hub end of the dec axis Underneath the declination hub plate on the end of the declination axis are two cable channels Cables passing through the hub get routed through one of these channels and on to their accessory This is where imaging cables dew heater cables and motorized focuser cables are most likely to be routed 2 The second point of egress is the sight hole cable access cover on the dec axis You can run the dec leg of your servo drive s Y cable out through this opening It is also a very convenient place from which to feed cables 3 The third place to run cables in and out is the cable access cover on the RA axis This is an especially useful place if you need to do a rough polar alignment each time you set up It still allows the easy use of the polar scope 4 Finally for permanent installations or regular observing spots with marked pier tripod positions in other words ob serving sites where you don t need the polar scope the cables can be run out the bottom of the RA axis Which of these openings you use will depend on your particular situation All of the openings and internal
91. ur mount clean with a soft dry cloth If needed you can use a damp cloth or a cloth that has been sprayed with a mild non abrasive cleaner window or all purpose cleaner no bleach Do not spray cleaners directly onto your mount If you use a cleaning product follow with a damp cloth to remove the chemicals from the mount The anodized surface of your mount is relatively maintenance free and should not require frequent touch up like some painted surfaces Mount Maintenance Under normal operating conditions minimal maintenance is required If the RA and dec axes are attached together for a long time in outside conditions i e in a permanent observatory then the mating surfaces should be lightly oiled or greased if you expect to get them apart again after 10 years Jostling and vibrations associated with transport to and from observing sites have had the effect of causing screws and fasteners to work their way loose over time We have worked very hard in both the design and assembly of our mounts to alleviate this problem but it is still a good idea to periodically once or twice a year inspect and if necessary re tighten any easily accessible fasteners Additional maintenance information can be found below in the troubleshooting section and in the Technical Support Section of our website 35 TROUBLESHOOTING Additional troubleshooting questions are in the GTO Keypad manual Some of the issues discussed in the keypad manual relate to
92. used with Carina s SkyFi Wireless WiFi to Serial Telescope Controller e ACP Observatory Control Software by DC 3 Dreams Robert B Denny Windows ACP uses the ASCOM interface e MaximDL from Diffraction Limited Windows Imaging software that uses the ASCOM interface e Any other ASCOM compliant software including several products from CCDWare which include PEMPro see below PEMPro V 2 x by Sirius lmaging CCDWare Purchased Separately For a visual observer or an imager who takes short exposures the native performance of your Mach1GTO will be superb without additional periodic error correction However those of you who take long exposure images may wish to further refine your mount s performance This may be especially important if your images are unguided PEMPro Periodic Error Management Professional is a Windows software application that makes it easy to characterize and reduce periodic error PEMPro gives you powerful tools to program your mount s periodic error correction firmware to achieve the best possible performance for your mount PEMPro dramatically improves guided and unguided imaging resulting in better images and fewer lost exposures PEMPro will analyze the performance of any mount that is equipped with a CCD camera and compatible camera control software Compatible CCD camera control software includes CCDSoft version 5 00 170 and later MaxlmDL CCD version 3 22 and later and As
93. vement of the mount you will need to connect at least one of these e GTO Keypad e PC computer with PulseGuide by Sirius Imaging The CD with this program is included with the mount The CD includes a complete user s manual in PDF format For the most updated version of the software check out the website www pulseguide com Please refer to the section later in this manual for further information regarding the capabilities of this program e Computer with a planetarium program ASTRO or observatory control software Astro PHYSICS INC Physics now has a fully supported ASCOM GTO V2 Driver available A more detailed listing CONTROL PANEL of software is in the Controlling Your GTO Mount section later in this manual In addition see the website s ASCOM page for details on the ASCOM driver MADE THE Ua The Mach1GTO s GTO servo control box comes with a control box adapter for direct mounting on your pier or tripod as well as handy pouch for hanging from a knob on the base of your Mach1GTO mount Please remember that this box contains advanced electronics and must be treated with the same care given to other fine equipment You can see that the unit is built to be rugged however it is not indestructible Pre loaded PEMPro Curve Your mount was tested at our production facility with a special version of PEMPro Periodic Error Management Software After ensuring that the mount s uncorrected periodic error is with
94. with the Vixen style or V Series sliding bars we now also produce the aforementioned D to V series adapter SBD2V Please visit the website for details 8 5 Dovetail Saddle Plate for Losmandy D Series Plates DOVELM2 This Astro Physics plate attaches to the 400 600E 900 1200 and Mach1GTO mounts If you already own one of the Losmandy DAP series fits Astro Physics refractors DC series for Celestron 8 9 25 or 11 SCTs or DM series for Meade 8 and 10 SCTs plates you should consider this plate or the longer DOVELM162 For larger size SCTs we recommend the Easy Balance DOVELM162 see below This is also the perfect saddle plate for our SBD12 Dovetail Sliding Bar 15 Note that the two larger bolt hole patterns are offset from the center This allows you to position the plate either forward or backward depending on the balance point of your telescope Attach this plate with four 1 4 20 x 5 8 socket head cap SCrews This Astro Physics plate was introduced in February 2009 The DOVELM162 provides a multitude of mount attachment options and was specifically designed to meet the balancing demands of back end heavy instruments like SCTs and Richey Chr tiens especially those with heavy imaging gear hanging off the back This plate has small knobs to avoid interference with the declination hub but the knobs have cap screws in the ends that accept a 3 16 hex te wrench for extremely secure clamping
95. with the hand knobs and make sure that leg clamps are tight NOTE Your tripod must be equipped with the Tripod Adapter ADATRI to mount the Mach1GTO f you purchased your tripod from Astro Physics it came with this adapter already installed Adjustable p Aluminum Adjustable Aluminum Tripod SDS400 Tripod Loosen the clamp on the support and spread the legs to the desired position Extend the legs to the desired height and clamp everything tightly Point one of the legs toward the north or south pole NOTE The Adjustable Aluminum Tripod is not suitable for the heavier loads that the Mach1GTO can carry It is usable for setups with total instrument weight of less than 20 Ibs or if portability is of critical importance Also see the note above regarding the Tripod Adapter ADATRI 6 Eagle Adjustable Folding Pier EAGLE6 Assembly instructions for the 6 Eagle Adjustable Folding Pier are included with the pier Please refer to those instructions for assembly adjustment and leveling procedures Your Mach1GTO will fit into the 6 Eagle Adjustable Folding Pier without any additional adapters Simply set the mount into the open top of the pier and attach with the three pier adapter knobs included with the mount ADATRI Tripod Adapter for 400 600 amp Mach1GTO 17 64 Thru il holes 6 Tripod Adapter ADATRI If you have your own custom pier or tripod with a flat surface on top you can use our Tripod Adapter
96. ysics 6 Portable Pier 6 sizes from 24 to 62 tall 6X PP o Adjustable Wood Tripod AWTOOO o Adjustable Aluminum Tripod SDS400 This tripod can be used but is not recommended for heavier loads o Adapt to your own custom pier or tripod with our Tripod Adapter ADATRI Counterweights 6 lb 6SLCWT and 9 Ib QSLCWT weights are available for the standard 1 125 diameter counterweight shaft 5 10 and 18 Ib weights are also available for the optional 1 875 diameter shaft see below DC Power Source Portable rechargeable 12 volt battery pack or a power converter to convert your household AC current to DC current of 12 16 volts at a minimum of 5 amps We offer a 13 8 volt 5 amp converter PS138V5A and a 15 volt 10 amp converter PS15V10A We recommend giving the mount its own power source and powering other devices and accessories from a separate power source or multiple sources Many of these items will be discussed throughout these instructions Several additional options are available Optional Counterweight Shaft 10 7 total length x 1 875 diameter counterweight shaft M1053 A and safety stop M12676 for use with 5 Ib GSSCWT 10 Ib 1OSCWT and 18 Ib 18SCWT counterweights Handy for travel or if you already own a 900 or 1200 series mount which also use the 5 10 and 18 Ib weights Polar Alignment Scope with Illuminator PASILL4L for quick and easy polar alignment Pier accessory trays A flat

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